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Santa sangre (1989) More at IMDbPro »

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26 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
A film that makes me confront my deepest fears., 22 July 2005

Author: NateManD from Bloomsburg PA

"Santa Sangre" is one of Jodorowsky's most accessible films. Although not as strange as "El Topo" and "the Holy Mountain", it is still very bizarre ..... A colorful, horrifying and hallucinatory masterpiece. Many have compared it to "Psycho", "Freaks" and "Fellini". In my opinion, you can't compare it to anything because it's in its own category. Produced by Claudio Argento, brother of Dario Argento; the film does have a similar color style to "Suspiria". "Santa Sangre" is the story of Fenix, a man in a mental institution at the films beginning. A flashback shows Fenix as a child, growing up in the circus. His mother, Concha is a trapeze artist and religious fanatic who worships an armless god. His father Olgo is a knife thrower, who is constantly having flirtatious encounters with the ugly, cruel tattooed women. Fenix's closest friends are a mute mime, a dwarf and of course clowns. After a circus performance, Fenix's mother catches Olgo having an affair with the tattooed lady. In a fit of jealous rage, she dumps acid on their genital regions. Then Olgo cuts off Concha's arms like the goddess, and then cuts his own throat. Poor Fenix witnesses the death of his father, and the Tattooed women drives away with his mute friend Alma. Years later Fenix is reunited with his armless mother, she's out for revenge. In order for her to throw knives, he has to stand behind her and put his arms through her sleeves. It's as if she controls his arms with her mind. "Santa Sangre" is very bloody, disturbing and surreal, but at the same time beautiful and dreamlike. It contains bizarre images such as an elephant funeral, chickens falling from the sky, and mentally handicapped kids tricked into snorting cocaine. (the last being a metaphor for societies corruption of the innocent) Because the film is psychologically disturbing, it makes me confront my deepest subconscious fears; loss of arms, genitals or sanity. I have watched the film more than several times, and it is one of my favorite movies. Every time I watch it, I cringe as I'm challenged by both its beauty and disturbing intensity. So it's not really a horror film, but a surreal masterpiece with horrifying images. It will haunt you long after it's over.

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17 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
This One Stays With You, 22 July 2002
Author: daiskeyoshida from New York

I remember seeing this movie in 1990 in a tiny cinema in London, on a date. As we walked from the theater and got on the tube, neither of us said a word for 20 minutes. Finally, she said, "you have a strange taste in films."

Back then, I was heavily into Luis Bunuel. This was one of the few post-Bunuel movies that embodied the essential creepiness and odd humor of the Surrealists (the other one that comes to mind is "Videodrome"). There's the obvious Freudian stuff, the obvious shock stuff, but leaving all that aside, there are indelible moments of cinematic poetry. The elephant; the son's arms; the final shot. It feels, more than 10 years later, like a repressed dream/nightmare.

I don't consider this a "horror" movie, in the sense that there are no slasher, monster, alien, demon, zombie, cannibal, haunted house, supernatural, dread disease, or giallo elements. I don't remember this movie being particularly scary or gory; just creepy. Maybe it's in a similar genre to "Eyes Without a Face," but only in the sense that both movies deal with mutilation and revenge. (Then again, I remember seeing "Un Chien Andalou" and "In the Realm of the Senses" in the horror section of a video store -- a sign of either ignorance or insight, I could never figure out.) This one truly belongs in the Foreign Films section, but not just for being non-Hollywood.

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18 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
You will remember this movie!, 24 February 2000

Author: lunarmm from Philadelphia, PA

I saw the U.S. premiere of this movie at the DC FilmFest. I was intrigued by the thought of a man who makes movies once every 15 years.

Well, I'll tell you. The people sitting next to me left 10 - 15 minutes into the movie. If you can get through the first 30 minutes, it is worthwhile.

Of course, I am into very surrealistic movies and ones that address the question of what is real and what is not.

After seeing it, the visuals have stayed with me over the years. A powerful movie for the adventurous.

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12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Unforgettable, but not for everyone, 1 October 2003

Author: AJ Milne from Ottawa, Canada

There's so much you can say about this work. Vivid characters, colours, and situations that practically leap off the screen into the theatre next to you. A wonderfully quirky, repeatedly startling story. Graceful low-key cinematography that turns slums and sideshows into an eerily beautiful netherworld, countless images that look like you could freeze them and hang them as inspirational totems for cults we have to hope don't exist. Jodorowsky paints with a heavy, vibrant brush, but it's the perfect tone for this primal-yet-humanizing tale.

But I should post a warning. As far as I'm concerned, my first viewing of this film was one of the more worthwhile two hours or so I've ever spent in a theatre, and I think based on my experience that this sadly neglected wonder deserves every bit of word-of-mouth promotion it can get. But I'm betting it's not to everyone's taste.

