This was an on a whim kind of a watch, and I’ve always found horror films released earlier than 1990 to be somewhat more realistic than those that uses cutting edge technology nowadays. Probably because they use prosthetics, or even just plain make-ups, it makes the scene more real to the viewers. Directed by Juan López Moctezuma (1931-1995) and based on the novella titled” Carmilla” by Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

This is a Mexican made horror film that tackles the matters of demonic possession, satan worshippers, and the most obvious but lesser shown, vampirism. It’s about a girl named Alucarda (played by Tina Romero) who was brought up in a convent, falls in love with her new roommate, Justine (played by Susana Kamini) after like 2 minutes. Goes inside a ruined church-like tomb and began to get possessed by a demonic entity. She then makes a blood pact with Justine (more like a suicidal pact). Things started to change in Justine, hating the sunlight, gets burned by holy water and scarred by a crucifix.

Tone & Characters

The whole movie since the start was eerie and very unsettling. There was a realness to it, even though most of what was happening made no sense.

Stellar performance coming from Tina Romero (Alucarda). All of the other cast members also deserved an applause, they were able to act upon and around Romero’s performance. The nuns as well, their screams are horrifying, bringing forth that dread and terrifying atmosphere.

Storytelling

There were too many things happening at the same time and its a bit confusing if the viewer should take those other things into consideration (story-wise). Though I sort of found my way to understand the story, but there was just so much happening and most of it didn’t make any sense. Even with its short run time of an hour and 18 minutes, they were still able to convey a proper story with its important elements.

Vampirism or Demonic Possession?

Just when the movie was about to finish only then did I understand that it was about demonic possession and vampirism. All throughout the movie, not one mention of the word “vampire” was made. The indications as well were very subtle and I felt the need to enumerate those that I’ve caught on:

• Alucarda materializes behind Justine.
• Alucarda when spelled backwards is “A Dracula”.
• When they went into the ruin (where she was born) to make a blood pact, Alucarda reads the name plate on the tomb and it says “Lucy Westenra died in 1850” this indicates that Lucy was her mother, and we all know who Lucy was—yes, the wife of Count Dracula.
• The hunchback character made Justine and Alucarda drink each other’s blood.
• Justine is seen submerged in a coffin full of blood and proceeded to bite and rip off the throat of the nun.
• Both Justine and Alucarda disintegrated when they died.

What I didn’t like

There were tons of questionable things that were shown that made no sense. In my opinion, those were made for added shock value. Which was actually common during those times (looking at you Cannibal Holocaust). Most of the time you’d here nuns screaming incoherently and there were tons of fire. The costumes of the nuns were very weird, never have I seen a nun attire such as those in the movie. It looked like a bloodied maternity clothes with mummified effects.

Conclusion

This was a very unsettling watch. Though the experience was one for the books, its not for everyone as its poorly made. Having said that, it was a good watch to be honest, setting aside the things that didn’t make any sense and considering the year it was made. It was a good low-key vampire film.