Editorials
Dancing With the Devil: The Biting and Macabre Horrors of Alex de la Iglesia
Recently, Sony Pictures International Productions and Amazon Prime Video closed a multi-picture deal for a new horror feature film anthology, The Fear Collection, with distinguished Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia at the helm. That deal touches upon distribution in Spain, with details still yet unannounced for plans to release in the U.S., which seems fitting in that it appears to mirror Iglesia’s level of fame stateside. He’s amassed a devout following for his distinct, twisted sense of humor and unique ability to blend genres, from comedy to downright dark horror. Iglesia’s films tend to be festival darlings that develop cult followings, but on a mainstream level, he’s still a bit of an undiscovered gem. Like the announcement of The Fear Collection, anything with Iglesia’s name attached should receive more attention than it currently does. For that very reason, we’re spotlighting his boundary-pushing work.
Iglesia’s breakout hit, El Dia de la Bestia (The Day of the Beast) made significant waves in his native Spain. Released in 1995, this delightfully demented take on a Christmas movie tells of a Catholic priest convinced the holiday season will bring about the advent of the Antichrist. He teams up with a Black Metal aficionado and an Italian occultist to commit as many sins as possible, to thwart the apocalypse. The priest concludes that if he can gain Satan’s trust through sin, he can learn where the Antichrist will be born, then slay it. It’s every bit as diabolical and hilarious as it sounds, and quickly demonstrated Iglesia as a radical filmmaker. The Day of the Beast earned major critical acclaim. More impressively, it received six Goya Awards – Spain’s equivalent to the Oscars- for Best Director, Best New Actor for Santiago Segura, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Special Effects, and Best Makeup and Hairstyles.
Meaning that the film’s success was impossible to ignore and put him in demand internationally. His immediate follow-up to The Day of the Beast marked his English language debut, Perdita Durango. Also known as Dance with the Devil, Perdita Durango blends crime thriller with occultist horror and is based on Barry Gifford’s 1992 novel 59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango, the third book in the Sailor and Lula series. Meaning it’s loosely connected to David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, whose version of Perdita was played by Isabella Rossellini. For Iglesia’s adaptation, Rosie Perez portrayed the eponymous character, and Javier Bardem as her lover, Romeo. Romeo, who’s a Santeria priest and drug dealer, gets involved with a gangster’s scheme to transport fetuses across the border to the U.S., prompting Perdita and Romeo to embark on a crime spree as they kidnap a young couple, rape them, and plot to sacrifice them. In other words, they belong in the same conversation as Natural Born Killers‘ Mickey and Mallory. It’s violent, uncomfortable, and disturbing, much of it was edited down for various releases across the globe. That it never received a proper theatrical release in the U.S., either, further relegated this feature into obscurity.
Perdita Durango is also an outlier in Iglesia’s body of work, especially in tone. His subsequent return to the genre, 2000’s Common Wealth, proved to be a return to form. When a real estate agent finds a hidden fortune in the apartment of a deceased man, she discovers his neighbors have been biding their time to get their hands on the money. Blending crime, horror, and comedy, Common Wealth gets downright macabre without ever losing its comedic edge. The precise thing Iglesia does so unnervingly well.
With The Baby’s Room, Iglesia opted for more straightforward horror. Part of the Películas para no dormir (Films to Keep You Awake) made-for-television anthology film series, it follows a sportswriter, Juan, that’s just moved in to an old fixer-upper with his wife and newborn baby. Juan starts to hear strange noises and voices over the baby monitor at night, but can’t find the source. A mystery unfolds, and it’s a bit more involved than your average haunting.
2010 saw the release of one of Iglesia’s most highly regarded films, The Last Circus. Biting social satire meets brutal violence in this dark horror-comedy, where a young trapeze artist is torn between her lust for Sergio, the Happy Clown, or her affection for Javier, the Sad Clown. That both clowns are disturbed individuals means an explosive love triangle with catastrophic casualties.
Perhaps his most widely known genre film among fans is 2013’s Las brujas de Zugarramurdi, which translates to The Witches of Zugarramurdi. However, it was released in North America under the catchier title Witching & Bitching. The plot sees a group of armed robbers go on the lam after a robbery turns deadly. They wind up in a secluded village inhabited by cannibalistic witches. Subversive, demented, and insanely zany, Witching & Bitching won eight Goya Awards out of ten nominations. Makes you wish our award ceremonies were as kind to genre fare, too.
Iglesia’s most recent genre effort is The Bar, one nasty, mean little film. When an unseen sniper opens fire in downtown Madrid, a diverse group of people takes refuge in their local bar. The longer they’re trapped there, the more paranoia and suspicion threatens to usurp civility. Throw in a possible viral outbreak, and viciousness ensues. I should also mention, this movie isn’t afraid to get gross. It features a cast of unlikable characters, only balanced by Iglesia’s sense of humor. But this comedy is of the darkest, pitch-black variety.
