Alucarda

Alucarda is a dark visual treat to view. The settings are absolutely brilliant , the costume design spooky and the camera work very good. I don’t usually assume exploitation film spends a lot of time or effort on such things but Alucarda seems to have specifically cultivated a creepy, religious aesthetic and it delights me. This is a film with an exceptional visual atmosphere. Beyond the visuals, I was surprised to find there is some depth or at least thought that went into Alucarda’s plot. This isn’t a horror movie that just descends into plotless violence by the end. There’s enough plot to sustain itself. Indeed, there might be too much. Alucarda rushes through events within a scene or two that could have been the basis for an entire horror movie.

The film follows two orphan girls at a convent who get possessed. Justine is the new girl at the convent and introduced to Alucarda who wears all black and shows Justine a pile of dirt and bugs. Then, she asks if Justine wants to go with her to the woods to watch bugs mate. Justine agrees. The girls frolic for a while and then encounter some spooky fortune tellers. Then, they enter an old crypt and open a coffin to reveal a skeleton and a terrible noise emanating from within. After this, Alucarda pledges her unhealthy love to Justine saying she’ll kill Justine if ever she leaves her. The girls make a blood pact.

Later, Justine faints during mass. She remains bedridden and clearly possessed though the nuns ignore all the blatant signs. Alucarda and Justine then end up in a cave with the hunchbacked fortune teller they met earlier. They do some naked rituals, the hunchback guy cuts them and also they make out for a really long time. After this, they get to attend the naked rituals in the woods. A guy in a goat mask or possibly a goat demon seems to marry them under the full moon. After this night of general nudity and blasphemy, Justine is certainly possessed. Her and Alucarda are not subtle about this and they invoke Satan during mass. This eventually leads to an exorcism which leads to Justine’s death. Alucarda then focuses her evil on getting revenge on the convent.

Alucarda did something that seems basic but many other similar movies fail at. The film takes full advantage of its religious framework. Beyond just having the story take place at a convent, Alucarda actually delves into religious power structures and rituals. There’s self-flagellation, depictions of religious ecstasy, some exploration of sexual repression and more. Most movies stop at just having nuns engage in blasphemy. This movie took the time to also take religious aspects and make them horrific and relevant. Indeed, there’s some themes of religion versus modern science especially when it comes to exorcism. So Alurcarda treads some of the same beats as the Cannes-winning film Beyond the Hills. I absolutely didn’t expect that to be the case.

The queer content is a bit of a mixed bag. The only time Justine and Alucarda actually kiss is in a scene where that hunchback guy is sort of directing their actions. Also, I think there might be consent issues as Justine doesn’t seem in full awareness or control of her actions. But then we do get a scene where they seem to get married by a goat demon so that’s kind of cool. It’s part of a scene depicting general Satanism (naked rituals, orgies, goats), but what? I’m supposed to not think that all looks like a fun way to spend a Wednesday night?

What’s nice is that their relationship is depicted as being loving. Alucarda is distraught at losing Justine. There’s also another nun named Angelica who seems to be secretly in love with Justine and these feelings are depicted as something powerful that interrupts a Satanic attack. There’s a depth to the feelings women have for other women in this movie that goes beyond physical attraction. That’s something somewhat rare in older horror movies like this; seeing feelings of queer love in addition to queer lust.

My main negative about this movie is there is a lot of shrill screaming which is unpleasant to listen to. Dialogue is limited in Alucarda. This is possibly because it’s a Mexican film but shot in English. But screaming has no language. It’s easy to write or translate. However, this does get grating. There are scenes where it feels like all that happens is women react to things by screaming. Not to say that’s not the appropriate response but spreading out that with some dialogue would’ve been nice.

I really, really liked Alucarda. It’s a rare exploitation that’s good both visually and in terms of story. It even has themes! This movie is really a cut above most other grindhouse films. For people who enjoy vintage horror, check this one out. If you’re not sure if vintage horror is your thing, also check Alucarda out. If you don’t like it, you probably won’t like the genre as a whole because this is definitely one of the better films in that genre that I’ve seen.

Overall rating: 7.3/10

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