Santa Sangre
1990 Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky
Synopsis
Forget Everything You Have Ever Seen
A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the heretical church of Santa Sangre ("Holy Blood"), and then commit suicide. Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his surviving and armless mother.
Cast
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I feel ashamed to admit this, but I didn't really care for Santa Sangre. Reading about it, I feel like I should; the psychological elements are there, the imagery is vivid and bold. I get what people see in it. But something didn't hit with me. It didn't scare me, or freak me out, or leave me feeling disturbed, and I can't put my finger on why (how I could remain not freaked out by circusfolk, you've got me). My friend pointed out that the perspective is interesting, but in that case, I'd rather watch Repulsion, a film that got into my head far more effectively and was also told from a similar perspective.
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30 Days 30 Countries Challenge; Day 6- Mexico
You would be forgiven for thinking that Santa Sangre takes place on planet Earth, as there are a few striking similarities. However, by the time you are twenty minutes into the movie, it becomes clear that even if this world is, in fact, an "Earth" to the characters, it is certainly not our Earth.
More likely is that this is the dark side of some twisted fairy-tale, where the hero's are afraid to venture and the princesses have long since been sold into child prostitution. Goblins take the form of Carnies, Clowns are whimsical fairies that serenade every action with Spanish ballads, and the magical power of hypnosis is regularly used as…
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My favorite Disney film growing up!
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Oh. My. Jod(orowsky). For its poster, for its great tagline—"Forget everything you have ever seen"—for its reputation as one of those mental horror movies that's impossible to forget, Santa Sangre has remained on my radar for ages. I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself for waiting so long to see it. Within five minutes I was aching from laughter, the brutally barbed religious satire instantly reminding me of Buñuel's L'Age d'Or. Jodorowsky's film is funny throughout, but it's frightening in equal measure, his incredible ability to flip between the two one of his strongest suits as a director. This, as much as any film I can remember seeing, is the perfect proof that great horror lies not in the…
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Psychotic surrealism. Possibly Jodorowsky's best and most lucid film. Not flawless, but mostly brilliant.
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Now this. This is a proper horror movie, if ever there was one. I have always been a huge Alejandro Jodorowsky fan; I absolutely love El Topo (1970), and The Holy Mountain (1973), which I had problems with, was still a good film. Now I've finally gotten around to seeing the masterful, acclaimed work that is Santa Sangre (1990), and boy am I blown away. It's superb. No, it's more than that; it's fantastic. The story of a crazed, traumatised young man with severe mother issues, it must be one of the most insane, brilliant horror movies ever made, and unquestionably essential viewing for anyone looking for something strange, offbeat and powerfully potent.
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kind of disappointing after holy mountain and el topo in my opinion. still a solid movie from jodorowsky though
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30 Days 30 Countries Challenge; Day 6- Mexico
You would be forgiven for thinking that Santa Sangre takes place on planet Earth, as there are a few striking similarities. However, by the time you are twenty minutes into the movie, it becomes clear that even if this world is, in fact, an "Earth" to the characters, it is certainly not our Earth.
More likely is that this is the dark side of some twisted fairy-tale, where the hero's are afraid to venture and the princesses have long since been sold into child prostitution. Goblins take the form of Carnies, Clowns are whimsical fairies that serenade every action with Spanish ballads, and the magical power of hypnosis is regularly used as…
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Like El Topo and The Holy Mountain before it: completely weird and hard to watch, yet it holds a sort of cinematic language which is equally difficult to take your eyes off of. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a director who is used to making films that are not of any standard genre; while this could be seen as a horror or drama, the actual content surpasses such classification. It has moments of wonder, and many more of disheartening strangeness, its the type of picture that uses a variety of symbols and structural placement to affect the spectator's reading of the film. I found that in many sequences, the film managed to confer several meanings without anything having to be said. To…
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Pretty damned amazing; as if Psycho had been directed by Fellini, with a dash of Dario Argento for the gory bits. I didn't care for the use of Down Syndrome kids at first, but they were treated well and came across as loving characters.
This takes the exploration of psychotic hallucination about as far as I've seen it taken, and parts of it are quite disturbing. However, in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think of the SNL character Stefon describing the various characters and plot elements. But that's just me.
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This has to be one of the most messed up films of all time. Jodorowsky freaks me out, and that's a good thing. This film is 'Psycho' on LSD, I've never seen anything like it. I love the mime work (thanks to Jodorowsky's connection to Marcel Marceau), the bizarre visuals, the freakish circus, and the flashback sequence with the phoenix - best flashback sequence intro ever. I will never know what goes on inside of Jodorowsky's mind - and that's probably a good thing - but sometimes you just want something twisted, and this movie delivers.
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Well, someone has mommy issues...
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Santa Sangre is a film about a man who is crazy because he was traumatized by horrific events in his youth. Through flashbacks, we witness the horror and his life that follows. Much of his trauma can be credited to his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the church of Santa Sangre (Holy Blood).
Filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky makes a strong statement about how religion can screw up people in Santa Sangre. Jodorowsky also shows that love and friendship is the key to recovering from trauma, which is a beautiful (and true) message.
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Such a strange film. Jodorowsky is a master of surreality. Incredibly disturbing.
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I'm not sure this movie transcends art for art's sake very often.
But god be damned if it isn't fabulously entertaining.