Review by Ben Bussey
When a film is released to DVD almost eight years after it was made, it tends not to inspire a great deal of confidence. However, when said film has the names Robert Rodriguez, Carlos Gallardo and Harvey and Bob Weinstein attached, it also inspires at least a little curiosity. Such was my state of mind sitting down to watch Curandero, the 2005 Mexican horror from director Eduardo (no relation) Rodriguez, whose title has been augmented for the English-speaking market to Curandero: Dawn of the Demon. Why the change of title? Well, call me crazy but I think it might be something to do with the fact that not a great many of us whose first language is English have the first clue what a curandero is. Indeed, I get the sneaky suspicion that the delayed release may have less to do with quality concerns about the film itself, than it has to do with not unreasonable anxieties over whether the core cultural references will resonate outside of Spanish-speaking audiences. (For those who need a pointer, a curandero is “a traditional Native American healer or shaman in Latin America, who is dedicated to curing physical or spiritual illnesses.” Thank you, Wikipedia.) However, this is not to imply that the film itself is necessarily without its problems either…
The basic story, as written by Robert Rodriguez, is as follows: Carlos (an imaginative character name for Carlos ‘El Mariachi/God in Dead Hooker in a Trunk’ Gallardo) is the curandero of the title. He has followed his father into the family business, but he does so with a fraught conscience, believing he does little more than appease the gullible with superstition. Naturally he’s in denial, for as much as he tries to ignore it, he’s susceptible to strange visions, glimpses of ordinary people in different forms; some bloodied and brutalised, some rather less than human. In no short order he’s forced to confront this world he seeks to deny, as police officer Magdalena (Gizeht Galatea) calls by seeking the assistance of Carlos’ father in a particularly troublesome case. Satanic cult leader Castandea (Gabriel Pingarrón) has mysteriously escaped police custody, and is off raising all kinds of hell, and – having lived through some rather weird shit in her childhood, which Carlos Sr. helped save her from – Magdalena believes that bringing the leering diabolist in will require more than just the power of the law. But in his father’s absence, Carlos Jr. is the only curandero available – but with his lack of faith, can he be the right man for the job? Well hey, do bears do their business in the woods…?
So – another slice of south-of-the-border sleaze, but with a supernatural twist, right? Some midway point between Mariachi and Dusk Till Dawn? Well – almost. Naturally that’s what you’d expect given some of the names involved, but director Eduardo Rodriguez doesn’t put quite the same emphasis on kinetic energy and viscera as his writer/producer namesake tends to. Sadly, Curandero moves at a far more sluggish pace, and a far lower volume. There’s no escaping a sense that it’s all being played just a little too straight, which means that when the more OTT moments occur – leather clad gangs busting out machine guns, gory demonic visions with a liberal dash of fire and brimstone – they come off rather sillier than they perhaps should under the circumstances. It doesn’t help that the aesthetics of the film leave quite a lot to be desired; the digital photography isn’t very inspiring, and while the creature designs (courtesy of esteemed designer/less esteemed filmmaker Patrick Tatopoulos) certainly aren’t bad, there’s a definite sense that the budget isn’t there to really do them justice. Still, we can be thankful that this is at least one low budget horror with the good sense not to sully itself with bargain basement CGI; most if not all of it is practical.
Indeed, the lacking production value is a major thorn in Curandero’s side. With the overall tone falling somewhere between a Seven-esque police procedural and a supernatural noir in the vein of Angel Heart, the potential was clearly there for something grand, but it winds up being rather too small-scale. On top of which, even with the Satanic angle and occasional spurts of gore it’s ultimately pretty tame stuff which, despite the relative unfamiliarity of some of the subject matter, doesn’t really get into much that we haven’t seen in countless similarly themed horror movies over the years. Sad to say, it’s really not much more than yet another missed opportunity – and, in missing it over the past seven and a bit years, we haven’t been missing a great deal.
Curandero – Dawn of the Demon is out now on Region 2 DVD from Lionsgate.