Circus horrors cross over into the mundane world in this terrifying, psychedelic film from Alejandro Jodorowsky, the man who brought you the infamous El Topo. Fenix (Adan Jodorowsky, the director's son) is the son of a circus strongman (Guy Stockwell) and an aerialist (Blanca Guerra). One night, the mother sees from her high perspective that her husband is fooling around with the tattooed lady. She later confronts him and throws acid on him in retaliation. He saws off her arms in return and
kills himself. Fenix, witness to all this, runs away raving. Years later, Fenix (now played by older brother Axel Jodorowski) is released from an insane asylum by his armless mother. She wants to go on a murderous revenge spree, and maybe play a little piano, and she needs Fenix to be her arms for both tasks. Though the film has some of the hallucinatory qualities of Jodorowsky's earlier films, Santa Sangre doesn't quite have the same punch, particularly in terms of cerebral and emotional impact, despite its fine visuals. Santa Sangre is available in both R-rated and NC-17 edits. ~ John Voorhees, Rovi
The Mel Brooks of vulgar surrealism, Jodorowsky's basic principle is that if you throw 30 outrageous ideas at the audience, 2 or 3 are bound to make an impression.
The quality that Jodorowsky has above all is passionate sincerity. Apart from his wildly creative style, apart from his images, apart from his story inventions, he has strong moral feelings.
Put Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini and Dario Argento in bed together, and their perverted offspring might grow up to be something like 'Santa Sangre' - a murderously surreal masterpiece of blood and circuses.
A surreal circus of invention, pretension and astonishment that, like many carnivals, touts the talents of its performers but knows most customers came to gawk at the freaks.
One of Jodorowsky's finest films, this art horror movie resonates with all the disturbing power of a clammy nightmare filtered through the hallucinatory lens of 1960s psychedelia.
Once you make it through the first half, there's plenty of good creepy, strange, and disturbing material. But you have to make it through the first half to get there.
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