Terror y encajes negros

TERROR Y ENCAJES NEGROS (1985) ***½ Gonzalo Vega, Maribel Guardia, Claudio Obregón. Misleadingly marketed as a horror film, Terror y encajes negros ("Terror and Black Lace") is more melodrama than anything else. It's the story of Isabel (Maribel Guardia), a young woman suffocated by her jealous, controlling husband (played perfectly by Gonzalo Vega), who keeps her virtually imprisoned in their apartment. The first two-thirds of the film chronicles Isabel's struggle to break out of this extreme isolation. The story takes a sharp turn in the final 30 minutes, when Isabel is terrorized by the psychotic Cesar (played by veteran character actor Obregón), after she witnesses him disposing of a dead body in her building. To the film's credit, though, Isabel's ordeal isn't just horror for horror's sake; it's skillfully woven back into the main story as a way of highlighting both Isabel's loneliness and her husband's irrational distrust. Guardia was nominated for an Ariel Award (Mexico's equivalent to the Oscars) for her performance. Worth seeing. In Spanish with English subtitles.

As you can probably work out from the title, Terror and Black Lace is Mexico's answer to Italy's popular Giallo export, and it's a damn good answer too! As this film is head and shoulders above many of the (many) Giallo's I've seen, and even stands up among the best of the films to come out of Italy; and that is high praise indeed coming from someone who loves Giallo as much as I do! The film doesn't adhere to all the Giallo standards, and indeed it is closer to the dramatic side of the genre than it is to the horror; but this is sexy and sleazy, and director Luis Alcoriza tells a damn good story! The plot focuses on Isabella; a bored housewife who is tired of the way her husband is treating her and the fact that he wants her to stay at home all the time. While out one day (against her husband's wishes), she bumps into a handsome stranger who takes an interest in her. Meanwhile, there's plenty going on at her apartment block: the pretty maid is poking her nose where it isn't (and is) wanted, there's a party going on in the apartment downstairs. Oh, and there's a maniac with a hair fetish living there too!

Most of the film is build up to the last twenty minutes, and while this might not sound like much fun; it is because the build up is interesting and the director paints an interesting portrait of all the leading characters, which pays off when we finally do get to the end. Unlike the proper (Italian) Giallo's, there is no score in this film; which feels rather odd as the music is such a big feature of the Giallo. The only music in the film comes out of the stereo in the party apartment; and unfortunately it's all eighties trash! There isn't much violence in this film, and the focus is never on the horror. Rather, Luis Alcoriza puts the focus on the storyline and it paid off if you asked me. The director also clearly has an eye for beauty, and the buxom leading lady is always a pleasure to see (especially when she's wearing that black lace!) It's true that the film does drag at times, but the slow build up of the storyline really allows the viewer to get on board with it all, and the way that everything is wrapped up at the end is good. There are a few things in the film that don't make a lot of sense (the pivotal scene involving the maid and the maniac in particular), but I didn't worry about those things and found this be a highly entertaining thriller. Very much recommended!

Some would say this is what happens when you make a Mexican genre film without Santo. Actually, there is neither any "lucha libre" or "monstruos" in the film at all. The title suggests that it might be a Mexican answer to an Italian giallo, but it's a more of a staid domestic thriller that takes awhile to get started but isn't really that bad if your expectations aren't too high. The lead is Maribel Guardia, a former Miss Costa Rica and still a big TV star and tabloid attraction in Mexico today well into her 40's. She's at the height of her beauty here (and a lot less annoying than she is on television). She plays a kept woman whose oafish husband is insanely jealous of her even leaving their penthouse apartment. Aside from an occasional shopping trip, she mostly just sunbathes topless, reads horoscopes, works out in her g-string spandex, models lingerie in the mirror (thus the title), and takes a lot of long, hot showers. She meets a man on a shopping trip and nearly has an affair, but decides to stay loyal to her husband and remain at home. Bad idea--because her upstairs neighbor is a psychopath with a hair fetish. And with her phone dead and a loud party going in the apartments below she winds up trapped in her penthouse with this madman.

