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Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: 2/28/2006
Director: Carlos Puerto
Cast: Angel Aranda, Sandra Alberti, Marian Karr, Jose Guillen, Luis Barboo, Jose Pagan, Asuncion Moreno
Year: 1997
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The Movie:
Andy (Angel Aranda of Mario Bava's Planet Of The Vampires) and his slightly pregnant pretty young wife Anna (the lovely Sandra Alberti) seem like a nice, normal couple who just want to get out of the city and take a week's vacation but can't quite figure out what to do with their time. The grab their German shepherd, Blackie, toss him in the car, and drive around Madrid in hopes of clearing their collective head and just enjoying some time together.
Things are going just fine for the couple until a car pulls up beside them. The window of the cars rolls down and a man named Bruno and his wife Thelma call Andy over, explaining that Bruno went to school with him years back. Andy can't quite place Bruno but he and his lovely lady friend are always up for making new friends and so when Bruno invites them back to his place to reminisce and guzzle back some fine red wine. They follow their new found old friends to a remote estate out in the country and head inside to make the most of the afternoon.
When they arrive in the home, Bruno wastes no time digging out an old picture of he and Andy at school together, but it doesn't stir any memories for Andy, as he can't remember the uniform, his fellow students, or even the teacher. To make matters even more odd for the guy, his correct mailing address is written on the back of the photograph! Soon, Bruno decides that they should all bust out the Ouija board and communicate with whatever spirits happen to be hanging around. He and his wife have a strong interest in the occult and they often do things like this for kicks it would seem. Andy and Anna are game, but soon things turn sour when the board tells Bruno he will die soon and by his own hand, and reminds Anna of her immoral love affair with her husband's brother a few years ago. Tensions rise accordingly.
With the evening rather spoiled by the events that have transpired, the two lovebirds decide to head out for the night but as luck would have it, a nasty storm blows in and makes driving tricky. The hosts insist that their guests spend the night with them, and they agree but that night things get even stranger. Blackie the dog goes missing, Anne is assaulted in the middle of the night when she goes looking for him, and what's with that really creepy doll that the camera keeps closing in on? Something evil is amuck, and it wants Andy and Anne as one of its own.
Plenty of atmosphere and no small amount of kinky evil highjinks make this one a completely worthwhile endeavor. It starts off fairly slow (at least, after the opening flashback salvo) and builds over time and as such, it might lose some viewers looking for fast and cheap thrills but those who stick with the film are ultimately rewarded by an eerie and chilling little movie that, when it does get around to delivering the goods, really works quite well.
While the whole shebang starts off very much in the vein of Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, eventually it finds its own footing and branches out into similar but more individual territory. That being said, a few obvious nods to Polanski's film are easy to spot, from the creepy old neighbours to some of the cutaway scenes.
In terms of the performances, there's not a lot to write home about here - none of the key players are either all that great or particuarly bad and everything is decidedly average on that front but director Carlos Puerto (with a little bit of help from Juan Piquar Simon, the genius behind Pieces and Slugs!) manages to build suspense through some clever foreshadowing and gorgeous cinematography. The fact that the entire story unfolds in a creepy, albeit beautiful and ornate, period home in the countryside adds to the whole mysterious vibe that permeates the movie, and Simon, who served as director of photography on the film, does do a truly fantastic job of capturing the shadows and gothic styled architecture of the location to maximum effect.
Of course, it wouldn't be a proper venture into the devil's territory without oodles of sex and violence, right? Right! While Satan's Blood isn't exactly a gorefest it does offer up a healthy serving of grue in the final act and once Andy and his bride are firmly under the spell of their hosts it doesn't take long before everyone is writhing around in their birthday suits atop a gigantic penagram, just to make sure you don't think that they're holding a Bible study or something equally wholesome.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Mondo Macabro has done a fantastic job of bringing Satan's Blood film to DVD mastered in high definition at 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen completely uncut. While there is a wee bit of print damage noticeable here and there, there aren't any problems with mpeg compression or edge enhancement and only a light trace of aliasing. Color reproduction is strong and both the foreground and the background detail looks very good. Black levels are deep and stable and flesh tones look lifelike and natural.
While the packaging states that the film is in stereo, both the English language dub and the original Spanish mix (with optional English subtitles) don't sound too far off from mono. Regardless, dialogue is clean and clear and despite the fact that one or two scenes are a little on the flat side, everything comes up roses here. The eerie score and the bizarre sound effects used throughout the film sound nice and distinct.
The main supplement on this disc is a documentary entitled The Devil's Disciples: A History of 20th Century Satanism, with author and Church of Satan member Gavin Baddely. This twenty five minute exploration of the occult influence on modern popular culture is a fantastic companion piece to the feature on the disc and it proves to be quite interesting. Baddely, who has written books on both Satanism and pop culture subjects like Marilyn Manson, knows what he's talking about. He covers the origins of modern Satanism, its effect on movies and music, and the like. Plenty of clips from all manner of movies are used to illustrate Baddely's points and he makes for a pretty interesting speaker on the subject.
Also included on the DVD is an alternate opening. Rounding out the extra features are a few text pieces detailing the origins of the film, and of course, the Mondo Macabro preview reel!
The Final Word:
Mondo Macabro gives a fine Spanish horror film oddity an equally fine release. Fantastic audio/video quality and some interesting and complimentary extra features make Satan's Blood a great release through and through. The movie is plenty atmospheric and eerie enough to work despite it's weaknesses, and Eurocult fans will want to snap this one up asap.