Aaaaaaah, a Mexican filmclassic from the Master of
Terror - Carlos Enrique Taboada on a US DVD and .... WITH
english subtitles. Unbelievable and those were the days. Today it
seems inpossible to find the "really" great Mexican
director's films on DVD or Blu-ray with english subtitles, as Arturo
Ripstein's or Carlos Enrique Taboada's.
This DVD must be at least 10 years old and i re-watched this strangely
fascinating drama-terror for the 2nd time 2015.
I don't know much about this director as i can't find his films anywhere
with english subs - besides this one then.
But Carlos Taboada seems to be regarded as The Méxican Master
of Terror with films "Hasta el viento tiene miedo"
1968 (Även vinden är rädd ?), El
libre de piedra 1968 (En bok av sten) and Mas negro
que la noche (Mörkare
än natten) and these films you really, REALLY want to se with
subs. No interest from any non-méxican company though.
You can find them on Youtube however, but then without any english
subs and in POOR resolution and a No-No.
Note 2023 August: There has passed another 10 years
since i wrote that the DVD must be 10 years old, and we're
still waiting for a restoration, preferably in 4K of this Méxican
masterpiece.
VCI Entertainment do have released "Hasta el viento tiene miedo"
though on a Blu-ray disc with english subtitles
Veneno Para Las Hadas
(1984) - Warning for Spoilers below
This GREAT and FASCINATING film was Taboada's last
film as director (1929-1997). It's a youth-drama-horror and
it's also SCARY and DIFFERENT and a near cinematic masterpiece, almost.
10 year old Ana Patricia Rojo
is brilliant.
A Film about two 10 year old girls and how their power of imagination
leads to a tragic catastrophe. Warning, this film has
a heavy Feel Bad ending that's almost painful to watch, poor little
girl ... please, please save me.
There's a new girl in class, the rich girl Flavia
(Elsa María) and she starts to hang out with Verónica
(Ana Patricia Rojo)
and soon they're best buddies. Verónica has lost her parents
in an accident and is living with her old grandmother and her
Nanny. She has been raised constantly listening to her nanna's stories
about witches and black magic.
2 different childhoods - Flavia safely in her bed with cuddly toys/stuffed
animals around her and a pair of loving parents and
Verónica without parents in a world of chaos and magic. She's
convinced that she's a witch with magic powers and she
draws Flavia into her world of magic with her wild stories. They skip
school one day and Verónica drags Flavia to watch
old mummies. Verónica seems to take on this world of black
magic almost cheerfully and naively as a child but her influence
on Flavia leeds to disaster. Flavia starts having nightmares and nasty
visions and her world has turned into one filled with
terror and unsecurity. She's under Verónica's complete control.
Verónica is invited to Flavia's familys summer house in the
countryside, and this constitutes the second part of the film.
The Girls, the witches, project then is to make a
magic potion, a poison against their arch-enemies The Fairies and
things
get disastrously out of hand. Sad, sad but a powerful ending.
Taboada has shot this film in a very interesting and consequential
way where the Grown-ups are shown from the childrens
perspective - filmed from below and we never see their heads, except:
the face of a dead pianoteacher, the imagined witch-
face of Verónicas grandmother and from a distance, of the farm-hand.
It's a shame that this Truly Great film isn't better
known outside of México. Very recommended.
4:3 Fullscreen original ratio, 2.0 spanish speaking with english subs
