Santa Sangre is a lurid, surreal jolt to the system.
The contemporary horror landscape is awash with films where the real monster is trauma, especially childhood and intergenerational trauma. When this is done badly, the movies feel bloodless, so clinical and astute in their dissection of their characters’ minds that they forget about their souls—let alone their stomachs and nerve endings. Let alone mine. They live on in their ideas, like an essay.
Santa Sangre, love it or hate it, is done well, and it lives on in its images. It’s more cinematic than the new generation—but its aggressive, gaudy, somehow pungent visual excess feels too immediate even for the screen. It makes the iconic immediate, like it would be in a stage play (and indeed it draws from Titus Andronicus, one of the bloodiest of them all). It makes it immersive and hectic, like a street parade or a thronging circus (and indeed it has both of those too). It’s weird and confusing and revolting and transcendent, and I’ll take a rich text over a precise one.
It has a familiar outline: a young boy, traumatized by his parents, grows up to be a psychologically fragile young man with a psychosexual dependence on his domineering mother. He kills, but he doesn’t want to. He wants love. If you can’t see three new arthouse versions of this in 2025 alone, it’s only because directors now sometimes make this story about psychologically fragile women instead, for variety.1
But no matter where you go, the only thing truly like Santa Sangre is Santa Sangre. Alejandro Jodorowsky keeps the narrative and emotional thrust simple so that the rest of this can be strange and baroque, like a drugged-up, uncensored fairy tale.
An elephant, its trunk turned into a fountain of spurting blood, gets a funeral procession any head of state would admire, and then its immense coffin is shoved off a cliff for riotous villagers to pry apart the boards and butcher its corpse, throwing bloody chunks of meat to each other in front of the child who thought of it as a friend; naturally, his father shames him for crying. A marriage ends with acid thrown on an abusive adulterer’s genitals—he wanders into the street, naked, slashing his throat in front of an almost-unblinking band, but not before cutting off his wife’s arms. The troubled protagonist is not only committed, he winds up in a facility where he lives in a tree and eats raw fish. When he finds his armless mother in the outside world, he becomes her hands not only metaphorically but literally, creating an uncanny, beautifully choreographed stage show where they fluidly meld their bodies together. Danger is everywhere.
So is fantasy, and Jodorowsky handles it in a fascinating way. It would be easy for this kind of film to detach itself from reality altogether, but while nothing here is especially plausible, the movie cares immensely about what is true. When the characters’ fantasies intensify their world, bringing them to engage with it, Jodorowsky allows it, but when they lean into fantasies that cushion the world’s harsh edges or promise them a false escape, he empathizes but shows no mercy. It’s the work of someone who is portraying what he knows2 and trying, with passion, beauty, and savagery, to say what he’s found out.
Here, it is hard to be alive, and everyone is steeped in blood. That’s no reason not to make your own soul, even if it will usually have to be its own reward.
Santa Sangre is streaming on Amazon Prime, Kanopy, and Tubi.
About the writer
Lauren James
Lauren James is a writer who wears many different hats (and pen names). She lives in Connecticut with her wife and two cats.
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Anthologized
Dan Duryea gets a shave and a second chance.
Anthologized
A little slice of American folklore that feels like it's been here all along.
Streaming Shuffle
You make your royal bed, and you lie in it.
Anthologized
Alone in vast space and timeless infinity: one man in a ghost town.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
The X-Files, “Blood”
An appropriate episode to be posting about on this particular write-up!
Excellent standalone. There’s enough time spent on William Sanderson’s meek-but-fraying character to give the episode real emotional stakes–I care about him and I don’t want to see him do anything he’ll regret or that will make people despise him–and because this is a one-off appearance, his fate is up in the air in the way that, say, Mulder’s isn’t, even though Mulder also gets his head messed with in this episode. Any plan involving pesticides + deliberately hacked LED screens + magical knowledge of other people’s specific phobias is obviously a little overcomplicated, but the story makes it work with a bleak sense of humor (it amused me how the messages would say “kill ’em all” instead of “kill them all,” and the chipper sign-off Mulder sees at the end is both funny and creepy) and a lot of realistic small town texture (the local economy’s dependence on agriculture, the low cholesterol testing front, the likable and well-intentioned characters who nonetheless back themselves into either perpetrating or covering up for something horrific).
