After a young woman named Maria Cristina (Laura Tovar) is brutally raped & murdered by some sleazy dudes, she comes back from the grave to get revenge on all her killers! She approaches them in person first, then proceeds to scratch their faces and then they all get killed in their vehicles. As this all goes on, Maria's mother hears her daughter crying her name and all of Maria's jewelry disappears from her room and then they re-appear in the hands of her killers. Obviously some wild supernatural shit is going on and only 2 cops played by Manuel Capetillo & Roberto Flaco Guzman can figure out exactly what the fuck is goin’ on!
La Muerte Acecha (aka "Death Stalks") is a movie that you would not expect to be about an avenging ghost considering its VHS releases from Mexcinema and Laguna use a cover art that sells the movie as a crime-thriller of sorts. And while it kind of is a crime-thriller, it is however mostly a story about a ghost getting back at her killers. Now you're probably thinking "oH gEE a MeXiCaN HoRrOr MoViE! RaD!", well don't get too excited there Chad or Max because La Muerte Acecha is what I'd call an informal horror movie. What the fuck is an informal horror movie? Well, it is a movie that isn't trying to be horror, but it features horror elements anyway because they had nothing else to make the original story more interesting. It's pretty clear that this movie had several re-writes and the avenging ghost element got added in all last minute. This seems to be Laura Tovar's style since this too happens with La Sombra De La Muerte.
As bizarre, cheap & corny La Muerte Acecha is, I find it amusing and intriguing as well. It doesn't ever get boring and it also features some unintentional hilarious moments. One big hilarious & unintentional moment is when a truck is crashing down a hill and burns away, but it's really just a toy truck. Another moment worthy of a mention is when right after Maria is murdered—her soul appears to leave her body and then we get glimpses of all her killer's faces swirling around her lifeless body then the scene ends with a snowy TV screen effect. I'm not really sure what that part meant, but it was pretty fucking weird for sure.
La Muerte Acecha is a fun little watch and maybe you’ll enjoy it as well.
By the way, this movie is 'based on a true story'. Swell.
