It’s made clear pretty quickly in Argentinian demonic horror-comedy Legions (2022) that we are covering a long period of time – a then and a now. As a voiceover introduces us to a shaman, someone with magical know-how in his lineage, we’re shown life as it was, in a remote village operating by traditional rules against old adversaries. Our shaman is there, waiting for some of his neighbours to bring him the prone body of a young girl; as he begins a ritual over her body, the girl revives, let’s say, seemingly possessed by something with no inclinations to be friendly. As the shaman tries to exorcise it, the demon hexes his family line; no one respects people just doing their jobs anymore.
Back in the current moment, some forty years later, and we hear again from our shaman, whose voiceover is actually part of a conversation he’s just been having. We find out how he, Antonio (Germán de Silva) is living now, and it isn’t too promising. It seems he’s been institutionalised: he’s a killer, detained in a secure-ish hospital as he has diminished responsibility. This is something he seems to have begrudgingly accepted, for the most part. As part of the rehabilitation on offer at this hospital, it seems some of his fellow inmates have been planning a play dramatising his life stories. Again, he seems to begrudgingly accept this, even whilst watching, bemused, as the play slides into farce. Legions is full of humour, but it’s very gentle humour.
During some down time, he’s mentioned another of his life stories: the story of his daughter, Elena, born under a rare blood-red moon, which frankly, isn’t good news. She has apparently long been in need of protection from the demonic entities interested in her, both because of her lineage and the special circumstances of her birth. Sadly, dear old dad being where he is, this hasn’t been very possible of late, but it gets worse – another blood moon is on its way. With help from a descendant of one of the other old village elders, who reaches out to him, Antonio realises that he has to protect his daughter from a particular entity which has been waiting for her all her life. This means helping her, whether she likes it or not.
In many ways, this kind of bloodlines storyline feels very familiar; likewise, demons in horror films look and sound alike, for the most part, so you could be forgiven for some deja-vu in places. The film is quite open about where it takes its cues, so none of this is an oversight on the part of director and writer Fabián Forte, and instead seems to be an intentional use of these quite established elements. Where it differs in how it’s framed. There are no horrified kids in cabins, no sacrificial psychics, no size 6 damsels in distress or any heroic priests, for starters. The supporting characters here are refreshingly diverse in ages, appearances and body types, as Argentinian films seem not to be bound by the same rote expectations we hang onto in the West -and it’s great, even surprising to see. The film blends contrasts between urban and rural, rich and poor, traditional and modern very compellingly, though without labouring the point – again, something expected of a lot of Western cinema.
There are other notable features. For the most part, the film’s setting is a psychiatric hospital, but as much as the place seems a little dated, it’s light and airy, and hospital life is a bit, well – whimsical. This isn’t a bad place at all, and it’s peopled with a cast of rather likeable rogues, one of which is Antonio: it’s only very gradually that we see him move beyond his memories and his accepted role as the institution’s storyteller, but the people he lives with are very engaging in their own right. The film also confidently uses its structure to backfill key plot points, affording itself the time to go slow, both on themes and story development. This may feel frustrating to some, particularly given the flashy opening scene which seems to promise a Deadites-style of horror, and you do get the impression that – given the plural title, and the initial high-action opener – that Forte would have liked to have thrown more at it. But without a doubt the film has wrung every last peso out of its budget by the end, musters some impressive gore and ick, has admirable ideas, and offers an intensely endearing frame which helps those ideas land.
Legions (2022) arrives on VOD (US) on January 19th 2023.