Movie Review: Satanic Hispanics

I love horror anthology films. They can function as a great way to be introduced to new directors and feel like having a short film festival in the comfort of your own home. Unfortunately, they are often also a mixed bag, with segments that can vary wildly in quality (much like a film festival). Satanic Hispanics uses the format to allow 5 different Latino filmmakers to tell stories inspired by regional folklore with predictably uneven results.

One of the movie’s strongest aspects actually turns out to be the wraparound segments by director Mike Mendez, which is a pleasant surprise and the opposite of how things usually work. These follow a man referred to as The Traveler (Efren Ramirez of Napoleon Dynamite, deftly playing against type), who is picked up by the police after surviving an apparent cartel shooting. He explains to the pair of detectives questioning him that they must release him in 90 minutes or his pursuer will arrive and kill everyone in the station. They are understandably skeptical and grow even more so as he informs them that he also happens to be nearly immortal and begins answering their questions about the items found in his possession with tales of the supernatural. This is not only a clever way to unite the disparate stories, but also serves as one of the creepier tales, with a memorably over-the-top finale.

The first tale that The Traveler spins is another good one, “Tambien Lo Vi”, about a man living alone in his deceased grandmother’s house, who has managed to take his gift for quickly solving Rubik’s Cube puzzles and turn it into a way to view supernatural entities (just go with it), but who has actually set himself up for something far worse. Those familiar with director Demián Rugna’s other recent movies like the stellar When Evil Lurks will recognize his style here, especially after a well-earned jump scare featuring a grisly entity. Featuring this segment so early into the movie proves to be a mistake however, as it is the best of the bunch by a wide margin and only sets the viewer up for disappointment.

Next up is “El Vampiro” by Eduardo Sanchez of The Blair Witch Project fame. This attempt at a slapstick vampire tale does occasionally earn a chuckle but is mostly let down by tired jokes and only really serves to make one wish to be watching What We Do In the Shadows instead. This is followed by “Nahuales” by Gigi Saul Guerrero, about a man on the run who falls prey to a group of Nahuales, humans capable of shape-shifting into animals. There is some promise here, but outside of its opening moments it relies more on icky low-budget practical effects than any build-up of suspense. It’s still an improvement at least.

Next is Juan of the Dead creator Alejandro Brugués’ “Hammer of Zanzibar”, which does lift things back up a bit despite a few stumbles of its own. In it, Jonah Ray (Mystery Science Theater 3000) plays a man who is meeting with his friend Amy (Danielle Chaves) in a favorite restaurant. They are the last 2 of their group left alive after a trip to document an ancient ritual and he believes that they were cursed. It’s best not to spoil where things go from there, but despite a few rocky moments this bit does muster up some of the off-the-wall fun of Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead movies and builds some momentum into the aforementioned coda.

As is usually the case with these things there is some decent material scattered throughout, but the low points (primarily found in “El Vampiro”) are especially low. The cast appears to really enjoy their roles, adding a sense of fun that can help to paper over some of the flaws, and it is nice to see Latin American folklore spotlighted for a change (again, “El Vampiro” kind of misses the mark on this front too). It’s pretty light on actual scares, but “Tambien Lo Vi” and “The Traveler” do offer up some frights, the latter of which features a hero and villain that probably could have carried an entire movie on their own. With a movie named Satanic Hispanics that is completely devoid of Satan or Satanists, you pretty much know what you’re going to get, and this mostly delivers: a decently fun time that doesn’t require too much thought. ★★★