Poison for the Fairies (1985)

A 10 year old girl convinces a lonely classmate that she is a witch, forcing the child to become her assistant. Though their games are initially rather naive, they gradually take a nasty and violent turn.

Director:

Carlos Enrique Taboada

Writers:

Carlos Enrique Taboada (story), Carlos Enrique Taboada (screenplay)

Stars:

Ana Patricia Rojo, Elsa María Gutiérrez, Leonor Llausás

6 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Ana Patricia Rojo	...	Verónica
Elsa María Gutiérrez	...	Flavia (as Elsa María)
Leonor Llausás	...	La Bruja (as Leonor Llauzas)
Carmen Stein	...	Nana (as Carmela Stein)
María Santander	...	Miss Aragón
Ernesto Schwartz	...	Tono
Rocío Lazcano	...	Senora Ellia
Blanca Lidia Muñoz	...	Madame Rickard (as Blanca Lydia Muñoz)
Sergio Bustamante	...	Flavia's Father (voice)
Lilia Aragón	...	Flavia's Mother (voice)
Hilda Pérez Carbajal	...	Madame Rickard (voice)
Marcela Páez	...	Grandmother (voice)
Araceli de León	...	Nana (voice)
Patricia Acevedo	...	(voice)

Storyline

Mexico City circa 1965: Flavia is an aristocratic little girl, who is very lonely and bored. At school she meets and befriends a strange and beautiful girl named Verónica, who dreams of becoming a witch. Their games get increasingly sadistic and macabre, and escalate to involve the bloody murder of a piano teacher and macabre mayhem.

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Plot Keywords:

girl in school uniform | knee socks | fairy tale | supernatural power | folk horror | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror

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Details

Official Sites:

IMCINE

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

1985 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

The Evil Fairies

Filming Locations:

Colonia Condesa, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE), Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Producción Cinematográfica (STPC)

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steven Wilson composed a song of the same name inspired by the film

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Goofs

In the final scene, Flavia is shown standing in an empty yard. The angle switches, and there is a very short shot of her sitting with her knees clearly bent, as if she is on a chair or a bench. In the next shot, she is standing again with nothing nearby on which she might have been sitting.

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Alternate Versions

An alternate ending was shot where both girls escape the burning house, not just one of them, and swear each other to secrecy. Also, Jaime's murder is edited out on most TV prints

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Connections

References The Bad Seed (1956)

User Reviews

A soft-spoken shocker

At first, Poison for the Fairies may remind American viewers of the classic "Wonderful World of Disney" feature films, leading some people to believe they have been tricked into watching a children's movie. However, it is not for children. It is instead an atmospheric, absorbing fairy tale about two little girls and their intense, unsettling friendship--if one can rightly call a relationship based on psychological dominance as "friendly." The plot is deceptively simple: Lonely, aristocratic Flavia comes to a new school, where she instantly grabs the attention of Veronica, a girl from a lower-class family, who pretends to be a witch in order to comfort herself for a lack of power in the real world. All the other girls have long since learned to ignore Veronica, but Flavia is just innocent enough to believe that Veronica truly is a witch, her beliefs helped along once several macabre coincidences seem to reinforce Veronica's claims that she possesses black magic. Gradually the line between childhood friendship and a master and slave is blurred, and Veronica's games of make-believe witchcraft have filled Flavia with a fear and despair that are far too real.

People who expect a traditional horror film will definitely be disappointed in Poison for the Fairies. The pace of the film, along with the lack of violence or even blood, may be too slow for some viewers to tolerate. Visually, the film looks dated, and certain stylistic techniques (particularly the lengths to which the camera goes in avoiding the faces of adults) seem a little hackneyed. But all in all, this is a film of culminating, creepy horror building to a shocking but inevitable denouement, and well worth a watch.