Mexi-madness containing all the things one might expect from a south-of-the-border trash fest, starting with the Big Three: sex, nudity and gore. This film also boasts a far more dramatic (and bizarre) than average production history, having begun life as the supernatural drama CAUTIVO DE MAS ALLA (CAPTIVE FROM BEYOND), released in 1968. Roughly fifteen years later, footage from that film was used as a springboard for a newly shot sex and gore opus that was released in 1984, and titled TERROR, SEXO Y BRUJERIA (TERROR, SEX AND WITCHCRAFT).
In 1990 the film made its VHS bow under a title, NARCO SATANICO (SATANIC DRUG TRAFFICKER), that portended an action-fest, a misconception furthered by the generic cops-and-guns laden cover art. It’s this version that remains the most commonly available—and possibly the only surviving—cut of the film, and the one under review here.
It begins with Vicki (Ana Luisa Peluffo) consulting a bruja (Norma Somarriba) who resides in a dimly lit environ decked out with skulls, flames and satanic totems. The subject of the consultation is a hunky fellow named Ricardo (Gonzalo Aiza), with whom Vicki is in love. The bruja calls up the devil, to who Vicki offers herself body and soul; this involves her stripping down (surprise!), in exchange for which she’s given a magic dagger that disappears immediately after it’s used. The bruja also takes control of Ricardo’s soul, making him sexually responsive only to Vicki. The devil, however, has other plans, and for some reason impels Vicky to use her special dagger to stab to death the object of her desire.
The narrative is then taken over by Ricardo’s brother Carlos (Gonzalo Aiza, again), who’s visited by his dead sibling in a dream and told the identity of his assailant. In a subsequent dream the devil takes control of Carlos’s waking body, and in this guise seduces Vicki.
The following day Carlos visits a psychiatrist, who offers a most unexpected suggestion: kill Vicki in the next dream Carlos has about her. He does just that, but, under the control of Ricardo, does so in reality. This leads to a hokey courtroom confrontation, a death by firing squad and the introduction of an entrail-ripping zombie.
One has to admire director Rafael Portillo’s ability to cram so many disparate elements and narrative detours into a film that lasts just 75 minutes. The choppy and impatient editing, semi-coherent plot and actors who constantly change their appearance (often in a single scene) are elements that actually work in the film’s favor. One can’t reasonably expect great filmmaking in a Mexican trash fest, and NARCO SATANICO does not contain great filmmaking.
As a director Rafael Portillo—who remains best known for THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY (La momia azteca contra el robot humano; 1958) and the reediting of the Samuel Fuller directed SHARK! (1969)—proves mighty inept, and oftentimes charmingly so. A lie detector sequence designed to prove Carlos’s claims of supernatural influence (which could have made for an irresistible contribution to a film like this one) is a dull and dreary bust, but a corpse head stab conveyed by a jump cut of a knife in the assailant’s hand to said knife stuck through the offending head, and the frequent ROSEMARY’S BABY-esque superimpositions of the deceased Ricardo’s eyes, exemplify bad movie magic of a uniquely Mexican variety.
Vital Statistics
NARCO SATANICO
Cinematografica Guadalupe Emperatriz, S.A.
Director: Rafael Portillo
Producer: Gonzalo Aiza Avalos
Screenplay: Fernando Cortes, Alejandro Cabanillas, Sablum Avalos
Cinematography: Juan Manuel Herrera
Editing: Jose W. Bustos, Francisco Chiu
Cast: David Reynoso, Ana Luisa Peluffo, Beatriz Aguirre, Robeto Canedo, Silvia Suarez, Barbara Wells, Carmencita Gonzalez, Enrique Ponton, Norma Somarriba, Jaime Hernandez, Bertha Shute, Eliseo Rodriguez H., Guillermo Galez, Ana Del Val, Alberto Osorio, Sofia de Moreno, Rodrigo Carmona, Juan Belmonte