Viewers unfamiliar with the domestic relationships of the Mexican upper classes or with Mexican cinema in general might be a little puzzled by this film, but it is interesting and unusual both as Mexican film and a foreign release. While the American horror and thrillers often "punish" promiscuous characters, the heroine here puts herself in danger because she does NOT take advantage of an opportunity to cheat on her loutish husband(and it's made pretty clear that he would cheat on her if he had chance). The husband is actually a comical buffoon who spends most of the movie trying to get to the airport to catch a plane for a make-or-break career meeting. Meanwhile, there are three single party girls living below her (very atypical in Mexico even today). In your typical horror/thriller they would be fodder for gratuitous nudity and the killer's the knife, but nothing really happens to them. The same is not true of the heroine's sassy young maid though who, despite living at home with her strict parents, has no qualms about enthusiastically stripping off her panties and sitting on the killer's lap (even though he's much more interested in her hair). There's an unusual social message here, even though it's not completely clear what it is.

This is by no means a great movie. It really drags at times--there is a definite lack of violence and some may find the cheesecake nudity a little tame. The young maid role is also another unfortunate example of the "Paz Vega syndrome" (see the recent movie "Spanglish") as it is filled by the kind of incredibly sexy actress who would NEVER be working as a maid in any country, and this makes the scene where she throws herself at the truly unattractive, middle-age killer even more laughably implausible. The ending is kind strange and abrupt too. Still if you want to see something different. . .

Highly misleading title which will scare away some who will enjoy it and lure others who might not. So, not a ghastly slasher or even a giallo copy but instead an effective tale of jolly and not so jolly Mexican life among the better off. More especially a drama involving the possessive, chauvinistic Hispanic males and the largely put upon wives and maids. Things do get a bit hairy towards the end when the nutter really gets into his groove, chasing the lovely lead all over with his axe. Otherwise this is notable for the aforementioned 'nutter's penchant for ladies hair. He has a locked cabinet full of lady's locks and we see him have the odd chop to expand his collection. Bit of thriller then, lots of drama, oh and lots of humour plus lots of good looking girls, a shower scene from the lead as a bonus and in the end who can complain. Decent offbeat viewing.

Isabel (Maribel Guardia), a naive young housewife isolated from the world, sees her fantasies of black lace take a nightmarish turn one fateful night when she's stalked by a killer in an apartment high rise populated by the hedonistic, opportunistic, and perverted.

This Mexican-made movie is a mild, claustrophobic black comedy with a feminist slant that has the wide-eyed heroine surrounded by the type of men women need to be liberated from. Ruben (Jaime Moreno), the fantasy man Isabel meets on the street when she does manage to break out, could free the princess imprisoned in the penthouse if he wasn't on the make but her innocence and loyalty get in the way. Paradoxically, the premise can also be perceived as a slightly misogynistic morality tale warning of the dangers of trying to find fulfillment outside the home and marriage. Isabel's possessive, violent husband (Gonzalo Vega) is right in thinking it's a dangerous world out there for an unescorted wife and the maid (Claudia Guzman), along with three single gals in an apartment below, illustrate the reasons why men don't trust women in the first place. Fantasies don't come to fruition in this film and when the beautiful, long-haired Isabel crosses paths with another neighbor (Claudio Obregon), a perverted masher with a hair fetish who's crimes against women escalate, some suspense builds as the tale reaches a climax that exposes private traps in a "No Exit" kind of way. This well-made film with a hint of Almodovar won an "Ariel" (Mexico's "Oscar") for Best Supporting Actress (Guzman) with nominations for Best Actress & Best Score. There's some very brief nudity, one killing, and almost no violence but holds the interest nonetheless. The title refers to a specific incident and although neither horror nor giallo, TERROR AND BLACK LACE isn't bad but isn't reely a dark-themed tale which is surprising for an ostensible black dramedy.