While Iglesia’s long-established himself as a filmmaker with a penchant for the weird, grotesque, and macabre, it’s not exclusive to directorial efforts. In recent years, he’s turned to producing as well. He produced Juanfer Andrés and Esteban Roel’s 2014 agoraphobic thriller The Shrew’s Nest, currently available on Shudder, and Netflix’s fantasy horror film Errementari.
The recent announcement of The Fear Collection means it’s still a long way away from release, giving plenty of time to catch up on Iglesia’s oeuvre. Even better is that much of it is accessible through streaming platforms. The Bar has been hiding out on Netflix. Perdita Durango (Dance with the Devil) and The Baby’s Room are currently available on Tubi. The Day of the Beast can be streamed through Kanopy. If your local library doesn’t offer access, it’s available through FlixLatino on Prime Video under its Spanish title. The remaining films can be rented on VOD. The filmmaker is a huge deal and in constant demand in Spain, but seems only to have a cult following stateside.
Álex de la Iglesia employs schlock horror and caustic humor to undercut the bitterness of his films. His characters are deeply flawed, and he tends to explore the ugliest aspects of humanity. But Iglesia manages to infuse even the most cynical and macabre of stories with oddball empathy. This is a contemporary filmmaker who pushes boundaries with a strange tonal blend and voice that’s uniquely his own. Now is a great time to get on his peculiar wavelength.
I’m always a big fan of trying out new demos during Steam Next Fest, but this one feels particularly packed with great options. It feels like a lot of developers, from AAA to indie, were trying to capitalize on buzz from a particularly strong Summer Game Fest by letting people try their game out right after their big trailer debut. It’s a strong strategy, one that has given me a bunch of new titles on my Steam wishlist.
There are tons to go through, but here are six that grabbed me if you’re looking for a place to start.
PENGUIN COLONY
We’ve seen the works of H.P. Lovecraft adapted in so many different ways in video games throughout the years. Whether direct adaptations or merely riffs on his themes, everything from the Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth to Bloodborne has given its take on cosmic horror concepts. What possible new perspective could there be for Lovecraftian fiction? How about a penguin’s perspective? Penguin Colony, the next game from Umarangi Generation creators Origame Digital, draws inspiration from stories like “At the Mountains of Madness“ and “The Shadow Out of Time“ to tell a tale of ancient beings hidden in the Antarctic seen through the eyes of a penguin.
It sounds like an odd pitch that’s extremely gimmicky, but after my time with the demo, it’s clear that they’re onto something. As a penguin, you waddle, slide, and swim your way through the desolate Antarctic landscape, running into remnants of an expedition that’s hunting for something in the ice. Aside from the environmental storytelling, narrative is delivered through voiceover, delivered by Lenval Brown of Disco Elysium fame, making for a moody trip through a barren world.
At its core, it’s essentially a walking simulator, but one with interesting movement options and oppressive atmosphere. In a clever touch, the wind effects act as your guide when you get lost, giving you a nudge in the right direction while also making your environment feel maximally chilling in the process. I love weird little experimental storytelling games like this, and I can’t wait to see how Penguin Colony explores Lovecraft from its unique perspective.
Penguin Colony is due out later this year.
ASCENDERS: BEYOND THE PEAK
While this game is also Lovecraft inspired, it couldn’t be further in gameplay from Penguin Colony. Ascenders: Beyond the Peak is a turn-based tactical mountain climbing game in which you face monsters and madness the higher you get. Mountain climbing has also been a popular theme recently, with games like Cairn or Jusant, but the turn-based approach feels wholly original, transforming the act of climbing into a board game-like experience. The clever gameplay is wrapped up in a roguelike structure that adds a lot of desperate decision-making as your journey goes on and supplies grow scarce.
The sheer cliff face you scale is represented on a grid, with various outcroppings that both block your way and offer places for you to rest. Each climb, you select three characters, who have different stats and abilities based on their class, and send them up the mountain. Their stamina is the most obviously important stat, which drains any time they are hanging from the side of a mountain. Resting on a ledge will recover one stamina, but time is always passing, and conditions are getting worse by the moment.
The most clever twist to your ascent is that your climbers are attached by rope, meaning you have to be smart about sending them through different routes to scavenge for supplies scattered around the map. As you run across creatures or mad climbers, combat comes into play as well, making the already dangerous climb even more deadly. I only did the tutorial and one run in my time with the demo, but I’m excited to see how the Lovecraftian elements come more into play when the game hits Early Access later this year.
ONIMUSHA: WAY OF THE SWORD
Capcom has been on a roll lately. Resident Evil games, Pragmata, Monster Hunter, the list goes on. It was only a matter of time before they started digging into their back catalog to revive beloved series of the past. Given the success of Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima/Yotei, it shouldn’t be surprising that they are bringing back their samurai action-horror series Onimusha with an all-new entry. It’s been decades since I last played any of the games in the series, so while I don’t know if it replicates the originals exactly, Onimusha: Way of the Sword at least gives me the same feeling the old games did.
