So Indicator in the UK released a couple of very early Mexican horror films on blu-ray… I watched the first of those (La Llorona from 1933) a couple of years ago and finally struck the other off the list tonight. The earlier film is somewhat handicapped by existing only in fairly shitty condition (3rd or 4th generation 16mm print; mind you, for decades it wasn’t thought to exist at all, so better than nothing), and it appears Phantom here only circulated in similar condition for ages… fortunately, this one was restorable from the original negative, which is good cos I think this would’ve been even harder going in an inferior print. So, a love triangle—two men and the wife of one of the latter—get lost in a forest on a night-time walk, but a mysterious passing stranger leads rhem to a nearby monastery where they can take shelter for the night. Against the husband’s better judgement, they follow him, but the monastery (untouched by time, not to mention modern dentistry) is not entirely what it seems, and as the night goes on it looks like history may be about to horribly repeat. The true nature of the monastery is telegraphed about halfway through, but the characters are too dense to fully realise this, and the characters being irritating is one thing that got in the way of me fully enjoying this (the leaden pacing being the other main issue, 85 minutes of this really is about 20 if not 30 too many). I actually will give it points, though, for not fully explaining everything, I think keeping some details obscure actually works for it, and the stunning location does a lot of heavy lifting… the film was shot in an actual monastery, so the film at least has atmosphere to spare and often looks quite remarkable, which makes up for its other shortcomings.
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