(1965), B/W, 80 minutes
Presented by Young America Productions
Produced by K. Gordon Murray
Directed by Stim Segar
This is an outstanding Mexican horror movie, moody and atmospheric and creepy as hell, combining the best cliches of gothic horror with a somewhat perverse sense of sexual decadance and repressed lesbianism, reveling in the dark side of female empowerment and extended families.
The pre-credits teaser opens with a close-up of the grotesque face of a woman (Rita Macedo) with a distorted grimace and bloated, swollen eyes. The murder of the coach riders) is dynamic and gripping.
Rita Macedo, made-up as the Crying Woman, has a face of pained evil that reminds us of Mr. Sardonicus and Dorian Gray, indicative of both madness and posession.
The photography is great, spooky and grim, featuring lots of fun zoom shots which add dramatic emphasis to already-lurid scenes. The “occult montage ” scene is breathtaking in its otherworldy creepiness. There’s some incredible shots of Thelma’s cheesy model house collapsing, and a powerful score by Gustavo Cesar Carrion.
The f/x are excellent (the dungeon set is great, full of cobwebs and torture devices and occult paraphenalia and big gears for the bell). Even the make-up is fantastic. Ms. Macedo’s eyes, when posessed, are so eerie as to be painful.
THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN is a winner all the way.
PIT NOTE: MEXICAN THEATRICAL GOTHIC ATMOSPHERE, YES!!
DVD-R comes packaged as shown in color DVD case wrapped in plastic!
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