‘Santa Sangre’ on Blu-ray

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

South American artist, writer and filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky has made relatively few films. He prefers to earn his living through a variety of other means in his adopted country of France unless he comes across an idea he feels needs to be expressed through cinema rather than some other form (and can convince investors to back it). While he’s made films in Europe, the three that are the basis for his reputation were filmed in Mexico. His controversial cult favorites “El Topo” (1970) and “The Holy Mountain” (1973) are scheduled to come out on Blu-ray this April from Anchor Bay. This past January the similarly peculiar but more widely acclaimed “Santa Sangre” (1989) showed up on Blu-ray from Severin Films and the MPI media group.

“Santa Sangre” is a distinctly and distinctively odd family saga blending mystery and suspense, colorful and exotic spectacle, ultra-dark comedy, tender romance, surrealistic imagery, a tragically disturbed serial killer, lots of blood and perhaps more than a touch of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” It’s reminiscent of a cross between Guy Maddin and Luis Buñuel with an equally strong blend of Federico Fellini, David Lynch,and Dario Argento. This last comparison is no accident, as “Santa Sangre” was produced by Claudio Argento, Dario’s brother. And not only does the story follow a family (albeit a severely dysfunctional one) over the course of about twelve years, but the film itself is a family affair as Jodorowsky’s three sons are all in the cast, two of them playing the central character Fenix at different ages.

The film opens with a naked young man sitting in a tree in a large cell of an insane asylum, apparently believing he is an eagle (a large eagle is tattooed across his chest). We soon see a flashback to about a dozen years earlier when the eight-year-old Fenix (Adan Jodorowsky) performed as a magician with his womanizing, knife-throwing American father’s (Guy Stockwell) “Circus del Gringo” while his religious fanatic mother (Blanca Guerra) leads a cult venerating an armless girl martyr. Little Fenix is also in love with a little deaf-mute girl (Faviola Elenka Tapia) who performs on a flaming tightrope and is mistreated by the lusty tattooed lady (Thelma Tixou) serving as her adopted mother. After the boy traumatically witnesses an illicit sexual encounter, a vicious mutilation, a suicide, and the flight of the tattooed lady with the deaf-mute girl, the action jumps back to the present and the main plot of the film begins.

The older Fenix (Axel Jodorowsky) sees his now-armless mother calling to him and decides to escape from the asylum. He soon begins a popular nightclub act performing as the arms of his mother while standing behind her. He also finds himself drawn to murdering dissolute women and then any woman he finds himself attracted to, under his mother’s irresistible influence. Of course things come to a climax when he is finally reunited with the now grown-up deaf-mute girl (Sabrina Dennison).

“Santa Sangre” obviously is not a film for all tastes, but it’s likely to be an unforgettable experience. The film’s central concept was actually inspired by an actual case of a rehabilitated Mexican serial killer that the writer-director met by chance in a restaurant. The encounter prompted Jodorowski to adapt his story into a psychological and socio-political allegory that simultaneously sends up the blood-and-gore slasher genre producer Argento was hoping for. Jodorowski’s fascination with mime is a recurring theme (he had studied with and wrote material for Marcel Marceau), as is an intensely visual density of juxtapositions.

The Severin/MPI Blu-ray has a very sharp and colorful high-definition transfer of the film although the picture contrast seems a bit muted much of the time at a normal monitor setting. The original English soundtrack is in an okay-sounding 2.0 stereo (often a bit artificial-sounding due to the low-budget post-dubbing), and there are audio options of an Italian stereo track and a Spanish mono track, as well as an audio commentary with Jodorowski and a journalist.

The disc is crammed with other interesting special features including a new feature-length making-of documentary, deleted scenes, various interviews with the director (from various years and in various languages), a documentary on the actual serial killer Goyo Cárdenas, short films, trailers and a music video.

“Santa Sangre” is a film that may be both oddly compelling and a bit bewildering on first viewing but, after reflection and especially after going through the supplementary material, is a film that reveals many layers of meaning beneath its melodramatic plot. SANTA SANGRE on Blu-ray—Movie: B+  /  Video:  A-  /  Audio: A-  /  Extras: A+

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)