From one of favorite release houses, Artsploitation Films, comes the Argentinian horror flick, Luciferina.
Centered on a plot that tries to mix transgressive sensuality with an old school demonic spin that's truly hampered by its lack of any budget, this latest genre entry seems to spin its wheels instead of trying to do anything fresh or new with its baseline story. Instead of pushing the envelope or diving headlong into its subject matter, Luciferina seems to remain stagnant with totally expected scenes of demonic intercourse that's strangely filmed in such a way that it's never even shocking. Other than one brief scene of implied rape and a side antagonist that seems like he's pulled from a '70s exploitation flick, the director, Gonzalo Calzada plays everything too loose with no real implications of what's actually going on until the final act of the movie.
Usually, when religious underpinnings are the foundation for horror, mood and tone are the driving force. The dual between good and light should be more forceful. In Luciferina, the ideas are there. But the delivery is not impactful in the slightest. Story points that should have led somewhere are just loose threads. And that vintage idea of Satan/human child birth once again bears its ugly head with little to no revelation in the story department. Luckily, the score helps set the pace for the project. However, with Luciferina, nothing is dark enough, the plot is just glanced over and the stock looks so digital that there's not a single ounce of texture to give the movie any type of presence.
When a group of post teens travel to a religious ground seeking answers, things spin out of control as possession takes hold and a young woman's life comes into focus. Sadly enough, the cast here is pretty damn great and are not used to their full potential. Lead actress Sofia Del Tuffo has an amazing innocence that's seething with sexuality, but without a strong script and barely any character development or backstory, most of her work here is lost due to a lack of originality. Despite the details about her character Natalia being able to view auras around people (light or dark), Luciferina is another exercise in terror that takes a ninety minute idea and transposes it to nearly two hours.
There was not enough here for an extended run time. More should have been cut from the final edit and attention should have been shifted to delivering a more congruent story that cut out much of the first act. If you need to be a completist that sees every movie about demons, give this one a viewing. But we think you'll probably end up disappointed.
-CG