So this is my advice: if you found Storaro's green and red/jungle foliage and human remains canvasses in Apocalypse Now unsettlingly beautiful the first time you saw them, and wondered momentarily whether still prints were available for hanging before realizing what you were actually suggesting to yourself, here's a film for you. If you found Delicatessan's celebration of the paradoxical beauty hiding in human ugliness and stupidity a bit too sanitized for your taste, Santa Sangre's rather murkier depths await. You will love this work.

If, on the other hand, you have no taste for painters who work best in human blood as opposed to oils, and/or don't appreciate a bloody carnality mixed in with your religious metaphor, you will quite probably hate it with a passion that exceeds my affection. And I don't really blame you or judge you for walking out early. It takes all kinds.

Either way, fondly or with revulsion, you will remember it vividly, ten years later. I can say this confidently, as that's how long it was from the first time I saw this film to the day I wrote this review. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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20 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Close to perfect, 11 July 2000

Author: cofemug from Seattle, WA

First let me say that this is my frist movie by the director. I have not seen El Topo, or any of his others. This is a great movie, in my opinion. Not quite perfect, but still great. It, more than any other movie I have seen, exudes the most raw emotion without saying a single word. One of the movies characters is a deaf mute. There is hardly any dialogue, but it is all the better without it. It oozes the emotion that it needs to pass by through camera work, style, and acting.

The story is not your normal story, and in fact is a bit creepy. I will not tell you one single part of it, because I only knew very little going in to see it. But, let me tell you that it is not for the weak of mind or heart. But, the emotion of the movie is completely there, and I highly recommend this to the people who don't mind thinking to be slightly scared. And this is a movie that doesn't feel it has to explain everything away, and so is all the better for it.

9/10

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12 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
A fantastic film, 1 April 2000

Author: xanathar (xterminalx@yahoo.com) from Cleveland, OH

Once again, Alejandro Jodorowsky has managed to come up with a film that defies genrification even as it defies description. Santa Sangre is, on its surface, something of a suspense/horror film, but under the surface, it's a psychological drama, a black comedy, and about a hundred other genres all meshing in such perfect harmony that it's impossible to easily categorize this masterpiece.

All I can say is, if you have a chance to see this film, definitely do so. While the film is not recommended for those under 18 on the box, it is unrated. Much of the violence here is suggested rather than shown, and what nudity there is is more allegorical and less prurient. Probably not for the squeamish, but never crosses that line between the disturbing and the gross-out.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the most uplifting films you will ever see, 30 June 2001
Author: Martin Deighton from UK (Pronounced "Yuk")

This is no mere horror film - it's far too intelligent for that. It's a parable about human redemption and the healing power of love.

Yes, there is a lot of violence, cruelty and exploitation to endure in this film, which many viewers will find uncomfortable. But it all serves to underline the fundamental premise, which is that no matter how vile, screwed-up and irredeemable a person may become, there is always a way back to humanity and civilisation - through the compassion and understanding of other human beings.

If this film doesn't bring a lump to your throat, there's something wrong with you. It's an absolute inspiration. The visuals are pretty amazing too!

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
a masterpiece, indeed, 13 December 1999
Author: dmuel from downtown, Michigan

This is a startling work, a truly artistic masterpiece, which did achieve some mainstream recognition for Jodorowoski but not what the film deserved. Filled with unsettling images, grotesque displays of violence and sexuality, and subtle but comic references, Santa Sangre is Jodorowoski's most coherent work. It is also a thoroughly artistic work, with a greater emphasis on representation than drama or morality. If you have not seen this movie, rent it. You will not soon forget it whatever your final evaluation might be. Too bad its not available on DVD (hint).

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Surreal, scabrous, but seemingly moving, 29 October 1999

Author: Afracious from England

After a long absence Jodorowsky returned with this surreal but more accessible offering than his earlier work, focusing on a circus and starring Jodorowsky's son and grandson as Fenix, a young boy who witnesses his father cut off the arms of his mother before committing suicide. Then we see Fenix grown up and finding his mother again, and she uses him as her slave, using his hands for her various needs and also to commit murder. There are the trademark Jodorowsky images in parts with deformed people on a trip out from an asylum, and powerful scenes like the elephant being savaged for food. But it somehow has a more warmer and humble feel to it than his previous work.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautiful Repulsive Art, 23 June 2004
Author: (nhargii@hotmail.com) from South Wales

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Possible spoilers

Alejandro Jodorowsky's (El Topo, The Holy Mountain) SANTA SANGRE was produced by Dario Argento's brother. It contains the same brutal violence towards women as Argento's pictures; although one man (Stockwell) is castrated via acid to the nether regions negating this as an anti feminist film. But this is not a horror movie in any way, shape or form as this is as beautiful as it is repulsive.

The strange Oedipus tale resembles Hitchcock's PSYCHO but this is a whole new kettle of fish. Elaborate colours, (the cemetery scene with the victims painted white resurrecting is similar to the climax in MANIAC but more effective) recalls Japanese films, e.g. Kwaidan. The OTT horror is occasionally camp but this is intended and the closing line ‘MY HANDS' will either make you laugh or cry. Love the film and you'll cry. The emotional soundtrack will enhance this effect, so be warned.

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