#a sudden and genuinely unexpected hard turn into mad scientist lunacy at around the halfway mark does open it up a little: more characters
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mariocki · 1 year ago
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El espejo de la bruja (The Witch's Mirror, 1962)
"Elena. Elena!"
"What? Can't you see me?"
"I couldn't help you. You were marked by fate. I couldn't help you when you were alive, but I promise to avenge your death."
#el espejo de la bruja#the witch's mirror#horror imagery#mexican cinema#1962#chano urueta#alfredo ruanova#carlos enrique taboada#rosita arenas#armando calvo#isabela corona#dina de marco#carlos nieto#alfredo wally barrón#gustavo césar carrión#abel salazar#a very busy‚ slightly silly but really quite fun little film. starts off very modestly‚ a tight 4 character piece in a single location#a sudden and genuinely unexpected hard turn into mad scientist lunacy at around the halfway mark does open it up a little: more characters#more settings‚ more wild weirdness. still very much a budget picture but the scope is definitely larger‚ the overall vision on a grander#scale. some of the onscreen horror in this second half (particularly the medical gore) feels remarkably ahead of its time; truthfully there#were films beginning to push the envelope in that regard already‚ across the world‚ but there's something about the coldly dispassionate#clinical nastiness and the bloody detail here that feels a little jarring and like it's maybe at the wrong end of the decade#also of note are some intermittently breathtaking visuals‚ particularly work with light and shadow and silhouette (almost always#relating to Isabela Corona‚ stunningly backlit on a mist shrouded twilight). if only the film could have sustained those visuals for its#entire running time‚ this would surely be one of the most celebrated horror films of its era#still it is a lot of fun and absolutely crazy in the second half. well worth finding for nasty little horror freaks (aka me)
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