Anthologies can express a theme or give different directors a chance to tell a story within a larger framework. Enter at your peril into the gore-soaked transgressive film Mexico Barbaro II. The horror anthology tells eight stories of Mexican horror without a wrestler or Aztec mummy in sight. Disturbing, obscene, perverse, and filled to the brim with evil, some of it one has seen before, yet it’s the execution of its ideas that makes this appealing for those who enjoy “meat grinder” horror.
First up is Juan the Soldier by director Abraham Sanchez, and written by Alfredo Mendoza. It follows the aftermath of the execution of a criminal who professes to be innocent by a sadistic commander and his conscientious, driven grunts. The excellent desert cinematography makes you feel the water go down your parched throat, recalling those spaghetti westerns. Evil and revenge play a part in a pious ending. The Christian belief system plays an important plot point in most of these stories without being “preachy.”
The next segment of Mexico Barbaro II is written and directed by Fernando Urdapilleta. Potzonalli contains the most harrowing images, such as incest, torture, and beatings by a brutish father figure. This section also contains gore galore and the darkest comedy, with the lines “Make sure you chop up your father” and the image of finding an errant fingertip earning a chuckle or two.
“…eight stories of Mexican horror…”
Vitriol is erotica and poignant in its simplicity. It tells the story of beauty and vanity. What happens when one wakes up and finds one has been sexually violated? Writer-director Michelle Garza handles the subject well, often obscuring the face of the central figure until the right moment. The set is also filled with reminders of the central figure staring back at the audience.
Writer-director Carlos Melendez’s It’s About Time rounds out Mexico Barbaro II with a couple of girls cursing a bunch of female bullies. One of them brings down her tormentors in a sea of graphic vomit, bloodletting, and skin removal, with the final explosive climax when one of the bully girls’ parents opens her bedroom door. It’s brutal and gross, with the effects looking good.
There are a handful of segments I did not dive into. Diego Cohen takes us on a journey of a returning dead child in the relationship between a mother who is tormented in Paidos Phobos. Fireballs from Christian Cueva and Ricardo Farias involves oral sex and bodily fluids by a couple of men recording what they think is a porno. Do Not Sleep teaches us not to tell sensitive kids ghost stories.
Mexico Barbaro II recalls the bloodletting, gore, and splattered brains and bodies that one finds in the groundbreaking V.H.S. and American Guinea Pig film series. This is as subtle as a masturbatory crucifix sequence, which does happen, making it an example of grueling horror with subtitles. This is another prime example of a different mood of genre when given to skilled filmmakers who take you over the top and deliver on true horror.
"…deliver[s] on true horror."
