Santa Sangre

Alejandro Jodorowsky is one of those directors who cultivated quite a reputation for himself. This is only my second film of his and even though I see where he got his reputation from, it's all a bit too hit-and-miss for me. There's plenty I like here, but there's also way too much I hated with a vengeance.

Fenix is a young magician working in a Mexican circus. He gets seriously traumatized when his parents get into a big fit and mutilate each other. When Fenix is released from the mental institution, he returns to his mother. She's the leader of the cult and has no more arms, so she orders Fenix to assist her.

The visuals are colorful and there's some unforgettable imagery here. Sadly, the soundtrack is absolutely excruciating, killing a lot of the atmosphere. Performances are pretty poor and the runtime is a bit too long. Santa Sangre is an interesting film, stylistically though there was too much I didn't care for.