Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Death on the Beach.

A naked man is murdered in a bed, Sonia Infante looking thicker than a bowl of oatmeal—swims topless in her big pool and Rodolfo De Anda drives home in a fancy old car. This is the fascinating opening to Enrique Gomez Vadillo’s Muerte En La Playa (aka "Death on the Beach").

David (Andres Bonfiglio) has arrived to a luxurious house in Acapulco to spend the summer with his wealthy mother Lorena (Sonia Infante) and he also meets her fiancée Paul (Rodolfo De Anda). Lorena is happy to see her son back from school and Paul at first is looking forward to getting to know David, but he later becomes dismissive when it becomes obvious to him that David is gay. David hangs out with a girl at the suggestion of his mother—but the girl quickly realizes he’s not interested in her whatsoever & calls him a “faggot”. Afterwards, David hangs out with a couple of dudes and he ends up pushing them off to their brutal deaths after they make fun of him for being in denial of his homosexuality. David is clearly a disturbed young man since he shows zero remorse for his brutal actions and purely in denial that he’s gay. When David meets a guy named Tony (Humberto Lobato), he is super smitten of him & even tries to convince him to be with him despite having a girlfriend. Paul, feeling the need to expose David’s secret to his mother—hatches up a plan by paying Tony to record himself having sex with David. This all of course leads to something very disastrous & deadly. 

Despite the run time of 74 minutes, so much happens in Muerte En La Playa and I must say I was really impressed by it. The movie is very dramatic and quite sleazy at the same time. The characters in the movie are so intriguing as well. Our main character David is very fucked up in the head & really mean, but you can’t help but feel bad for him since he’s a victim of sexual abuse & seems to have never really recovered from it and takes out his anger on others in the most fucked up ways possible. Sonia Infante’s character Lorena is hardly in the movie since she’s usually “working”, but when we do see her she is usually with Paul and swimming in her little bathing suit showing off that amazing body she has. When David’s questionable actions are ever mentioned—Lorena is so in denial that there could be something wrong with her son since she sees her son as a good kid & all. She’s such a good mother. And Paul—the worst fiancée in the world—truly loves Lorena, but the fact that he shows a strong distaste for her son and tries to sabotage him leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I really wish there was more of an in-depth look at Paul since his intentions towards smearing David aren’t exactly clear. Still though, I enjoyed him being the sort of second antagonist in the movie.

The themes for Muerte En La Playa are homosexuality & psychosis and of course the movie doesn’t leave out any erotic themes whatsoever. We see Sonia Infante nude & having sex and then there’s plenty of fit dudes hardly wearing shirts & tiny speedos since they’re all the beach. One male character in particular shows it all off in one scene and it’s a guy whom David confides in & even sleeps with because he lets him do whatever he wants and is mentally handicapped.

Muerte En La Playa is a real hidden gem. It’s short, sweet & so sleazy. It has been on my mind a lot since I watched it the first time and I cannot get enough of it. It is a new favorite of mine for sure. If given the chance, please do check it out.