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El Caballo del Diablo
Mexico 1975
produced by Jorge Camargo, Jorge Rivero, Gregorio Walerstein for Cima Films
directed by Federico Curiel
starring Jorge Rivero, Narciso Busquets, Juan Miranda, Yolanda Ochoa, Víctor Alcocer, Elsa Benn, Rogelio Brambila, Carlos Bravo y Fernández (as Carlhillos), Queta Carrasco, Marcos E. Contreras, Josefina Echánove, Alfredo Gutiérrez, Jesús Gómez, Carlos León, Velia Lupercio, Enrique Mañueco, Gloria Mestre, Gabriela Moreno, José L. Murillo, Maritza Olivares, Linda Porto, Alejandra Ramírez, Rubén Alejandro Reyes, Roberto Spriu, Liza Willert
written by Federico Curiel, music by Sergio Guerrero
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Horse breeder Don Fernando (Narciso Busquets) is the richest and most
powerful man in his village - but he and his sons Luciano (Jorge Rivero)
and Esteban (Juan Miranda) are also a trio of troublemakers. Nothing grave
though, but they seem to be at the center of every barroom brawl at the
local tavern (but at least pick up the tab), and spend the occasional
night in jail for it. Then one day while out in the plains rounding up
horses, Luciano stumbles upon a very beautiful black horse, none of their
breed, just quite a sight indeed. The next day, Luciano is found dead at
the bottom of a cliff. His face is smashed beyond recognition, but his
clothes and a wristband bearing his name suggest it's him. This leaves Don
Fernando grief-struck, and subsequently, he spends most of his days at his
son's grave. Then one day, he encounters above black horse - and later
that day, at the graveyard, Luciano shows up, very much alive, but
changed: his attitude is all gloomy, he dresses in dark colours, and he
now rides above black horse. Still, Don Fernando is overjoyed, and while
everyone else needs some convincing that the corpse was not Luciano after
all, they ultimately welcome him with open arms. That said, Luciano has
changed in more ways than the above though, as he has become short-fused,
picks fight with pretty much everyone rather randomly, and lacks any and
all compassion. And eventually, he rapes and kills the wife (Linda Porto)
of a business associate, and it's more luck than anything else that he's
not caught red-handed. The changes in his son make Don Fernando sick with
worry again, and he's soon bed stricken, while Luciano has picked up a
predilection for rape. But his change hasn't gone unnoticed on others as
well, especially when he's hot at three times and doesn't even show a
scar, but wrecks the local tavern in retaliation, leaving many a man
crippled or dead as a result. Ultimately, the locals come to the
conclusion that he must be possessed, and he's exorcised in the finale. Now
this is a film where concept is everything: In looks and feel it's hardly
distinguishable from many another low budget westerns from South of the
border, and really doesn't offer much in extraordinary visuals, and
doesn't go out of its way to create much in the atmosphere department
either - but the premise with the devil's horse possessing Luciano is just
too wild to not somehow like, and at least some of the scenes of violence
and rape are all the more shocking for their lack of refine (others like
the barroom brawl towards the end less so). So in all, not a great, not
even all that memorable a movie, but a fun watch at least for those into
obscure cinema like myself.
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