No ATM tells anyone to feed it a dead cat, though, so it loses some points for that.
Yep, I immediately thought of that American Psycho scene too (and Patrick immediately pointing his gun at a cat, such an absurd image).
This is one of my favourite episodes, because it takes an inherently fucked up but cool concept and spins a real thriller with a whimsical sense of humour out of it (worth comparing to the JP Twilight Zone discussion from the other day). Riffing off your comments in the essay, this is another that isn’t realistic – apparently unmarked helicopters were a popular conspiracy at the time? – but feels true, in that the US Government has happily experimented on citizens and it feels like this. The sadistic sense of humour implied by the messages is particularly great; if the show were very different, this would be part of a path towards the truth.
Justified, Season Two, Episode Six, “Blaze of Glory”
This is really the Art episode, and it’s classic Justified that this only gradually becomes clear. Art saves the day because he’s the only one to click on to Frank’s thinking; a pursuit of a rational goal as opposed to doing an action to become a kind of person (also, admittedly, because he literally clicks onto Frank’s video games). Part of the reason the climax of Art chasing Frank on foot – both of them old men – is so fucking funny is because both are completely willing to look like fools to get what they want; Raylan’s plot, while superficially more exciting, is emotionally in a lower key, because it takes all of Raylan’s energy to channel his anger into not being fucking stupid while Art can do it effortlessly – see also, Art immediately grasping that Raylan is pissed and wants to beat the shit out of the guy, and being immediately exasperated, even embarrassed for him. I’ve read that anger is the most motivating of all emotions, and I suspect that’s why it needs to be channelled rather than fallen into. You make a decision based on emotion, and you make a decision based on emotion.
Meanwhile, Winona becomes a Justified criminal for a moment; absolutely love Natalie Zea’s expression when she realises how badly she fucked up. I especially love that, as Raylan says, it’s not nearly as risky as she thought it was (and I can’t make fun of her, because I’ve had the same reaction to lesser ‘crimes’ I committed); absolutely anyone can become a Justified criminal because it simply requires one’s reach exceeding one’s grasp. She manages to get out of it because, unlike the dickhead o’ the week, she doesn’t rationalise her impulses and admits to them immediately.
Biggest Laugh: “My knees aren’t up to a footchase!” closely followed by “Damn, that shit really necessary?”
Biggest Non-Art Laugh: “On a second thought, beatin’ your ass to death is a little ambitious, healthwise.”
Top Ownage: Raylan taking down the bank robbery, definitely. “We know the difference between dynamite and flares.”
Great beat to the ownage of the one more decent guy immediately surrendering and the asshole still holding onto his bullshit.
I just referenced that dynamite vs. road flares line to someone the other day!
Damn, this is a classic episode: Art’s footchase alone would make it shoot up the ranks, but everything here works. I love the escalation of Winona’s story, with her impulsive theft instantly getting (literally) out of hand due to her running into someone else’s crime.
And then I think the next episode may be even better. S2 is just such a great ride.
Watching some Atun Sei Films videos from director Andrew Rakich, who has an interest in esoteric and occult history. This one especially had some extra insight into the Witch Trials some histories do not bother with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH_I5dgFlFc&pp=ygUdY2FwaXRhbGlzbSBzYWxlbSB3aXRjaCB0cmlhbHM%3D
He also has a very low budget folk horror movie The Sudbury Devil that actually has good reviews and with dialogue in OP (Original English Pronunciation), which is very hard to do, so I may check it out, plus it’s on Tubi. Paging Lauren!
Oh, consider me paged. That sounds great.
