Spain, the mid 19th century: A gouvernment agent, Alfredo Ortiz (Ramón Agirre) arrives at a small village looking for gold lost in the Carlist Wars. The trail points to local blacksmith Patxi (Kandido Uranga), but Patxi is a creepy men living as a recluse in a self-made fortress, and the locals are rather afraid of him. Meanwhile, orphan Usue (Uma Bracaglia), who's under care of the church but has been made an outsider since her mother has hanged herself and has now gone to hell, has lost her doll's head on Patxi's premises. Making her way into his fortress, she notices he keeps a boy about her age in a cage - and sets him free. But the boy immediately turns into a demon, Sartael (Eneko Sagardoy), and when Patxi notices that, he has quite some troubles putting him back into the cage. Usue seizes this opportunity to take flight - but bangs her head doing so and is knocked out ... upon which Patxi picks her up - and nurses her back to health.

Meanwhile back in the village, it becomes known that a local boy has died on Patxi's premises, and even if it wasn't Patxi's fault, Ortiz now has no problems to mobilize the locals, who've always suspicious of Patxi, to finally move against his fortress. Thing is, things are not always as they seem, and once inside Patxi's premises, Ortiz reveals himself to be a demon, Alastor (Ortzi Acosta), who's more powerful than Sartael who's after Patxi's soul, actually. Soon utter chaos breaks out, during which Usue offers her soul to the demon that was Ortiz in order to go to hell and be reunited with her mother. Only once she is in hell does she realize the deal wasn't all she thought it would be. Meanwhile, the villagers have come to the realization that they have wronged Ptaxi and that he's the only man who can save Usue - to which end they even provide him with the local church bell (the sound of which tortures all demons). But of course, to save Usue, Ptaxi has to be sent to hell first ...

Basically this is a highly entertaining horror version of a folk tale, told in a highly atmospheric way and telling its story (somewhat of a morality tale) swiftly and without hammering any messages home. And of course, the wonderful sets, locations and costumes as well as fitting monster masks make this one a joy to watch. And that the performances are all spot on doesn't hurt one bit either.

Maybe not a classic, but definitely worth a look or two!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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