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| Images courtesy Epic Pictures |
Satanic Hispanics sounds like a film that doesn’t take itself seriously, because it does not. However, that by no means takes away from the brutal and comical contents of this horror anthology, brimming with traditional humor, boisterous action and a casket full of bloody goodness.
This anthology
mixes just the right amount of Tarantino-style attitude with violence and quips
while educating the audience in the legends of Latin America and its profoundly
disturbing creatures.
Satanic Hispanics open on a grisly scene where police discover a massacre of Latino’s in a house, save for one survivor who calls himself ‘The Traveler’. During questioning, two cops endure not only his bizarre accounts of his life as an immortal, but of some imminent deadly force pursuing him. This lends the film a feel of urgency that pays off big!
At first the two detectives exhibit the usual skepticism, but as ‘The Traveler’ continues to take them (and us) through his various tales, it becomes evident that he is either a mentally ill charlatan or someone with a strange ability to withstand mortal injury.
Satanic Hispanics is written and directed by a collection of formidable Latino filmmakers. Each segment has its own combination of writer/ director, the likes of Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Mike Mendez (1997’s Killers and The Gravedancers), Gigi Saul Guerrero (V/H/S/85), Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project, 1999 and 2011’s Lovely Molly) and Demián Rugna (2023’s When Evil Lurks) to mention but a few artists on this macabre crew.
Starring as the smooth traveler is Efren Ramirez who makes for an engaging storyteller. Opposite him, we have the equally funny duo of The Boys’ Greg Grunberg and the late great Sonya Eddy (2014’s The Hive) giving him a hard time.
The stories run
the gamut between sweetly cheesy vampire comedy (El Vampiro) to some really vicious ritualistic scenes celebrating shamanism
and animal spirits (Nahuales). There
is a hilarious segment called The Hammer
of Zanzibar which I personally reckon would fit right in with fans of Deathgasm – don’t ask.
Another segment
called Tambien Lo Vi explores a math
genius’ surreal encounter with using color and light to open a door to the
realm of death…his own. Like a few of the other shorts, this one boasts some
awesome gore effects.
The climax of Satanic Hispanics is atmospheric and epic (reminding me of the iconic first entrance of Death in the Supernatural TV series), worthy of something like San La Muerte.
Of course, some
of the stories are weaker than others, but the good ones make it worth the
wait. Overall, Satanic Hispanics gets
far more interesting than its first twenty minutes. Whether you are into action
and great creepy make-up effects, like a bit of wit with your horror or whether
you just enjoy checking out new folklore creatures that you perhaps have not
heard of before, Satanic Hispanics is a very fun, crazy and
purely Latino gore-fest with just enough of a low-budget charm to make it an
underground favorite.