But in addition to its deeper qualities, it is a horror film, one of the greatest, and after waiting patiently through countless Dead Teenager Movies, I am reminded by Alejandro Jodorowsky that true psychic horror is possible on the screen--horror, poetry, surrealism, psychological pain. Santa Sangre is the surreal horror story about a young man, Fenix (Axel Jodorowsky) who has grown up in a circus with his mother Concha (Blanca Guerra) and his philandering father. This is a movie like none I have seen before, a wild kaleidoscope of images and outrages, a collision between Freud and Fellini.
Yes, I chose a horror film as my Mother's Day Month movie review entry. Santa Sangre draws heavily and with commendably lurid enthusiasm on the horror movie's obsession with the macabre rituals which make extravagant spectacle of death and suffering. With Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Thelma Tixou.
A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless mother - the leader of a strange religious cult - and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name as he becomes "her arms". Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre is a freak show, a perverse tale of how to put on a performance through dreams, nightmares, and hallucinations. It's nowhere near The Holy Mountain level of strangeness, but Santa Sangre is still a bizarre and dark film from the one of the greatest directors of the surreal. This is a film of nonsensical imagery, of a man sleeping in a dog. It was something fresh and new. Roger Ebert probably explains it best in his four-star review. "When I go to the movies, one of my strongest desires is to be shown something new.
Trailer Santa Sangre
I want to go to new places, meet new people, have new experiences. Santa Sangre (Holy Blood) is a pure surrealistic work. Symbols,insanity, Life and Death mix up the wild beauty of Ancient Greek Tragedy.
In conclusion: this is not a film for everyone,but if you are open minded you will be able to make a step further,beyond the image itself and face the deep brutal truth of this movie. This is how it would look. Combining elements at once beautiful, grotesque and erotic, SANTA SANGRE is something akin to Fellini remaking both PSYCHO and NIGHTMARE ALLEY as one single, glorious fever dream of a thriller. If you haven't seen it, do not miss out!