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Forget Everything You Have Ever Seen...
A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless, cult leader mother, and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.
Wuchak
Aug 27, 2021 · via TMDB
_**Life is a colorful psychosexual circus in Mexico City**_ A man ends up in an asylum after a shocking experience as a boy in a traveling circus in Mexico. When he escapes he finds his maimed mother and falls under her negative influence. Guy Stockwell plays the grossly overweight circus owner. Released in 1989-1990, “Santa Sangre” (meaning “Holy Blood”) is a surreal circus fantasy made by cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky, who’s known for “El Topo” (1970) and “The Holy Mountain” (1973). His son, Axel, plays the protagonist here, Fenix. Surreal or not, I love circus/carnival-oriented flicks and this one works well in its bizarre way for the first half, but totally bogs down in the second. The colors are vibrant and there’s a lot of deep symbolism with a Christ figure, a giant snake and so on. The various women are displayed in a creative titillating manner (Thelma Tixou as the tattooed woman, Blanca Guerra as the lithe high wire artist, Sabrina Dennison as the innocent Alma and Gloriella as Rubi) and I suspect this is a key reason why a lot of guys hail the film. Unfortunately, the second half is dreadfully dull. Fenix doesn’t develop as a character in any attention-grabbing way and the story isn’t compelling, unless you find Fenix using his arms to help Mommy interesting. It’s still worth catching if you appreciate eccentric cult flicks that dare to be different, just be prepared for a tedious time in the second hour. The film runs 2 hours, 3 minutes, and was shot in Mexico City. GRADE: C
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Axel Jodorowsky
Fenix
Blanca Guerra
Concha
Guy Stockwell
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Thelma Tixou
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Sabrina Dennison
Alma
Adan Jodorowsky
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Teo Jodorowsky
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Sergio Bustamante
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Joaquín García Vargas
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Jacobo Lieberman
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Héctor Ortega
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Brontis Jodorowsky
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Valérie Crouzet
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Daniele Nannuzzi
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Alejandro Jodorowsky
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Mauro Bonanni
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Lars Bloch
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Pablo Leder
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Angelo Iacono
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René Cardona Jr.
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Claudio Argento
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Simon Boswell
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Alejandro Jodorowsky
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Claudio Argento
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Roberto Leoni
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Roberto Leoni
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The Stranglers - Live '78, SF
1978
Saddle Leather Law
1944
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
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Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
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