SATANIC HISPANICS (2022)
Label: Epic Pictures
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 113 Minutes
Audio:
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Directors: Mike Mendez, Demian Rugna, Eduardo Sánchez, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Alejandro Brugues
Cast: Efren Ramirez, Greg Grunberg, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Jacob Vargas, Hemky Madera, Patricia Velasquez, Demián Salomón, Luis Machin. Ari Gallegos
Satanic Hispanics (2022) is an indie horror-anthology that dishes out both humor infused and serious minded terror with a Hispanic culture twist to it. It opens with “The Traveler” directed by Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider), wherein the cops raid a house in El Paso, TX and find it full of dead immigrants, the lone survivor is a mysterious man named Garcia (Efren Ramirez, Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite!). Detectives Arden (Greg Grunberg, TVs Heroes) and Gibbons (Sonya Eddy, V/H/S/99) bring him in for interrogation but his cryptic supernatural explanations less than satisfactory, and when they begin to question him about a collection of relics he carries with him he spins four tales related to the trinkets, this becomes the wraparound story, and the action-packed final segment.
The first tale he spins is “Tambien Lo Vi”, directed by Demian Rugna (Terrified), in it wanna-be Rubik’s Cube champion Gustavo (Demian Salomon, Terrified) lives in his dead grandmother's home, a spooky old place where he practices solving Rubik's all day, as well as having perfected some sort of light algorithm that seems to open up a portal between this world and the next. This skill attracts the attention of a podcaster looking to connect with his dead mother, but the process also opens up a nightmare world for Gustavo, conjuring something that should have been left unconjured. This chilling entry is moody and well shot with some gruesome gore effects that make this a highlight of the anthology. If you're familiar with the director's previous film Terrified it dabble in the same sort of shadowy spookiness with a similar aesthetic, which works great for me.
Up next is a comedic vampire tale “El Vampiro” directed by Eduardo Sanchez (Exists), wherein a 500 year-old vampire (Hemky Madera, TV's Ash vs The Evil Dead) enjoys the one night a year he can wander the streets freely, Halloween 'natch. We catch up with him as he's exsanguinating a bar room full of patrons, but when his familiar Maribel (Patricia Velasquez, Malignant) calls him to remind him that it's daylight savings time and the sun rises an hour earlier than expected he has to make a mad dash home before dawns breaks, but finds that delinquent egg-throwing teens and cops prove an obstacle, as does morning drive-time traffic! This is played for laughs and is really quite a bit of good fun in the spirit of What We Do In The Shadows by way of My Grandpa Is A Vampire, I loved it.
In “Nahaules”, directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero (Bingo Hell, México Bárbaro), De La Cruz (Ari Gallegos, V/H/S/85) is a C.I.A informant looking to be forgiven for his past crimes, but when he stumbles upon a shaman ceremony the witchy Madre Tierra (Gabriela Ruiz), leader of the animalistic “Nahuales” is not so forgiving of his trespass. Perhaps my least favorite of the vignettes here, not awful, but there's not a lot to latch onto, but it does whip up some spooky gruesomeness by the end at least.
The slapsticky “The Hammer of Zanzibar” is directed by Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead), starts with the beat-up looking Malcolm (Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) meeting his ex-flame, Amy (Danielle Chaves) at a bar they use to frequent. He regales her with wild tales that he feels are linked to curse that afflicts their group of friends from an encounter years earlier. This one has some time-shifts in it as parts of the story are relayed, and eventually we get a Cuban demon by the name of King Zombie (Morgana Ignis, Stan Against Evil) and a mythical phallus-shaped demon-killing weapon - so yeah, it's pretty humorous stuff with an Evil Dead demonic vibe I couldn't resist, even if it comes off super-goofy and a bit disjointed.
Then onto the the wraparound story coming full circle with the traveler finally convincing the detectives of the truth of his stories, and hoping to get his hands on a saint-killer gun to kill the San La Muerte, or Saint Death, a vengeful Paraguayan wraith that's been pursuing him for many years, ending the anthology on a action-packed supernatural siege at the police station. .
I thought this was quite a solid horror anthology, I enjoyed the Hispanic elements and folklore which gave it a certain flavor that we don't get from most anthologies, so it set it apart, and it was certainly one of the more polished and entertaining that I've seen in quite a few years, we get portals leading to other worlds, mythical beings, demons and the undead, I for one was a very happy horror fan after watching this one, I am only sorry it took me so long to see it! Sure, as with every anthology not all the segments are created equal, some work better than others, but for the most part I thought the blend of the more serious stuff and the more comedy slanted made for a wholly entertaining watch.
Audio/Video: Satanic Hispanics (2022) arrives on Blu-ray from Epic Pictures in 1080p HD widescreen (2.35:1) and looks great. The digital shot film is crisp with good depth and clarity, the colors were vivid and the black levels are strong. Audio comes by way of lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround with optional English Subtitles. I am still surprised that Epic go with lossy audio on the HD format, but the track is serviceable, it's just not as robust as it could have been.
Extras include an Audio Commentary with Producers/
Directors Mike Mendez and Alejandro Brugues and Directors Demian Rugna, Eduardo Sanchez, Gigi Saul Guerrero, the 26-min Dread Talk, this is an interesting zoom-style conversation hosted by Dread Central with directors Mike Mendez, Alejandro Brugues, Eduardo Sanchez, and Gigi Saul Guerrero. We also get a slideshow of Theatrical Posters, the 2-min Theatrical Trailer; plus a selection of Epic Pictures Trailers including Colonials, The Jester, Island Escape, Last Night At Terrace Lanes. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Producers/Directors Mike Mendez and Alejandro Brugues and Directors Demian Rugna, Eduardo Sanchez, Gigi Saul Guerrero
- Dread Talk (36 min)
- Theatrical Posters
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Epic Pictures Trailers: Colonials, The Jester, Island Escape, Last Night At Terrace Lanes
Buy it here: https://amzn.to/3NLHoCy
Buy it here: https://amzn.to/3NLHoCy