alanmora

You will never see a film quite like "Santa Sangre"! It is a uniquely artistic and well made horror film that presents the viewer with some of the most graphic, yet visually stunning and artistic scenes imaginable. The film concerns a young man named Fenix (played as a child by the director's young son then as an adult by his older son) who was born the son of a religiously obsessed woman who is part of a strange cult that worships a woman who was murdered and had both arms removed. This woman soon meets up with a circus owner who takes her and her son in but then begins an elicit affair with a woman who works for the circus who is covered from head to toe with tattoos! When Fenix's mother walks in on the two of them doing the deed, she douses her philandering husband's private parts with acid and he retaliates by cutting both her arms off before slicing his own throat! A few years later, Fenix (who witnessed this entire spectacle) is now in a mental institution and there is an unusual scene involving his leaving the institution for a night and roaming the streets with several mentally deficient patients while high on cocaine! Fenix is eventually freed from the institution by his mother, who miraculously survived the previous attack but is now without her arms. She takes her son under her wing and the two create a strange illusion type stage show involving Fenix standing behind his mother during the performance using his own arms to simulate her missing arms! He becomes his mother's arms during their everyday life as well in some intricately thought out scenes involving the two of them playing the piano and performing other daily tasks! Anytime Fenix becomes to closely attached to any female his mother compels him to kill her using her body and his arms until eventually Fenix can take no more leading to the film's unusual and unpredictable ending. This film is an absolute assault on your senses and even though it is graphic it must be seen to be fully appreciated!

This has got to be one of the most original concepts for a film I have ever seen! This film takes the 'film within a film' (a concept used in other horror films such as Lamberto Bava's "Demons") concept to an entirely new level! As the film begins, we are told the story of a diabolic mother (played by Zelda Rubenstein of "Poltergeist" fame) and her obese, dim witted son who is nearly blind. This man is a serial killer who is controlled by his mother and her bizarre hypnotic powers over him. The strange hypnosis scenes in this movie are quite intense and it was rumored that they actually caused headaches and nausea for some viewers (in fact the original VHS box for the film warns that the film can be hypnotic and that watching it could cause headaches). "Mother" convinces her son to stalk a movie theater during a screening of "The Lost World" and murder the patrons one by one. She also commands him to remove the victims eyes and bring them to her. She believes that collecting eyes will somehow cure her son's illness and blindness. However, at this point the film takes a strange twist and we now realize that the film we have been watching is actually a separate movie called "The Mommy" that is being viewed by patrons in yet another movie theater who are being stalked by a man who is obsessed with the film. As the patrons of the theater witness the brutal slayings happening on the screen in front of them, they too are murdered one by one by the psychopath that is loose in their own movie theater! Now the viewer realizes that they are actually watching a film within a film within a film! It is now that the film reaches it's bizarre and unusual climax with an unbelievable ending. "Anguish" is not for the squeamish or faint of heart as the eye gouging and murder sequences are pretty intense and gory but it is most certainly one of the most original concepts for a horror film that I have seen in a long time and unfortunately, yes it is currently being remade!

An inferior sequel compared to the original, this film is an obvious attempt by director Tom Six to further shock his audience. Even though it is filmed entirely in Black and White and the main Villain has not one actual word of dialog, the film does succeed to shock. It's villain Martin's shocking and grotesque appearance alone is enough to make anyone want to vomit. Throw in the fact that he randomly likes to soil himself and is sexually obsessed with the original "Human Centipede" film and you have an original concept for a sequel that I do not believe has ever been done before. Martin's obsession leads him to create his own 'Human Centipede' this time with not just 3 but 12 segments! The plot takes some absurd twists and turns ignoring the fact that, as a security guard, Martin should be a little more conscientious of all of the security cameras filming his every move and abductions! Logic is thrown completely out of the window in exchange for pure shock value in this one. Consider the fact that, as a security guard who is mentally challenged, it is impossible for Martin to have the medical knowledge required to undergo such a surgical endeavor. Nearly all of the characters in this film are deplorable human beings from the insensitive mother who taunts Martin incessantly throughout the film to their belligerent neighbor who goes on a rampage simply because someone complains about his loud music. Martin even tricks one of the film's original stars, Ashlynn Yennie, into believing that she is auditioning for a Quinten Tarentino film and makes her the head piece of his centipede. Very little is left to the imagination in this one...things that were merely inferred in the original film are shown in graphic detail here and expounded upon grotesquely! DO NOT VIEW THIS FILM WHILE EATING!