Saturday, January 30, 2021

The Empire Of The Damned.

After witnessing the brutal murder of his parents during his first communion—“El Güero” (Humberto Zurita) is still haunted from that day. He remembers his dying father telling him it be strong no matter what and these words he lives by as he goes out & hunts people down he is hired to kill. El Güero has no mercy. Once he finds you, he fucking kills you hard. That’s it. No remorse. No regrets. The perfect hitman. 

When the son of corrupt politician Rutilo Moran (Salvador Sanchez) is brutally killed by a bomb sent by a rival—Rutilo naturally hires El Güero to rid of his enemy & anyone else affiliated with the bombing. After the hit, El Güero becomes very close to Rutilo and learns more about his life which along with politics & prostitution, he also dabbles in black magic. Rutilo gets El Güero involved in it and thus causing him to see his deceased father in eerie visions. Later on, Rutilo begins to have sexual urges for men and in particular for El Güero, but of course he feels it is wrong of him to feel this way. El Güero already fucked up as he is—begins to have sexual relations with Rutilo’s girlfriend & goes much deeper into this dark world that he has gotten himself into!



I say this in almost all of my Christian González reviews and I will say it again now; Christian González once again impresses me with yet another movie of his. Imperio De Los Malditos (aka "The Empire Of The Damned") is an audacious neo-noir with every single character being totally fucked up in some way & of course nothing “good” ever happens through out the entire time. People die brutally, there’s betrayal all around & our main character El Güero is no hero nor a gentlemen. The only time you have any sympathy towards him is when he was a child. Afterwards, he’s an out of control maniac who has peculiar desires and murder is always on his mind. Such a vile character he is. This of course includes the politician Rutilo whom embraces his lifestyle of sin & all-around trashiness. He tells El Güero at a sleazy nightclub: “nacos somos y nacos nos vamos a morir.” In a rough translation: “We’re trash and we will die as trash”


The murders in the movie are of course pretty fucking sadistic and it all begins with the opening scene where an obese narco is getting slapped around by a transvestite hooker and then both of them meet their demise with El Güero’s shotgun. Once El Güero is contracted to kill the politician’s enemy & his affiliates; he begins with the bomber’s daughter by torturing her & all while holding a picture of her deceased mom whom he says he could've fucked. Once the bomber finds his daughter dead, he too is tortured—but this time however it is with bombs set up all around him and El Güero videotapes the entire thing & laughs away!


With the badass acting talents of Humberto Zurita & Salvador Sanchez and the wonderful writing & directing of Christian González—Imperio De Los Malditos is a wonderful, audacious neo-noir that will surely please sick-minded individuals & lovers of vulgarity. Imperios De Los Malditos is a movie that is not appropriate for kids, so please put them to bed and just enjoy it on your own or with a close one that isn’t narrow-minded & sensitive since for the next hour & a half you’re in for a movie filled with a lot of murder & lots of sadism. It won’t disappoint. I promise you this.


















































Sunday, January 17, 2021

A Diabolical Suburban.

Back in the mid 90’s to early 2000’s, there were various movies about Chevy Suburbans. Some were bulletproof, some belonged to drug trafficking nuns, another was a pink one and then there was one that belonged to the devil himself!!


La Suburban Del Diablo (1997)

After being gunned down by the police, drug trafficker Avelino Valencia (Juan Manuel Azcona) drives away to an abandoned monastery where he summons The Devil for help. The Devil agrees to spare him from death in exchange for him to do all his bidding! He also grants him supernatural powers! The demonic drug trafficker now wrecks havoc around town getting rid of those who betrayed him! The cops who killed Avelino firmly believe their drug-trafficking man isn’t quite dead and so they go after him!


Well, it’s a movie that lives up to its title I suppose. Directed by Juan Carlos Martin; La Suburban Del Diablo is a little hoot of a narco-horror movie. I want to say it’s the first of its kind as well since this type of narco movie (shot in a small regional area, big trucks, tejanas, etc) started in 96-97 and this is the only one from those particular years that has a horror/supernatural plot. Anything else similar appeared in the 2000’s and beyond. So let’s consider La Suburban Del Diablo the first narco-horror movie! Wow!


The movie has some mildly amusing scenes of supernatural shit going on, but mainly it’s just Avelino in all-black shooting a bunch of people while he’s supernaturally bulletproof. There’s also assistance from the church to put a stop to the demonic Avelino. It's not exactly like The Omen or The Exorcist, but you get the idea.


Eva Garbo stars in the movie as Avelino’s girlfriend who may or may not be a prostitute. She has blonde hair in the movie and I totally, totally adore it. There’s a scene where she walks to an agua stand in a very tight blue dress and her little strut is very, very admiring. Eva Garbo is always, always a pleasure to see. And of course it wouldn’t be a narco movie without starring Bernabé Melendez who literally has starred in almost every single narco movie from the mid 90’s to now. He of course plays a cop that’s not going to let anyone or anything stop him from taking down his target. Bernabé is an interesting actor and I always like seeing him in these movies because no matter what kind of role he has, he puts a lot of work into it. He becomes the character basically. Not just plays one.


If you’re looking for a mildy-amusing narco movie with some satanic supernatural shit and with plenty of gun-firing action, then La Suburban Del Diablo is worth a watch for a lazy afternoon. 






























La Suburban Diabolica (1998)

A year later, Avelino makes a comeback in a sequel! Almost everyone from the first movie comes back as their original roles & this time it gets much weirder & even a little crazier! We have to thank director Enrique Murrillo for that! 


In La Suburban Diabolica, Avelino wants another chance to work for The Devil, he wants to prove his loyalty and will not fail him this time around. With the help of one of the drug bosses he killed and brings back from the dead; Avelino (with a weed hook in his hands!) is out for blood of the town! He also torments the local priest! 


La Suburban Diabolica is like 2x better than its predecessor since there’s plenty-o bloody kills and all-around horror shit happening. I’ll be frank though, the story doesn’t make a lick of sense but what it lacks in plot definitely makes up in entertaining bizarreness. The priest in La Suburban Diabolica looked madly uncomfortable through out the whole movie and it reminded me of my last breakup. Sweaty, worried & horribly tormented by an evil entity. Sigh.