Curandero (2005)

Best movie of this year hands down!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Castaneda (Gabriel Pingarrón) is a satanist drug dealer that has Mexico City in an uproar. Potty mouthed detective Magdalena (Gizeht Galatea) goes back to her home town to find Don Carlos, a curandero. What she gets is his son, also named Don Carlos (José Carlos Ruiz). Don Carlos is a bit of a skeptic, but also has visions of demons as he touches items. His twofold nature wasn't utilized to it comic potential.This twosome follows the trail of the evil Castaneda as they try to figure up what he is up to.This film was made in 2005. While it has blood and gore, it lacks the killing and mutilation scenes common in the American counterpart. For some strange reason, the film tosses in a guy (Ernesto Yáñez) who is the only person in Mexico who believes in Mithraism. I didn't get his connection.The film is slow developing and half way into the production you realize it is not getting better. Still, it had some interesting scenes which involve confrontations between Castaneda and Don Carlos that are in part a vision. Without these scenes the film would be a total waste.The film is dubbed in both English and Spanish with English having a good translation. Not on my recommended list. Three stars is pushing it.Parental Guide: F-bombs. No sex or nudity.

Brought in by the Mexican police, a local healer is thrust into a battle by the police against a Satanic-led cult of black magic and its powerful leader which forces him to use all his powers to stop him.There's a lot to like with this one that manages to get in some plentiful enjoyable elements. The fact that this one centers so much around the concept of black magic and demonic powers that there's some utterly demented and disturbing visuals here. Flashes of dismembered and desecrated bodies bleeding profusely from sacrificial wounds, covered with bugs and insects or scenes of people covered in blood or massive wounds in just his point-of-view start getting more and frequent as time goes on in here and this truly starts getting all the more chilling when it slowly starts getting play in the storyline about what they all mean. It really feels quite cohesive to the story about the mystical cult leader who is actively given a lot of time to strut his powers by appearing only to torment the hero in numerous opportunities, forcing strange and violent visionary day-dreams upon him and using his demonic powers to keep himself alive in the face of his enemies so we have a ton of reasons to fear him and what he can do, so the connection with those deranged visions feels so logical they become immeasurably chilling and creepy. When added with a lot of action scenes including several shoot-outs and a chilling chase through a crowded marketplace, this really sets a chilling tone that works quite well for the film. About the only thing that really doesn't work in this one is a bit bigger than expected, which is the plot-line involving his father. It makes a lot of sense to include such a thread in a story like this, but the fact that it really just feels so shoe-horned into the action that it strangely manages to slow down the plot so that it can not only introduce a storyline to help the hero but fix a problem that was never noticed until then. It makes the film sort of drag into the finale rather than sprint into it, but this isn't all too damaging and still keeps it quite enjoyable throughout.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

I also saw this movie at Screamfest and I loved it. The story was great and kudos to Eduardo Rodriguez for an excellent job at directing and editing this film. The look of the film was great, real gritty and plenty of blood. It's good to see a fictional insight into a real world that deals with criminals and black magic. It's nice to go watch a horror movie that does not involve silly teenagers or is bombarded with the in-style music of the time. Sure, there are some movies like that, that I enjoy, but I prefer the more realistic ones. This movie contains a little bit of everything including the supernatural, but it lets the audience decide whether it's real or not.

I went to see this film at Screamfest Los Angeles last night with very high hopes, but expecting to be disappointed. I love the genre but am getting a bit tired of seeing the same stories redone and interpreted in the same ways over and over again. The Ring was a breath of fresh air, but now that has been done to death as well. I went to see Curandero really hoping to see something original. I was not disappointed. In regards to the visual look, the performances, the overall feel of the film, etc all I can say is WOW! This is not a mega budget film packed with computer generated monsters etc yet the fx in the film where great and just enough to add to the story and not overshadow it. The film-making is really what stands out. I highly recommend this film. I have to tell you that I watch and work within the genre and am pretty desensitized to a lot of it. It is hard for me to even flinch while watching horror films as I can usually see a scare coming from a mile away. This film made me not only flinch, but I almost jumped out of my seat a few times. I don't know much about the director Eduardo Rodriguez, but after watching the feature, I am sure that he is on his way to new heights. Watch this film, you won't be disappointed.