Santa Sangre
Santa Sangre (Holy Blood) is a 1989 film by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
When he was a child, Fenix was a magician for a circus. His father Orgo was a large, brutish knife thrower, and his mother, Concha, was a trapeze artist who also led a church dedicated to a girl who died after her arms were cut off. Fenix falls in love with a deaf-mute, Alma, who is abused by her master, the tattooed lady. One night, Concha sees Fenix's father flirting with the tattooed lady. Waiting until they have sex, she attacks him with acid in a sensitive area; in retaliation, he slices both her arms off before killing himself. The tattooed lady takes the deaf-mute and leaves, while Fenix watches helplessly.
Years later, Fenix is in a mental asylum with many Down syndrome patients. One night, when the patients are to be taken to a movie, a pimp takes them to the local red-light district, where Fenix sees the tattooed lady, now a prostitute and pimp. The next day, Concha arrives at the asylum and Fenix escapes. Fenix then acts as her arms as they kill the tattooed lady, leaving Alma alone.
Unfortunately for Fenix, Concha is an abusive, protective mother, and God help any women who fall for Fenix...
- Abusive Parents: Orgo, Fenix's father, is a philandering, abusive drunk who, it is implied, was kicked out of the United States for some undisclosed crime. He even carves a tattoo on Fenix when he's merely a child to "make him a man." Concha, Fenix's mother, is worse, being a former member of a blaspheme cult, mutilating Orgo and driving him to suicide, and manipulating Fenix emotionally into killing any woman who dares get close to him. Not to mention that her love for him has a NASTY incestuous tone. Subverted in Concha's case: she was Dead All Along.
- Asshole Victim: Fenix's father Orgo. Also a Karmic Death.
- Body Horror
- Children Are Innocent: At least compared with the cruel adults. See Complete Monster for more details.
- Complete Monster: The tattooed lady, who pimps out an unwilling Alma and points out that she can't cry for help. Concha soon becomes one as well.
- Cute Mute: Alma.
- Dead All Along: Concha
- Evil Redhead: The tattooed lady.
- Fat Bastard: Orgo. Also that fat prostitute thing.
- Gainax Ending: Fenix and Alma use The Power of Love to overcome Concha's hypnosis and kill her, only for her to tell Fenix he will never be rid of her. She then disappears, and it is soon revealed that Concha was killed when her arms were cut off...
- Groin Attack: With acid.
- Harmful to Minors: Fenix witnesses his father having sex with his mother, then the death of an elephant, and later his father wandering out of a building, naked, and stabbing himself. All in one day.
- Important Haircut: Fenix goes from unkempt long hair to a subtler ponytail once he's under Concha's control.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Concha may have been justified in killing the tattooed lady, but all her other victims simply made the mistake of flirting with Fenix.
- Knife-Throwing Act
- Mind Screw: Perhaps to a lesser extent than Jodorowsky's other works, but still mind-boggling in its own right.
- Mama Bear: Concha, a rare evil example.
- Meaningful Name: Fenix is obviously a phoenix. Alma means Soul in Spanish. Orgo sounds similar to orgasm. And Concha is vaginal slang. (And lets be honest, Concha is a total cunt).
- Monster Misogyny: All of Concha's victims are females, mostly ones who lust after Fenix. The only possible exception is Fenix's father.
- Needs More Love: Unfortunately, this movie is rare and its North American DVDs are out of print.
- Psychological Horror
- Rule of Symbolism / What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Plenty of valid symbols (blood, missing arms, The Invisible Man), plenty that aren't as clear (circus imagery, a murder victim becoming a dove in a nightmare).
- Surreal Horror
- X Meets Y: It's been described as Psycho as remade by Luis Bunuel.