The Practice, “First Degree” – Bobby, to save a client accused of murdering his lover’s husband with her help, accused the wife of being the solo murderer. I think i want to talk about this more in the broader context of the season in Captain’s Log as there is a lot to unpack. Elsewhere, Eugene tries to argue that a white cop’s racist attitudes count as a disability acquired working in a racist system. Not sure what to make of this one, especially since even Eugene has his doubts. The guest judge of note is Linda Hunt, doing fine work in a role she will play a total of 23 times over seven seasons. William Atherton plays a smarmy and arrogant ADA (what else is he going to be cast as?).
MASH, “Welcome to Korea” – Hawkeye is on leave when Trapper gets sent home, and just misses him at Kimpo Air Base. But he can at least meet and bond with Dr. BJ Hunnicut, just out of residency, with a wife and newborn daughter at home, and a very different sense of humor than Trapper. This one serves to both quickly acclimate BJ to the hell of war and create the new dynamic between Hawkeye and BJ. Mike Farrell doesn’t quite have instant chemistry with Alan Alda, but I suspect audiences were reassured things would be fine soon enough. The first hour long episode.
The Avengers, “Quick Quick Slow Death” – What does the random death of a random man have to do with spies or a dance studio? The plot is interesting – the studio is a front for a Red scheme to find unremarkable men, kill them, and use their identities as a cover for Soviet moles – but things take too long to unfold and this gets to be a bit of a slog. Guests include Eunice Gayson, who played James Bond’s quickly forgotten girlfriend in the first two movies.
Vamps – This walk through the unseen Heckerlings has revealed one absolute truth: Amy Heckerling is a silly goose. Also an often stylish person drawing from a well of concerns and emotions that she’s willing to share onscreen, but if you holler deep into her soul it will echo back “Honk, honk, honk, who is up for some silliness?” Fast Times may have reached a higher level thanks to its mix of drama and comedy, but Heckerling sides with Spicoli.
Vamps is almost fatally silly at the start, with vampires as roommates jokes that feel like they were cut from a sketch show rehearsal. And as the film eventually catches up with and surpasses the (low) expectations of a vampire comedy, it even finds sweet notes of drama for these broad characters. And without betraying that beautiful goofy vibe – Sigourney Weaver’s final scene alone makes the film worth the wait. It’s finally (finally) funny and even a bit touching.
Long weekend, innit.
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse – screening in remastered form along with Apocalypse Now (Final Cut) at my local cinema. The double-bill proved to be too daunting but I’d never seen the doc before and it’s a really good one, really hammers home how it’s a miracle that Apocalypse Now was ever finished, let alone successful. Loved seeing Dennis Hopper being a charmingly useless liability and the Brando stuff is nuts. They don’t make ’em like they used to!
The Room Next Door – didn’t really know much about this aside from it being Almodovar and being In English. Wasn’t really expecting a sombre assisted-dying drama but after finding some of the dialogue a little clunky early on it began to win me over and I found the Tilda Swinton / Julianne Moore friendship very affecting. Enjoyed John Turturro’s character too – despairing of the times in a relatable way.
Glastonbury highlights – finally got around to digging into a bit more of the BBC coverage, their main highlight reel had a focus on the big Pop artists which was interesting in an “I should at least know who these people are” way but god, I am not keen on the current wave of “extremely sincere singer-songwriters with no personality and only one type of song”. A few pleasant surprises though, enough there to make this a fun watch without making me really feel like digging into any full sets.
Live Music – at my gig last week I was asked whether I’d be interested in a last minute slot at a local festival after somebody dropped out and I said yes, then had to revamp my set for a family audience (lots of introspective ones in the set I had been working on!), I ended up playing between a bunch of “Kung Fu Dancers” and something called “Mum & Bass” and it went pretty well I think, haha.
