Poison for the Fairies (Veneno para las hadas)

 

Poison for the Fairies (Veneno para las hadas)

1985

Director- Carlos Enrique Taboada

Cast- Ana Patricia Rojo, Elsa María Gutiérrez

From Mexico

            This charming tale from Mexico follows the relationship between two elementary school age girls, Veronica and Flavia. Veronica is raised by an older nanny who tells her stories about witchcraft. Rather than being scared, Veronica is fascinated. Flavia is raised by rich parents who have instilled a sense of skepticism about the supernatural. Both are classmates in a parochial school.

            Veronica tells Flavia that she is a witch. Flavia is incredulous but Veronica begins to create doubt in Flavia’s mind after her piano teacher suffers a stroke. Veronica cultivates a relationship with Flavia, partly through piquing Flavia’s curiosity and partly through intimidation.

Veronica develops a plan to brew poison for the fairies that she says are living around them and enlists Flavia’s aid in acquiring the ingredients. As their relationship continues, Veronica becomes more domineering and abusive until things finally come to a head.

Despite the prevalence of witchcraft and the occult. Poison for the Faries is not  really a scary film. It is a story about the power that belief has over us. In this regard it is similar to The Witches and The Juniper Tree. It is also a very realistic portrayal of child psychology. The viewer sees the world through Veronica and Flavia’s eyes, and as such, we never know for certain what is real verses a child’s exaggeration. The movie focuses entirely on the two girls. Adult characters, when present, are faceless, much like the adults in a Peanuts cartoon. It also broaches the uncomfortable subject of evil in children. Can a person already be “bad” at a young age? 

            An intelligent film that is horror, not because of any particular imagery, but because of its unsettling look into the minds of children. There is no sex or profanity so its also totally appropriate for any younger viewers who are mature enough to appreciate its themes.

Still want more: Check out Don’t Deliver Us from Evil, a more grown up, and salacious, examination of similar themes of occult belief in adolescents.

          

The Haunting of Morella

 

The Haunting of Morella

1990

Director- Jim Wynorski

Cast- Nicole Eggert, Lana Clarkson, David McCallum, Christopher Halsted, Jonathan Farwell, Maria Ford, Gail Thackery

            The movie begins with a witch, Morella (Nicole Eggert best known from the 80s sitcom Charles in Charge and her stint on Baywatch), being tortured by a mob of angry villagers. Her milquetoast husband stands by with their infant daughter while villagers prepare to finish her off. Morella pronounces a curse that her spirit will live on in the body of their child, Lenora, and that one day she will have her revenge.

            Fast forward and Lenora (also played by Nicole Eggert) is 3 days away from her 18^th birthday, upon which she will come into an inheritance (in a rare bit of spot on casting, Nicole was herself 17 at the time and 4 months away from her 18^th birthday).

Her father has become eccentric over the years and a tad unhinged not to mention he has also gone blind. Lucky for them he’s filthy rich. He has kept Lenora confined to their plantation her whole life. He secretly fears his dead wife’s curse and hopes to shield her from anything that might bring out his dead wife’s spirit.

He is aided by a governess Coel (statuesque Lana Clarkson better known to fans from her sword and sorcery movies like Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen). Unbeknownst to him though, Coel was a disciple of Morella and secretly works to bring back her dead mistress’ spirit.

A young handsome, lawyer shows up with legal papers for Lenora’s inheritance but he’s quickly turned away lest he stir up Lenora’s adolescent loins and risk a return of Morella. Coel decides to take matters into her own hands and leaves Lenora’s father’s diary conspicuously out for Lenora to find. From its pages, she learns the truth about her mother.

Morella, it turns out, wasn’t just a witch, she was working on a Bathoryesque scheme for immortality, complete with bathing in virgin blood. This proves to be just what the witchdoctor ordered. Morella’s personality begins to surface and Coel begins dark, bloody rituals to hasten her mistress’ return.

The movie was directed by Jim Wynorski (best known for the 80s horror-comedy, Chopping Mall and the mainstream debut of Traci Lords in Not of This Earth). It was produced by Roger Corman. It is nominally an adaptation of a story by Edgar Allan Poe. But if you’re familiar with Corman’s work (i.e. Pit and the Pendulum, Masque of the Red Death among others), you know better than to expect a strict (or even faithful) adaptation. This is fine by me as Corman’s Poe pics were all pretty entertaining, just don’t watch one to help you write your book report.

Rather than Poe, this film is more like an erotic retelling of Mario Bava’s Black Sunday. Both films begin with a witch issuing a curse before her execution. Both films have a Gothic setting. Both involve the spirit of malevolent ancestor trying to replace their innocent descendant. Both have the star playing two characters, one evil, one good (this was something that Barbara Steele did several times in her career, including Black Sunday).

Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m equating Black Sunday with The Haunting of Morella. Black Sunday was a landmark film that spawned the Italian Gothic horror genre. Morella is, when it comes down to it, a B movie, all be it a B movie with pretty good production values.   It looks as good as the better Full Moon pictures of the same era. It has impressive sets, a good musical score and good costumes (though probably too revealing for its vaguely early 19^th century American setting).

            But more importantly than what it is, I think you’ll notice what it isn’t!. If you know Wynorski’s catalogue, this film is distinctly unlike most of his other offerings. His older 80s stuff was very entertaining but very tongue in cheek. His 21^st Century stuff has mostly been T&A flicks with porno names (Bare Wench Project, The Da Vinci Coed, The Breastford Wives, Witches of Breastwick….see a pattern here?).

            The Haunting of Morella, on the other hand, is dead pan serious. If I didn’t know better I’d think it was directed by some alternate universe Wynorski. It makes me wish he’d a done a few more movies like this. That’s not to say that this movie is without his signature dose of nudity. There is a fair amount of nudity here. Lana Clarkson fans, especially, will be pleased by her rather lengthy nude scenes.

            But even though Nicole Eggert was seventeen at the time, you don’t have to worry about Chris Hanson showing up if you decide to watch this. This isn’t To the Devil aDaughter. Though Nicole has several erotic scenes, all of the nudity is accomplished with editing and a body double. The use of a double is so obvious in fact, it’s a bit distracting. If I have any complaint about the movie it would be that they should have just ditched her naughty scenes rather than try to pull them off in such a convoluted fashion.

            As for the performances, Nicole was good, especially for someone so young. I wish that she had spent more time in horror because I think she could have been a good scream queen. It was interesting to see Lana in a much more reserved role without a sword. Older fans may recognize David McCallum as Lenora’s father. He was in the creepy Disney movie Watcher in the Woods but he is best known as Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

            So to sum up, if you’re wanting a thoughtful adaptation of Poe, this is not the film for you. But if you like Gothic creepiness, and you enjoyed Full Moon and Vestron flicks from the 90s, then you will probably find this erotic thriller both entertaining and possibly a little arousing.

Haxan- A 100 Year Retrospective

 

Haxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages)

1922

From Sweden /Denmark

Director- Benjamin Christensen

Cast- Benjamin Christensen, Clara Pontoppidan, Oscar Stribolt, Astrid Holm, Maren Pedersen

            Haxan is a sort-of documentary. It takes a scholarly look at the view of witchcraft in the middle ages but mixes in haunting and unsettling imagery that is comparable to the best horror movies.

            Those silent films that have stood the test of time have done so not because of the writing or acting but because of the imagery. This movie is a hundred years old but the effects hold up because, unlike CGI that doesn’t age very well, they rely on make-up and photography. The devil (played by the director himself) is especially scary with his perpetually flicking tongue and gleeful expression,

            The first fifteen minutes or so is rather boring, being filled mainly with images of medieval engravings but stick with it because the movie takes off after that.

            The movie was censored or banned in several countries, including the United States.  It takes a dim view of humanity. Those that fear the devil seem to do so out of backwardness and stupidity but those that serve the devil do so out of lust and greed.  The church is naturally lumped in with this.  Clergy are presented as just as stupid and lustful as their flock, perhaps even more so.

            But again, it is the images not the plot, that leave a lasting impression; Satan tempting a young woman as she lies next to her husband, a witches Sabbath where they sacrifice and eat a baby, a skeletal horse, witches flying through the air, grotesque demons prancing about in an orgy, women lining up to literally kiss the devil’s ass, a young monk orgasmicly enjoying a flagellation and Satan tempting a nun to defile a Eucharist wafer.

            The end of the film slows down as it tries to explain the demonic possessions of the middle ages as modern day mental illness, but it’s difficult to reconcile that with the utter realism with which the film depicts its diabolical subjects.

            The film was re-presented in 1968 with a narration by William Burroughs. The narration adds to the film but the jazz musical score, though adding to the mood in places tends to distract at other times. This version is shorter than the original but I think that’s a product of the narration being quicker than reading as it retains all the imagery of the original.

100 Years Later

            Haxan premiered  in September 1922. Now a century out, the question is, is it still relevant? I would say that it’s at least as relevant as it was a hundred years ago, perhaps more so.

            A hundred years ago the world was about 2 years removed from a global pandemic that killed tens of millions of people. Russia was engaged in a civil war brought on by the Bolshevik Revolution. The world was about 7 years away from the Great Depression. In response to this chaos, fascism spread through the world as people begged for someone to take charge of their lives. Any of this sounding familiar?

            Beyond the current events, we seem to be entering into a kind of New Dark Age. The rejection of science and critical thinking, in favor of emotion and wishful thinking, is a trend that started growing in the United States about 20 years ago and is now spreading to the rest of the world.  Believing what can be supported has been rejected for believing what makes us feel good. This same devaluing of knowledge is what led to the Dark Ages that took Europe a thousand years to climb out of.