The demo itself is very action-heavy, sending you through a small village overtaken by demonic creatures. It’s a smooth combat experience that feels a bit more like a character action game a la Devil May Cry than a soulslike, which works fine for the tone it strikes. Enemies have both a health bar and a stamina bar, and breaking the stamina bar allows you to do a devastating attack that dismembers and kills them. There are also bonus attack windows granted with perfect dodges and parries, adding a satisfying timing element to the fights. While I found most of the standard encounters to be pretty easy, it did end with a slick boss fight that took me a few tries to get through, so it’s clear that Capcom likely has some more tricks up its sleeve to challenge the player more than this demo. It’s great to see the series back, and it looks like Way of the Sword is going to be a return to form. I’m very excited to see how it plays when it’s released on September 25.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword will also launch on PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series, and the Epic Games Store.
BLOOD DUNGEON
I liked Vampire Survivors enough when it came out, but it didn’t get its hooks in me the way its card-battling cousin did. It was a fun idea, but its gameplay complexity never really elevated to a point that kept me coming back after I started winning runs. Blood Dungeon, the latest game from the creator of indie hit Nidhogg, takes the autoshooting formula that Vampire Survivors made popular and puts it in a 2D platformer context, breathing new life into the subgenre.
At the start of the run, you pick a character that comes with a starting weapon, then you’re dropped into a 2D platforming level with waves of enemies coming after you. Right off the bat, you have access to a barbarian, who summons a sword to float around him, and a gunman, who shoots quick bursts of bullets. Just like Vampire Survivors, you kill dudes with these attacks that are on their own timers, collecting blood and selecting between random modifiers or weapon upgrades when you level up.
Not only does the new perspective add a lot more excitement to the genre, but I was surprised at the amount of movement options you had at your disposal. In addition to jumping around, you can climb on pretty much any surface, allowing you to scale walls or hang from ceilings as you attempt to avoid your enemies. There are also ladders and Super Mario World-esque chain-link fences you can climb on to aid your escape. I know this all sounds like pretty basic platforming action, but the dynamic ways you can escape make it feel so much more thrilling than your standard survivor-like. Jumping between bats only to hang from a ceiling over a knight while your sword slashes him, then leaping to a ladder to pursue a treasure chest, is exciting stuff, and that power curve you feel as you level up feels so meaningful.
On top of that, its Newgrounds flash game art style is unique and readable, making it easy for you to parse the chaos on the screen. I thought I was done with Vampire Survivor-likes, but this one might earn a place in my rotation whenever it’s released.
ENTROPY
I enjoyed my time with Lovely Hellplace’s Dread Delusion, a weird Morrowind-like RPG from a couple years ago, but it didn’t stick with it through the end. Entropy, their new tactical turn-based RPG inspired by classic JRPGs, seems to be a genre that’s a lot more in my wheelhouse, but still retaining the weird PSX-style visuals that give it so much character. You begin in a small medieval town as the sole surviving member of a theatre troupe after a horde of demons descends. After cleverly building the basics of your character by selecting options as you try to remember your lines in the play, you’re off to the races, trying to build a party that will fight back creatures and get you to safety.
The combat so far is fairly standard turn-based RPG mechanics, with two rows on each side that allow for a bit of tactical positioning. Attacks are emphasized with dynamic zooms that make them feel a bit more exciting, even if the animations remain pretty basic. You have one character that you control as you go through towns that cannot die, even if knocked out in battle, but every other member of your party has the chance of being lost if a battle turns south. Seems like the intention is for you to be thorough in your exploration, finding as many party members as you can to keep your ranks full, giving you incentive to do side quests.
After getting through the opening town, I was presented with a classic world map to navigate that brought me to some fun areas that had all sorts of strange inhabitants, like a band of mercenaries interrogating a head hanging from a tree. While I think I need to see more of the game to see if the combat has the tactical depth I need to keep me hooked, the vibe on display in the demo has me eager to dive in when it’s released in Early Access this August 16.
Entropy launches into Early Access on August 16.
VALOR MORTIS
Even though Ghostrunner was extremely my jam aesthetically, I couldn’t get into the punishing rhythm of precision wall running and one-hit-kill sword slashing as much as I wanted to. So when I saw the developer’s name on the reveal trailer for Valor Mortis, I was equal parts hopeful and skeptical. While the melee combat was a familiar aspect, the setting and inspirations were completely different. This first-person take on the soulslike genre casts you as an undead, supernaturally powerful soldier in Napoleon’s army trying to unravel a conspiracy that threatens all of humanity.
It’s a bold departure from Ghostrunner, but it’s easy to see the throughline if you look hard enough. They brought over the fast melee combat, but added some more intricacies that really bring to life the feeling of Bloodborne, but in first-person, which is no easy feat. You have all the standards of the genre – stamina, blocking, parrying, dodging – along with a pistol and magic options to round out your arsenal. Not only does it all come together and feel good in first person, but the setting feels really unique, with some grotesque soldiers-turned-monsters that test your mettle. At SGF, they announced a late September release date, but have since moved to October 13 to avoid release at the same time as some other heavy hitters.
Valor Mortis will also launch on October 13 for the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series.
Have you found any hidden gem demos for Steam Next Fest? Share your recommendation in the comments below!
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