Podcasts
‘Curse of the Crying Woman’ – Bad La Llorona Adaptation, But a Great Time [Murder Made Fiction Podcast]
Mexican Gothic.
After kicking off September with a primer on La Llorona (listen here), Jenn and I began looking at texts with one of the earliest Mexican horror films made in sound: The Crying Woman from 1933 (listen here). This week, we jumped ahead 30 years, but stayed in Mexico for Rafael Baledón‘s The Curse of the Crying Woman (1963), which is available on YouTube (the dub is questionable, but watchable).
The film is kind of a terrible adaptation of the myth of La Llorona. Once again it’s missing the body of water, and this film fails to acknowledge the colonial aspect of the real woman’s story.
What Baledón and his co-writer Fernando Galiano omit, however, they more than make up for in outrageous fun. The Curse of the Crying Woman is a cross between a Universal Monster movie and a Hammer Horror in all the best possible ways (seriously: this film is so damn enjoyable!)
The story follows ingenue Amelia (Rosita Arenas) who is called home to the family’s gothic mansion on the eve of her 23rd birthday. Amelia hasn’t been home in ages, but her Aunt Selma (Rita Macedo) demands she return to claim her birthright, which turns out to be a “curse” passed down via the female side of the family.
The reason that the word curse is in quotations above is because in reality it’s nothing bad; the curse simply drives women hungry for power. Aunt Selma went through the process herself, which is when she locked up her doctor husband Daniel (Enrique Lucero) and took on a Renfield-like manservant Juan (Carlos López Moctezuma) to help her commit murders in the foggy forest.
It may sound silly (and sometimes it is!) but The Curse of The Crying Woman is also deeply atmospheric. From the use of makeup used to hollow out Macedo’s eyes during the “curse” to shots of her holding a trio of murderous dogs on a leash (a clear homage to Mario Bava’s Black Sunday), Baledón knows how to frame a haunting sequence.
Throw in a castle full of trapdoors, fake bats, and an extended climax as the roof collapses and you have a secret classic Gothic Horror entry. This one is a blast!
If you want even more Murder Made Fiction, be sure to check out the pod’s Patreon feed, where Jenn and I have 90 hours of content including episodes dedicated to documentary The Devil on Trial, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Haunted and The Conjuring: Last Rites, along with episode by episode coverage of Hulu’s The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.
Next time: we jump ahead again to reconnect with the extended The Conjuring universe to discuss Michael Chaves’ The Curse of La Llorona, starring Linda Cardellini.
Podcasts
Shakespearean Education in the Vincent Price-Starring ‘Theater of Blood’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Butch knows best…
After concluding May with discussions of the disaster “slasher” The Poseidon Adventure (listen) and Michael Biehn’s demon twink in the messy-but-watchable The Fan (listen), we’re heading back to the ’70s to discuss our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox‘s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973).
In Theater of Blood, Vincent Price stars as Edward Lionheart, a disgraced Shakespearean actor who begins targeting the critics who shamed him. The gimmick? He’s taking inspiration from the death scenes in William Shakespeare’s plays! Aiding him is his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), who acts as the honeypot for her father’s macabre scheme.
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Episode 388: Theater of Blood (1973)
Brush up on your Shakespeare and protect those poodles because we’re covering our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox’s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973), a personal favorite of both Price and Diana Rigg.
Join us as we go all in on this somewhat episodic (but also educational!) proto-slasher, wondering if we’re supposed to know that’s Diana Rigg in hippie drag, and cackling at some of these murder set pieces.
Plus, “Handsy Dickman,” narcissistic gravestones, antisemitic stage makeup, and the ultimate debate: is it theatER or theatRE?
C/W: Attempted suicide, off-screen dog murder.
Cross out Theater of Blood!
Coming Up Next: We’re celebrating the premiere of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat with a look at the much-maligned 2002 adaptation Queen of the Damned!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 492 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 3 Episodes 5 & 6, Backrooms, Passenger, Leviticus, an audio commentary on the original Scary Movie (2000), and the return of our Requel Tier as we begin our episode coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.
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