Alucarda

Rating:
Summary: BEST SICK WIERD PSYCHO HORROR FILM EVER!!
Review: "BAPHOMET!! SATAN!! BEELZEBUB!!" shrieks ALUCARDA (in quite an over the top way) while spinning around in circles in a black floor length dress. She is like a demon possessed STEVIE NICKS crossed with DIAMANDA GALAS!!

This film is truly MY personal favorite movie I have seen in years just because it is the most INSANE thing I have ever watched. Just the ridiculousness of ALUCARDA running around screaming "SATAN!!" at all the nuns and seeing them all burst into flames is something I will always remember fondly.
This movie is in a class all by itself and is TRULY AMAZING.

I am not making a case that this is in the category of gripping horror like THE EXORCIST, but for arty campy horror that leaves the mold at the door...ALUCARDA is the HOLY GRAIL!!

Rating:
Summary: BEST SICK WIERD PSYCHO HORROR FILM EVER!!
Review: Alucarda is an erotic, psychedelic horror masterpiece from mexican director Juan Moctezuma. It's both a work of art and a luridly entertaining exploitation shocker. Moctezuma was a collaborator of Jodorowsky's and fans of that filmmaker's work will likely enjoy this. You can also sense the influence of Mario Bava and Jean Rollin on Alucarda, the former in the rich use of color and the latter in the stylized erotic images. The Mondo Macabro DVD looks fantastic and comes with some nice extras including a british doc about the director and an interview with filmmaker and Alucarda fan Guillermo Del Toro. Some might recognize bits of dialogue from this film, which have been sampled by the Electric Hellfire Club and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.

Rating:
Summary: Great DVD of a neglected Classic
Review: Alucarda is an erotic, psychedelic horror masterpiece from mexican director Juan Moctezuma. It's both a work of art and a luridly entertaining exploitation shocker. Moctezuma was a collaborator of Jodorowsky's and fans of that filmmaker's work will likely enjoy this. You can also sense the influence of Mario Bava and Jean Rollin on Alucarda, the former in the rich use of color and the latter in the stylized erotic images. The Mondo Macabro DVD looks fantastic and comes with some nice extras including a british doc about the director and an interview with filmmaker and Alucarda fan Guillermo Del Toro. Some might recognize bits of dialogue from this film, which have been sampled by the Electric Hellfire Club and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting entry in "devil flick" genre.
Review: Alucarda was obviously made to cash in on the success of the Exorcist. And on many levels, it succeeds. The film is about a young girl who lives in a convent, and takes a fellow young nymph into the woods, where they encounter some strange gypsies. These gypsies are, well, basically devil worshippers, and they seem to possess poor Alucarda, who wants nothing more than to have some fun in the woods, and escape the sin obsessed nuns of the convent, who seem to be wearing bloody bandages as habits. Well, from there the film gets very crazy, with lots of blood, screaming, and blasphemies, as Alucarda uses her new found power much the way Sissy Spacek did in Carrie. And from there, it's nuns vs. devil-chicks, and sheer lunacy. There is a disturbing scene towards the end with a crucufix, that worked well in the "anything goes" seventies, but would never work today. The film is erotic, disturbing, and just plain old fun, but certainly not for everybody. Very eerie, and atmospheric, and on a stormy October night I cant think of a better way to spend it than by watchin a film with as much guts as "Alucarda".

Rating:
Summary: THE DEVIL IN MISS ALUCARDA
Review: Ok i have seen these packaged moives before with there BANNED and the most blood in any movie horse crap. But is it me or do you feel compelled to buy it just cause your afraid of missin somthin?
I was kinda hesitant about buyin this movie cause i shelled out 20$ for Unhinged witch was just the worst damn movie I think I have ever seen and that had the "shocking banned out sold poltergiest before banned" and all sorts of crap, so I seen alucarda and it said "the most blood and screeming in a moive i have ever seen" as the qoute on the cover..now the first thing i thougt of was Unhinged...but me afraid of missin out on a horror classic I bought it
Anyhow..I got it home and soon relized it was gonna be better than unhinged..i hate to even say what happens cause the moive its self is only an 1hr and 15 mins and the polt is rushed very very quickly in the movie and i get into what happens i will tell you the whole movie so i will give you the basics. These two girls live in a convent with strict nuns and they basically join a cult to make it short and become possesed..you know what comes next all hell breaks loose...typical but good none the less...the only thing holding this moive back is this movie could have been a classic if it had more time on the screen do i think you should own it of course i do.. as far as the most blood and screamin in a movie that guy qouted on the cover he must have been raised in a convent himself cause this movie didn't shock me at all.. Was it good yes was i shocked nope..I think the ending of this movie witch i will not give away was pretty cool they couldn't have gotten a more sinister lookin girl to play Alucarda but then again she looks like one of my ex's from highschool so maybe thats why... i dunno this movie is not for anyone but true horror fans and if you like to be the one to show off somthin not alot of people heard about or seen this would be a good one.

Rating:
Summary: This movie just freakin' rocks, m'kay?
Review: Okay, I've been burned before, as I'm sure we all have, by the blurbs on the box. This one says:

More blood, loud screaming and nudity then any horror film I can think of.

So I bought it, knowing full well it could be another Unhinged. So, I started watching it and the first thing that really stands out are the costumes of the nuns that are made to look like bloodied bandages. And so, I made it through the first time and other then the nun's habbits, it wasn't that weird. But then I was compelled to watch it again, and the second time it was like watching it for the first time!

