Own the rights?
Juan López Moctezuma was certainly a talented director, and two of his films are among the best cult-films of the decade. "Alucarda" is very surreal but still more of a straight-forward horror film than Moctezuma's other masterpiece "The Mansion of Madness". This is a surrealist comedy through and though with some suspenseful moments but no outright horror film moments. It is one of the weirdest films I've seen and is highly recommended to psychotronic fans.The plot revolves around a reporter who travels to a remote insane asylum deep in a forest. He gradually learns that the current head of the asylum is just as insane, if not more so, than any one of the inmates. The current head doctor puts the inmates through bizarre rituals. It isn't until his tour is done that our hero learns the shocking truth - the "doctor" is in reality an escaped lunatic who lead a revolt. If all this seems like a horror film, nothing could be further from the truth. It was obviously very unmarketable, so the distributer slapped the title "Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon" to it and promoted it as a sex-and-gore piece. While there is nudity, there is very little gore. For years I had heard about "Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon" from various b-film distributors such as Sinister Cinema, and always thought it seemed like a cool little flick. I was shocked to learn that "The Mansion of Madness" was the same film when I received the DVD.The film is far from a flawless masterpiece. However, there are enough quirky characters and truly bizarre situations to keep the avid psychotronic fan involved, if not a fan of horror films. Claudio Brook stars as the leader of the asylum revolt, and does a capable job in a very over-the-top role. The other portrayals are unmemorable but fitting to the film. Moctezuma worked on several Alejandro Jodorowsky films as a producer, and if you admire the works of that legendary director, you'll probably enjoy the films of Moctezuma. (7/10)
You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