            One thing that has changed in the last hundred years is the general perception of witchcraft. When most people see witchcraft now it’s in tandem with Wiccans worshiping nature or someone peddling their grandmother’s home remedy for sore throats. Most people aren’t living in fear of Satanic conspiracies spreading through their neighborhood, though if you remember the 1980s, that was an irrational belief that was perpetuated without a shard of evidence.

On the other hand, maybe society has outgrown witches. Maybe black cats and pointed hats have become quaint. Conspiracy theories have replaced church doctrine and members of the opposing political party have become the unseen threat seeping into our daily lives.

            Of course, that’s all pretty heavy, maybe too heavy for the first time viewing of a silent film. Does Haxan entertain? Haxan won’t scare a modern audience. But it will definitely show you images that you will never forget and give the viewer an appreciation for the art of fine film making before the modern era of special effects. Students of films or aspiring filmmakers will certainly appreciate the careful crafting of effective, realistic, creepy imagery.

Want more? Read about the role of The Devil in film.

Still want more? Check out the review of Faust, a German film made around the same time as Haxan.

Black Candles

 

Black Candles (Los ritos sexuales del diablo)

1982

Director- José Ramón Larraz

Cast- Helga Liné, Vanessa Hidalgo, Jeffery Healey, Alfred Luchetti, Manuel Gómez-Álvarez, Carmen Carrión, Paola Matos

From Spain

            The movie has a striking poster with the demonic man carrying a naked woman with more beauties in the background and an angry goat off to the side. Well, there is nothing in this movie that is as scary as that poster, but it definitely doesn’t over sell the sex!

            The movie begins with a schmuck cheating on his wife, Fiona, played by German born Spanish Scream Queen, Helga Liné. Seriously, who would cheat on her!?! Well he gets what’s coming when he is murdered with a bit of witchcraft.

            Later, the schmuck’s sister Carol (Vanessa Hildago) shows up to both pay respects and wrap up family business. Tagging along is her husband who seems consistently pleased with himself.

Carol’s spidey sense begins to tingle when she notices several pieces of satanic artwork on display in Fiona’s living room.  Fiona plays it off and when asked about her husband’s death, she blames it on his drinking. Carol decides to get nosey and finds herself on the wrong side of a witch cult that doesn’t take kindly to strangers.

            The plot of the film is not really that original, incorporating tropes from both the satanic and folk horror genres. However, it packages those tropes quite well and delivers on the eroticism with occult elements that feel authentic and occasionally shocking. Two such scenes include the lithe Paola Matos ,who turns in an unforgettable performance first with a lesbian sex scene and then a scene where she has sex with a black goat as part of a magical ritual! Another scene that stands out is where a man is punished for betraying the coven. He is held down and raped with a sword (don’t betray witches!).

            The real significance of the movie, at least to me, is that it served as the swan song for Helga Liné’s horror career (though she would continue to act for another 25 years in non-horror roles).

Helga’s horror career spanned parts of three decades and involved significant contributions in different horror subgenres alongside some of the biggest names of her era. She had a  supporting role behind the queen of Gothic horror, Barbara Steele, in Nightmare Castle (1965). She starred in several Italian giallo film’s most notably So Sweet…So Perverse (1969) which also starred fellow Scream Queen Erika Blanc. She shared the screen with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas in Horror Express (1972).

            Her most important contributions came, though, as part of the Spanish horror exploitation movement in the early 70s. Its important to bear in mind that Helga was in her 40s by this point and stealing the show from women half her age! She worked twice with the king of Spanish horror, Paul Naschy in the Mummy’s Revenge and had the costarring lead with Naschy in the excellent Horror Rises from the Tomb. She had the starring role in The Loreley’s Grasp directed by the man who gave us Tomb of the Blind Dead, Amando de Ossorio. She also starred in The Vampire’s Night Orgy, directed by León Klimovsky who had worked with Naschy on many occasions.

            Mixed in with these horror staples she also starred in the strange Italian action/ suspense film Kriminal and she even shared the screen with Mexican cult figure Santo in Santo vs. Dr. Death!

            All of that brings us to Black Candles. Helga often took on sexy roles and never shied away from showing skin. Helga was 50 when she did Black Candles but her smoldering beauty had not cooled a degree. If anything, her age made her much more believable as the dominant force in the cult. 

            But Helga always carried herself with the grace and control of royalty (case in point, see her as the witch returned from the dead in Horror Rises from the Tomb). Black Candles is a very erotic role, and as I said before, shocking in places. It makes the perfect exclamation point to a horror career that included the biggest names in Gothic, Spanish, British and Italian horror.

Fun fact- Director  José Ramón Larraz was no stranger to eroticism. He is best known for the bloody, sexy film Vampyres, one of the best films in the lesbian vampire sub-genre.