Review of Santa Sangre (1989) by Jonny B — 06 Nov 2011

To slap a genre on 'Santa Sangre' is a hard if not impossible task. 'Santa Sangre' is a convoluted movie from its ideas, themes, and symbolism, to its imagery and in each case it either works or it doesn't but the audacity it took Jodorowsky to pull this Fellini-lite collage of religion, murder, and psychoanalysis off is a testament to his convictions for the art-form.

Some consider this horror, and it does play to that genre with deaths that tend to be more Dario Argento influenced (Claudio Argento co-wrote) than Fellini. 'Santa Sangre' presents itself in an epic, grand, tall way akin to a Julian Schnabel smashed-dishes piece, and has intensity to add to the unconventional narrative.

I prefer the manic, hallucinations of the macabre secend half of the movie but Jodorowsky's movie is a Dali-esque, schizophrenic nightmare of sorts taken as a whole. Any movie where some Mexican greaser gets a bunch of kids with downs syndrome to snort blow then dance deserves a viewing.

It took me two viewings to fully like this movie, don't judge it too easily or quickly.