Director: Abraham Sánchez, Diego Cohen, Fernando Urdapilleta, Christian Cueva, Ricardo Farias, Michelle Garza, Sergio Tello, Carlos Meléndez, Lex Ortega
Year: 2017
Country: Mexico
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
A collection of Mexican-centered stories from the hands of several up-and-coming genre talents.
Review:
La Leyenda De Juan Soldado-A prisoner traveling through the Mexican desert continually claims his innocence of supposed rape charges to his captors who refuse to listen and leave him for dead when they learn of the real culprit. Once they learn of this incident, they quickly find themselves targeted by a malevolent force hunting them down for their transgressions. This was quite fun if overall a rather familiar segment. The overall reasoning for his revenge is too cliche and happens to have been utilized far too frequently, but beyond that, there's a ton to like about this piece. The sequence in Hell to determine his fate is utterly chilling with the Satanic figures around him and the horned one himself putting in a special appearance with a fantastic make-up job that gives this a stylish look and feel. The actual revenge itself is a brief interlude but lets the historical connection play out rather nicely in the epilogue which is the actual power of the piece since that is the overall reasoning for the segment.
Paidós Phobos-A young woman living alone in a huge mansion who becomes tormented by the life she could've lead but is instead forced to care for her ailing child which only causes her frustrations to grow. Taking it upon herself to live for once, she finds a connection to a supernatural guardian might save her life. Frankly, this is the hardest one to gauge as this is quite possibly the weirdest entry in the installment. The vivid hallucinations, revolving around the frequent use of raging music in nightclubs and her being used and abused by different men, are just not all that horrific a concept to be utilized as the central premise for her to be tormented by since the shortened running time of the segment doesn't give this the proper depth to explore this out as to why it's a torturous tactic. The other scenes of her with the doll pretending to drown it while visualizing it as a young child are dark in theory but again, we don't get anything here as the lack of dialog makes it all rather confusing. Another stylish and engaging effort, but one that does have a lot of flaws involved.
Potzonalli-A family go through the meal preparations for their abusive father while being tormented by his past actions. Sensing their opportunity, the family goes through their revenge in grand style to make him pay for his transgressions. This turned out to be the highlight of the whole affair. The clever twist found within, where the apparent joy of their celebrations at first give way to an utterly phenomenal act of revenge that gets carried out in grisly, gory detail that is quite thrilling to behold. Managing to tie it into what he did to each one individually, with each of the family members suffering their own individual abuse which lets them carve him up in their own individual action, gives this a sense of fun while letting each member get some shots in for some stellar effects work throughout. Overall, this one is a lot of fun.
Bolas de Fuego-A couple of friends going through the rigors of an audition in a porn video involving a few friends from a local agency. When it dawns on them that their female counterparts are now who they said to be the shoot turns into a far more deadly experience than they expected. This one was quite the odd entry which has a lot to like. The initial concept of the shoot which is being broadcast live is a novel one which gives this a great setup that turns into a far sleazier experience once their true identities are given. That turns the shoot into a much more dangerous situation that has some fun with the two girls who turn the tables on the guys which allow this one plenty of fine make-up effects for the aftermath. What makes it so weird is the constant viral pop-up ads that show up all over the screen and makes it confusing as to what the purpose was, leaving this with a somewhat odd experience. Overall, though, it has a lot to like.
Vitriol-A lonely young woman who's obsessed with her looks and tries whatever she can to improve her appearance which eventually results in several dangerous encounters with a potent drug. Finally convincing herself to give it a try, she finds a dangerous quality about herself that puts the others around her at risk. This was easily the weakest of the segments and really didn't amount to much overall. The central plotline isn't in the slightest bit creepy making the segment boring as a result, nothing much makes sense and there's no reasoning or motivation for anything that happens, leaving this one a complete mystery. We get nothing about her obsession for the figure she admires, why wants to look like that or why this is supposed to be a scary or thrilling situation so the entire running time is simply bland and uneventful. This one really didn't need to be here despite more stylish camera-work and an overall slick appeal.
No Te Duermas-A young boy who's troubled by a series of strange dreams which disturbs his parents with the continued insistence on a ritual before bedroom that leaves them convinced is the reason for his dreams. As he falls further into his beliefs, everything attempted to satiate him only drives his antics even further and giving them a real reason to be frightened. This one was another strong effort and was a real highlight here. The strong story at its core, with the young childs' strict adherence to the ritual that he ends up playing out every night due to the warning continually plays out in his head, give this a rather interesting and chilling premise that is really given quite a lot of chilling moments here as the different stories told to help him end up only hurting him further. Balanced by the overt supernatural flashes that continually appear before him which add a far more chilling quality than expected and a rather chilling twist in the finale, there's plenty to like with this one as it's a strong highlight.
Ya Es Hora-A group of young girls upset over a classmate who embark on an occult ritual targeted at destroying her which plays out as they expected it to occur. As they leave their targets in truly deformed and disturbed manners, they realize too late what's going on and how their actions have unforeseen consequences. This was a somewhat enjoyable offering that seems a little predictable but still, has a lot to really like about it. The fact that the whole affair is based on the central ritual taking place at the two locations, as the demonic ritual occurs on the rooftop while the gross-out body horror antics are occurring at the slumber party gives this a frantic energy that goes nicely alongside the utterly phenomenal make-up effects used to showcase each of the torments occurring that are truly bloody and gruesome. What really hurts this one is the predictable manner of their actions and a few dodgy special effects that look off against the more realistic actions elsewhere, but it's still enjoyable.
Exodoncia-A troubled young woman determined to start over, reaches out to her fervent drug-use as a way to calm her demented and delirious fantasies that are taking over her life. As the drug-fueled urges start to take her over even further, it drives her into ever more deadly forms of dismemberment to get her fix. This was a rather enjoyable if somewhat odd choice to really end this on. The fervent religious imagery apparent here, from the demon adorned with religious paraphernalia that accompanies a masturbation fantasy who soon begins tormenting her during the experience, starts this one in grisly fashion and leaves a telling mark on the segment as a whole. The central torture at the forefront of the scene is grisly, graphic and exceptionally brutal, but the problem with it all is that there's no real direction to this one as the dialog makes it all quite impossible to follow along and doesn't really give this much of a point beyond the brutality present.
Overview: ****/5
Overall, there's much to like with this one and it makes for a fine companion piece to the original effort. A few of the segments do stumble slightly, but it has enough to like about it with some fantastic segments to counteract that and make for a truly worthwhile anthology for those who enjoy this style of film.
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