Also on Sunday night I went to see “America’s Local Band” Cheekface supported by my favourite (?) live band Martha and the similarly excellent Fresh. Absolutely killer lineup and I was impressed that Cheekface managed to be thoroughly entertaining even when having to follow a band that I love much more, their different styles and their charmingly weird vibe (somewhere between TMBG and Cake, I guess) made for a fun watch. Martha have recently released a rarities / old stuff compilation and hearing some of the best early songs that have been missing from their recent tours was a real treat.
Live Art – wouldn’t normally include Art here but I went to a gallery that included a seven-screen (!) video installation by William Kentridge that was absolutely brilliant. Two films showed in rotation, the first was riffing on Soviet propaganda and had a bit of a Guy Maddin vibe, the other was an ongoing musical procession across all seven screens. Both mixed live action, animation and puppetry and it was really quite spectacular. I feel like video-installation stuff has the lowest hitrate with me of any gallery art stuff but this was definitely a hit.
Wooo, live music that’s even been featured on The Sounding Board! And gigs! And art!
I’m intrigued by the idea of resonant video installations, because those also often fail to work for me, but these sound pretty great.
They really were! Spectacular in scale but also witty and fun. Some details and clips on the procession one here:
https://www.kentridge.studio/william-kentridge-projects/more-sweetly-play-the-dance/
Woooo last-minute live music and live galleries!!
Almodóvar movies are always a hit with me but The Room Next Door was only the second of his I’ve seen in the theater* and it is indeed a peculiar mood. Some of his trademark melodrama is here in the margins (Alessandro Nivola shows up from some detective mystery for a minute) but it’s more about reflection and melancholy and “The Dead”. Loved the interlude with the monks. Hadn’t seen Turturro in a long time.
*The other was The Skin I Live In with my now-wife back when we were starting going out and that was a wholly different experience. Intense and terrifying. One of our all-time favorite screenings.
Woo live music! Woo playing the early stuff! Always fun to be a longtimer when that comes back out.
Spaceballs — family movie night! Very funny snap reactions, one nephew got exasperated by the endless ship crawl at the beginning and the other thought it was hilarious (and that one lost his mind at the VHS gag where they fast forward through the movie). But overall a hit, the boys loved seeing “the funny version” of Star Wars characters, and the mix of extremely juvenile humor and stuff they are too young or culturally unaware (Druish Princess) to get happily sailed over their heads. They are apparently running around now talking about using the schwartz, my uncle work is done.
Miami Vice — I think the Criterion Channel version is not well-calibrated? Obviously the digital stuff is of its time but there are outright skips here, like a record. But this is still an incredible piece of crime mood, it’s hilarious how much Crockett and Tubbs are allowed to pull off via their undercover work (how many boats does MPD have just hanging around for smuggling) and while all of this is depicted with precision in the moment the logistics of the operation are besides the point in a way they aren’t in, say, Manhunter — the movie is more interested in vibe, atmosphere, longing, desperation. Operational excellence does come in the trailer park raid and Elizabeth Rodriguez describing action and creating it may be the most Mannly thing ever filmed, my god does it own. And it’s interesting to see this as a midway point between Heat and Blackhat — the international crime is clearly something that fascinates Mann (he took a lot of this and put it in the back half of Heat 2), crime as market in an almost Neal Stephenson way, and his manipulative villain here anticipates Blackhat’s web-tugging antagonist in untouchable power. Well, not quite untouchable.
Darth Helmet playing with the dolls stays in my head rent-free. I’m also probably not the first millennial to have seen the Alien parody before the real thing.
The dolls was also a hit and yeah, this feels like a solid half of pop culture now. And count the nephews in the parody before real chestbuster number! That was right on the edge of being scary and then out comes the hat and cane, so fucking good.
the bear s4e6. Richie tells Carmy he should go meet Richie’s ex’s husband because he has a nice refrigerator he could lock himself in. Really solid joke. They legally have to tell two jokes a season so that the emmys can call them a comedy.
