Paul Naschy stars in a personal rant, with some wonderful horror trappings. Media
Blasters/Fangoria R1 USA DVD release.
The Film
It
is often painful to watch famous cult actors in their decline,
'slumming it' for the paycheque. Paul Naschy is one of those actors;
after his big sucess in the 1970s with such films as Werewolf Shadow (1971) and Panic Beats
(1983) he was reduced to mere cameos in low budget horror pictures.
However, he has struck back against it all, with his self-penned
starring role in Rojo Sangre...
Pablo
Thevenet (Paul Naschy) is an aging actor, famous in the past, he now
finds himself auditioning for an advertisment; but he finds that status
means nothing if most of the people you meet were not born during your
peak. Returning to his agent, Thevenet is forced to accept the only
other job offer going, to play a doorman entertainer at a luxury club,
dressing up each night as a famous historical character. The sinister
club owner Mr. Reficul (spell it backwards) offers him a lucrative
deal, and curiously, a walking-cane containing a concealed sword.
Thevenet signs the contract, and all hell is let loose. Pissed off by
the modern trend of silicone packed models becoming award-winning
actresses, and the tabloid television culture, Thevenet seeks his
bloody revenge - dressed as Gilles de Rais and Jack the Ripper he
mercilessly kills a series of celebrity couples, as well as his lazy
agent. Out of the blue he is contacted by a mysterious film producer,
and finds himself shooting snuff films. Ultimately though, the truth
comes back to Thevenet and he learns the
risk of messing with the Devil, he has sold his very soul....
Rojo Sangre
sucessfully transitions between social satire, and a splendid horror
film. Naschy's revolt against the celebrity culture will find many
supporters, similarly his dislike of the glut of modern awards shows -
an awards statue is even used as a murder weapon in one sequence. The
film is also very personal, Naschy as a once famous, aging actor, has
suffered many of the problems that face his character - struggling to
find work, being overlooked, ignored, forgotten. It also works as a
horror film, a modern take on the Faustian pact. Pacing is solid
throughout, and the finalé is fitting. Fortunately, Naschy's
script avoids too much self-reference to his own film heritage, a
tempting, but rarely sucessful path. The only negative in the script
comes from the brief dive into snuff movies, possibly an failed attempt
to combine reality TV shows with the porn industry - either one
individually would have been fitting for satire, but a satirical take
on snuff movies doesn't exactly mean very much. The curious detail of
Thevenet's mudered daughter is brushed over a couple of times, but
could have used more development, or being removed from the script.
As
if to completely differentiate this film from Naschy's earlier work,
the director Christian Molina uses a very post-modern editing technique
and although the film largely eschews CGI, with plenty of practical
blood and gore effects on display, the very clever scene transitions
make good use of subtle CG and although sounding bad on paper, do merge
in very well with the modern look of the picture. The nightclub set-pieces
look very good, and would make Jess Franco jealous. Camera work is very
effective with some good use of hand-held shots, and boom-cams. A light
musical score fits the film well. The gory effects look very good, the
cheesy effects of Naschy's 1970s films are certainly not in evidence
here.
Paul Naschy looks in fine
form as Thevenet, giving one of his best performances. The rest of the
cast are an odd mix; Miguel Del Arco is very good as the white haired
Lucifer and has a sinister edge, while his assistant, trans-sexual
Bibiana Fernández and their acomplice Tic-Tac (Mehn-Wai) all
look fine. Although there are a few actors with long film pasts,
notably Jose Ruiz Lifante (Martin in Spanish zombie film Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (1974)), most of the cast have no euro-cult fame.
Rojo Sangre
is a unique film - mixing a personal rant against celebrity culture and
the mal-treatment of old actors, with some ultra-stylish horror. Paul
Naschy fans have to check this one out, and it could have interest to
all horror fans looking for something completely different. Highly
recommended to all.
In Brief
Anyone famous in it?
Paul Naschy - star of a great many euro-cult-horror films including the Hombre-Lobo werewolf series.
Directed by anyone interesting?
Christian Molina (no relation) debut film.
Is it scary?
Some tense scenes, but doesn't try for scares.
Any gore?
A lot of very impressive looking gore scenes.
Any sex?
Several sex scenes, and some softcore full-frontal nudity.
Who is it for?
Certainly of interest to
Euro-horror fans. General appeal to anyone who can stomach the gore, as
a very impressive display of modern editing techniques and styles and a unique storyline.
Good soundtrack?
A light modern score. Aides the flow of the film.
The DVD
Of
first note, the disc is in 2.35:1 widescreen, but not anamorphic -
giving the film a low bit rate and making it hard to watch on a
widescreen television. Audio and video tracks are otherwise
strong. On the extras side, the disc has a nice pair of short
documentaries with a look at the making of the film, although it is a
pity there is not a commentary, and the stills gallery would be much
better if it had some backing music.
Visuals
Original Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1 widescreen. Not anamorphically enhanced. Colour.
The disc is strong visually, good colours, no print damage. But
non-anamorphic format means that the image bitrate is lower and the
picture has more edge enhancement than a usual disc.
Audio
Original Spanish language track. Dolby Stereo.
Subtitles
English optional subtitles throughout the film, and burned English subtitles on all special features.
Run time
Main feature - 1hr 28m 43s
Extras
The disc includes:
'Making Of' - showing background and interviews with major players. 14m 15s
'Interview with Director' - more background tricks and techniques used in the film. 11m 01s
Original Theatrical Trailer - anamorphic, with optional English subs. 1m 36s
Stills gallery - rolling sequence of photos/artwork, no music. 8m 40, 97 slides.
Trailers for: Chocking Hazard, Flesh for the Beast, Duck and Ichi the Killer.
Plus hidden trailer for Hiruko the Goblin.
Packing
Standard Amaray case.
Region
Region 1 (USA/Canada) - NTSC
Other regions?
R2 Spanish release from Manga Films, is anamorphic widescreen and includes English subtitles.
Cuts?
The film is fully uncut. Original Spanish titles.
Summary
A very odd film. On one hand a
jibe at the modern way of making films, but yet made in the most modern
style imaginable with large amounts of subtle digital imagery. Paul
Naschy does a fantastic self-referential/parody turn.
Good presentation of this film, annoyingly not anamorphic. Interesting extra features, also
highly edited like the film. If you can find it, the Spanish DVD would be a better choice for the anamorphic print.
