Carlos Enrique Taboada (1929-1997) was Mexico's most famous and hailed maker
of supernatural ghost stories and horror drama-thriller. His popular quartet was the
1968 "Hasta el viento tiene miedo / Even the Wind is Afraid", the 1969 "El libro de
piedra / The Book of Stone", the 1975 "Más negro que la noche / Darker than
the Night" and his last film, and my favourite, the 1986 "Veneno para las hadas /
Poison for the Fairies". Taboada worked as a scriptwriter for a decade before
starting to direct his own films.
(Read about "Hasta el viento tiene miedo" on my Méxican Film Page)

Disc 1 Film 1: Veneno para las Hadas (Poison for the Fairies) 1986 Direction, script
Taboada, Spanish audio DTS-HD mono with english subtitles, widescreen 1.85:1

Finally released on Blu-ray, before only the old US Desert Mountain Media
DVD was available with english subtitles

Veneno para las Hadas is a Méxican Film Masterpiece. The story about two ten
year old girls becoming buddies in school. The parentless Verónica and the rich
girl Flavia, Verónica (Ana Patricia Rojo) living with her old grandmother and her
Nanny, the superstitious housemaid. The latter telling her about Brujas and the
Devil and young Verónica is living in a chaotic and frightening world, a world that
Flavia is soon to be drawn into too.
Verónica tells Flavia that she's not really a girl but a Bruja, a witch.

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 and
disturbing and with very 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 Tono
the farm-hand.

It's a shame that this Truly Great film, isn't better known outside of México.
Very recommended. This masterful psychological horror drama won Five Ariel
Awards (Méxican Oscars) i.a. Best Direction and for the Cinematography by the
cameraman Guadalupe Garcia
Extra: Video Essay by Valeria Villegas (14 minutes)

Above: US Desert Mountain Media DVD

Disc 1 Film 2: Más negro que la noche (Darker than the Night) 1975
Direction, script Carlos Enrique Taboada
Spanish audio DTS-HD mono w english subtitles, widescreen 1.85:1

Bequer the Cat. Ms. Ofelia Escudero inherits her aunt's old gothic
looking house, with all it's valuable objects and with lots of land.
But with one condition, she has to take good care of her aunts
beloved black cat Bequer.

Annoying Ofelia (Claudia Islas) invites her three best friends, also
annoying, Aurora (Susana Dosamentes), Marta (Lucia Mendez) and
Pilar (Helena Roja) to join her in her new mansion.
But, besides mistreating the poor cat these skanky bitches also
treats the old housemaid, Sofia (Alicia Palacios) as if she was their
slave or something. So, retribution is coming their way when the
spookery starts. Not a minute too late

An OK Ghoststory if not very good. New version came in 2014
Extra: Video Essay by Valeria Villegas, 14 minutes)

Disc 2: Rapiña 1975
Direction, story and script Carlos Enrique Taboada
Spanish audio DTS-HD mono w english subtitles, widescreen 1.85:1

Two very poor woodcutters, Porfirio (Ignacio Lopez Tarso) and
Evodio (German Robles). Porfirio, with a dying dad and a pregnant
wife, overhears a conversation between the village doctor and a
teacher where the village paisanos are mentioned as "Animals".
After that, he wants to get out of the dirt to a new clean life.

Then one day, Porfirio and Evodio finds a crashed plane in the
woods, a plane full of dead gringos scattered around and with riches.
This their way of breaking out of poverty and they plunder the plane
and hide their loot in a cave.
Then things start to go horribly wrong and with Porfirio turning into
a beast. Fine obscure Crime Drama. Extra: Video Essay by filmscholar
Valeria Villegas (15 minutes)