Thursday, May 19, 2022

THE WITCH'S MIRROR

 



THE WITCH'S MIRROR is a 1960 Mexican Gothic horror film, directed by Chano Urueta (who had an important acting role in THE WILD BUNCH) and produced by Abel Salazar (who starred and produced in the incredible THE BRAINIAC) . The film's original Mexican title is EL ESPEJO DE LA BRUJA. 

I bought a discounted DVD of this film, and it was a first-time viewing for me. Like many Mexican horror-fantasy films of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, it's filled to the brim with all sorts of classic terror tale elements, and it has enough plot for two or three movies. 

The story appears to be set during the 19th Century. A middle-aged woman named Sara (Isabela Corona) is a maid to a Dr. Ramos (Armando Calvo). Sara is also a witch, and a acolyte of Satan. Through a magic mirror Sara discovers that her goddaughter Elena (Dina de Marco) is fated to be murdered by Ramos, who happens to be the girl's husband. Sara pleads with the forces of darkness to help save Elena, but this is not allowed. This doesn't stop Elena from plotting revenge after Dr. Ramos fatally poisons Elena. Some time later Ramos brings home a new wife, a young woman named Deborah (Rosita Arenas). Sara uses her dark powers to call upon the spirit of Elena to haunt Ramos and his new bride. Ramos' attempt at smashing the mirror causes a fire which severely burns Deborah's face and hands. Ramos makes it his mission to restore Deborah's health and beauty by using human cadavers--but Sara and Elena's revenge is far from complete. 

That's a lot of plot for a 75 minute film, but THE WITCH'S MIRROR keeps things flowing. The beginning immediately shows Sara and Elena looking into the magic mirror, even before the viewer even knows who these characters are. After Elena is quickly dispatched, the movie starts to feel like REBECCA, with a bit of THE TOMB OF LIGEIA thrown in, as a beautiful young woman feels overwhelmed by the presence of her husband's late first wife. After Deborah's brutal burning, the story goes into "obsessed doctor tries to restore the beauty of his disfigured loved one" mode, as Ramos and his assistant venture into morgues and graveyards to find material for his experiments. Ramos even comes upon a prematurely buried woman, and decides that a living subject will be even better than a dead one. 

The movie gets a bit nasty when Ramos starts his quest to restore his second wife. Deborah's burn makeup is rather gruesome, and bandages are wrapped around her head in a way that makes her appearance even more grotesque. A number of surgically removed hands feature in the climax, including a pair that are beyond Deborah's control--bringing to mind of course another classic horror tale, THE HANDS OF ORLAC. 

Not only does THE WITCH'S MIRROR offer up plenty of elements favored by Gothic fans (such as most of the story taking place inside Dr. Ramos' residence, which resembles an old castle), it also offers up a few twists on the typical good person-bad person characterizations. Sara is an avowed devil worshiper (which doesn't seem to bother Elena), but she is the one that takes up the fight against Ramos and his evil actions. The most put upon character in the entire movie is Deborah, and she's only guilty of making a bad choice in a husband. 

THE WITCH'S MIRROR is in black & white, with a full-frame aspect ratio. For the most part Chano Urueta's direction is quite basic, but there's a few times where an atmospheric shot sneaks in (such as the one pictured below). What this film really needed was a more charismatic performer as Dr. Ramos. Armando Calvo is just too ordinary to play a wife murderer who steals corpses and experiments on them. The role calls for a Lugosi-Atwill type. (One can say that type would be hard to find in 1960 Mexico--but what about German Robles, who played El Vampiro?)

I enjoyed THE WITCH'S MIRROR. There's a weirdness and a wildness to classic Mexican fantastic cinema that makes the films in that category seem familiar yet also fresh at the same time. 



One of the more expressionistic shot compositions in THE WITCH'S MIRROR


1 comment:

  1. Nice review! I like this movie very much. Some of the Mexican movies from this era are quite good.

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