Carne de tu carne

I watched Carne De Tu Carne so that I could tick it off in my battered Aurum Encyclopedia of Horror, but what it's doing there I really don't know: it didn't really feel like a horror film to me. There's a couple of teenagers who slurp blood and eventually turn into zombies, but there is no attempt to generate an atmosphere of fear or deliver scares. My guess is that the whole thing is allegorical, representing the political turmoil of Colombia during the 1950s, using traditional folklore to tell the story. Or something like that. To be honest, I didn't understand what was going on for much of the time.

It opens in full-on confusing mode: a group of men putting up fences uncover a burial site, while others add corpses to a pile of fresh bodies. Then a bloke places the barrel of his shotgun over a turkey's beak and pulls the trigger (a nasty spot of real animal violence), and a man is given a pot containing severed ears. Colour me confused.

The film then follows members of a wealthy Colombian family who gather for the reading of the will of grandmother Maria Josefa. Two of the beneficiaries-half-siblings Andres (David Guerrero) and Margaret (Adriana Herrán)-listen to rock and roll records and develop an unhealthy incestuous relationship (Elvis has a lot to answer for). An explosion rocks the neighbourhood, forcing the family to head for a house in the country. Andres and Margaret pay a visit to their black-sheep uncle Enrique (Josué Ángel), have sex (while ghostly ancestors look on), shoot someone and drink his blood, and run off with someone's baby. It's all very strange.

Perhaps all of this surreal weirdness would mean more to me if I were well-versed in the history and superstitions of Colombia, but I'm not.