They are missing a golden opportunity. They should send Carmy to therapy to talk about how he’s burned out as a chef and very depressed. He doesn’t feel like doing anything new anymore. The therapist says “You should go to the bear. It’s a great restaurant, you’ll have a great meal leave committed to your art.” And then he says “but doctor, I am the bear!”
Yikes, Jodorowsky is a blind spot for me (I mostly think of him as the guy who didn’t adapt Dune), and this sounds intense. Will have to be in the right mood to attempt.
This is the only Jodorowsky I’ve seen and I struggled with it. Feels like a filmmaker I would enjoy more at a screening with no distractions, need to be really dialed in.
Yeah, this was my only Jodorowsky, and I’d almost mostly thought of him in the context of Dune (and since I like Lynch’s goofy but exuberant Dune–pugs!–I wasn’t even that interested in the Dune side of things). But a friend of mine got excited about finding this on streaming, so I was up for it, and it is indeed strong stuff.
Will heartily recommend The Holy Mountain in all it’s 70s weirdness.
Co-sign. Much more humane and jolly than anticipated.
Fun movie to see at the Brattle then drink with friends, excitedly discussing the end.
It seems that today, July 16, is the 15th anniversary of Inception‘s release, so here’s a story I think I’ve never told before.
It’s early Monday morning on July 19, 2010 and I’m driving out of my street en route to school in Tijuana and I’m listening to one of my regular radio stations, the now-defunt XLNC1, which played classical and orchestral music 24 hours a day (with no commercials to boot), including movie and videogame soundtracks. As I make the turn into the boulevard, “Time” from Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for Inception starts playing on the station.
I didn’t know what it was at first since the movie didn’t open in México until the next weekend, but I clocked it as a Zimmer composition from the opening piano notes. I was very impressed by the track, which is one of his simplest and barest but becomes quite overwhelming and packed perhaps the strongest emotional punch in all his work, even if I hadn’t seen the movie (and I wasn’t really excited for it). If anything, the track coming out from nowhere, unannounced, at that exact moment amplified the effect for me.
It wouldn’t have been the same if I’d heard it first in the context of the movie, or if it had shown up on YouTube or something, clearly identified as being part of the soundtrack. Instead, I got this discreet, singular musical experience, which was only possible in this small window of time after the movie came out, in the couple of days before it got really big.
The last thing I like about this story is the timing. Most of the soundtracks the station played were from classic movies or at least a few years old, but like I said, this was the Monday after the movie’s opening weekend. I always wondered how that happened. Were they so in the tank for Zimmer, who was already a big name in the mainstream, that they couldn’t wait to put his new music in rotation? Did WB make a deal to play it as promotion for the movie? Did they realize that the movie was going to be big that quick and wanted to get in on the action?
Or maybe they went to see the movie over the weekend and liked/were moved by the track so much that they decided to play it right away.
Any of these options seem plausible to me. Maybe they all were a factor. So I’ll keep on wondering.
XLNC1 went out of the air in 2018. I miss it every time I turn on my car radio.
https://youtu.be/c56t7upa8Bk?si=0ds6Y0wcJ6i9_n04
That is an awesome story. I love “what the hell is this” radio listens and you getting one in pretty much the only window it was possible to get it is really special.
I should add that the station didn’t call the track name until it was over, even though they often called the name right at the start. This was critical in preserving the element of surprise. Plus it gave me the pleasure of having my guess proven right.
That’s such a cool story. What an awesome listening experience to get to have out of nowhere like that. I’m also curious what the reasoning was behind playing it so early, but it’s almost better not to know.
Year of the Month update!
Coming in August, we’ll be covering 1959. Check out all these movies, albums, books, et al
This July, we’re covering 2005, including all these movies, albums, books, et al!
TBD: Captain Nath: Separation Sunday
TBD: Captain Nath: The Sunlandic Twins
Jul. 17th: John Bruni: The Forgotten Arm
Jul. 28th: Tristan J. Nankervis: Sin City