This movie throws so much specticle, blood, screams, and general devilry at its audience it is like a hard rain that bounces off the ground and doesn't soak in.

This movie could be the greatest single horror movie in history and no one has ever heard of it! Except for the guy quoted on the cover.

If you're a horror fan, you gotta get this. If you're dating a horror fan and you don't really get "this whole horror thing" but you love your horror lover, then get him or her this and you will be well esteemed! They may even think you understand them, which could have dire consequences.

Other then the movie, there are some interviews with people who knew the director, some guy named Juan Moctezuma and possibly a documentary, I don't really remember. And then there is a text biography about him, which I didn't read because reading is passe and besides, I'm illiterate.

So, buy this movie now or you may not be able to look at yourself in the mirror because you will have become a vampire, or something.

Rating:
Summary: "Satan Satan Satan! Our lord and master..."
Review: Since this film is most likely going to be noticed and picked up by those who are also into other foreign "horror"/skin flicks, I shall use Jean Rollin and Jess Franco as the comparison references.
Actually, there really IS no comparison. Alucarda is much more of a 'film' than anything those directors have put out, and really makes their cinematic incompetence stand out in sharp relief.
As a "skin" flick it's about on par with Franco's film roster or Rollin's vampire films: no "sex scene" per se, but fabulous full frontals (fairly lengthy) from a couple of beautiful actresses.
Story wise, it's much more coherent than theirs, as well. Even though it probably had about the same budget as an exploitation flick, it uses the money wisely and doesn't come off as being
cheaply made.
Overall, that is. The blood and effects are by current standards primitive, but quite effective nonetheless.
This is definitely not a vampire movie, but rather a film about your typical rebellious girl stuck in a convent who makes a pact with the devil and brings her innocent, wayward friend into it.
She then proceeds to "raise hell" so to speak within the convent. A witch hunt ensues within its walls, and the apocalyptic ending is very much in the vein of "Carrie".
It's only moderately heavy on skin and blood, so the storyline doesn't suffer as a result of flesh overkill. Alucarda's strongest point is the atmosphere which pervades it--an obscure, generic thing to say and hardly explanatory, I know, but you'll understand it when you see it.
I give it four stars based on the genre, comparing it to similar films. I'm not saying it's four stars on an "Oscar" level by any means. It's definitely worth a watch if you like foreign 70s vampire/horror films. Not scary, but great nudity and decent plot. Another plus is that it's in ENGLISH!!! No subtitles needed!

Rating:
Summary: A landscape of pure crimson blood
Review: The movie definitely deserves a place in the list of the best vampire movies ever made. The characters are quite good, though the overacting of Tina Romero (Alucarda) makes the character seem not so real. ALUCARDa/aDRACULA that is a funny thing you find in the name.

Rating:
Summary: They gave their souls to Hell... but the Devil wanted MORE!
Review: This extremely stylish and surreal Mexican horror film is directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma, who also directed MARY MARY BLOODY MARY & THE MANSION OF MADNESS and produced two of Alejandro Jodorowsky's early film's FANDO AND LIS & EL TOPO.

ALUCARDA is an interesting mix of Ken Russell's brilliant THE DEVILS, the classic EXORCIST as well as THE ANTICHRIST, and CARRIE.

The story begins when a pretty orphan named Justine is sent to live in an eerie convent, where sin obsessed 'sisters' dress in bloody shrouds that make them look like mummies. When a mysterious girl calling herself Alucarda suddenly appears in her room, Justine is immediately drawn to her. As the girls begin to bond, they find themselves lured deep into the woods by a strange hunchbacked gypsy with a secret and soon after their romantic convent existence is turned upside down. Possession, vampirism and devil worship (plus LOTS of screaming!) follow and when the girls begin to challenge the authority of the nuns and reigning priests by chanting satanic rituals during a religious lesson and proclaiming their love for each other, they're forced to take part in a deadly exorcism to 'cleanse their possessed souls'. Afterward, the convent has hell to pay!

The film has plenty of blood and nudity to make gore hounds happy, but it's far from exploitive in my opinion. Overall it's really lovely to look at and fans of Jodorowsky's films will instantly recognize Moctezuma's similar cinematic style. The director makes the most of his limited budget and creates extremely atmospheric sets that stand out next to his imaginative editing. The somewhat simple story is loaded with metaphors, but it's never heavy handed and the dreamy surreal mood of the movie sticks with you long after it's short 74 minute running time has ended. I had the urge to watch it again as soon as it was over!

Tina Romero is especially memorable as the passionate Alucarda and Claudio Brook (Mexico's answer to Christopher Lee) also does a great job in his duel roles as the hunchback gypsy and the sympathetic doctor.

The DVD has been digitally transferred from the original negative so the picture and sound quality are both great! The film looks sharp and the colors are rich. The actual soundtrack is a strange mix of curious melodies and rather bad 70s synth noises. It could be better, but it doesn't take much away from the enjoyment of this odd little gem of a movie.

DVD Extras include a documentary about film maker Juan Lopez Moctezuma, a text bio/filmography/interview of the director, the original movie trailer and an insightful interview with director Guillermo del Toro (CHRONOS & THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE) who praises the films of Moctezuma and the performances of actor Claudio Brook.