By Melissa Antoinette Garza
The 1970s was certainly the decade for horror. Whether American, Spanish, or Italian, the movies made during this time were able to capture a haunting atmosphere and memorable settings. Horror fans were given some of the most in-depth and believable characters and the plots though often simple successfully kept the audience intrigued and terrified.
The Witch’s Mountain or El monte de las brujas is no exception. The movie opens with Carla (Monica Randall) setting fire to a garage. Inside, burning alive is a very unique and downright creepy young girl alive. Carla then rushes to her boyfriend Mario (Cihangir Gaffari) who completely blows her off. She begs him to be with her but he refuses and instead smugly takes a photography job far away from her.
During Mario’s travels he meets Delia (Patty Shephard) who for some reason is smitten with Mario. Mario is overall a complete jerk. Without her consent, he starts taking topless photos of Delia. He then is rude to an innkeeper who is a bit slow.
The romance between Mario and Delia strengthens as the two begin travelling around the mountain. As they walk around, their car disappears. An old woman allows them to stay with her, but Mario refuses to remain settled for the evening and heads out to take more pictures.
There he runs into a bunch of women dressed in black and holding candles. He snaps pictures but is visibly shaken from the ceremony. When he returns to the old woman’s home, she tells him that they are in fact witches. Mario gets angry with the old woman and tells her that there are no such thing.
Strange occurrences continue to happen. As Mario develops his film, a bunch of people who were not present when the pictures were taken are seen on the photographs. They decide to leave the mountain but the fog quickly sets in forcing them to stay another night.
I expected very little from this film and was pleasantly surprised. It was a fun movie that stayed on the borderline of creepy and amusing. Gaffari portrays Mario so perfectly that the conclusion is most fitting for him.
The acting was above average and the pace though slow at times, built up in the last half hour quite nicely.
Fans of WARLOCK MOON (1973), AMERICAN GOTHIC (1988) and THE MONSTER CLUB (1981) will certainly enjoy this movie. Though, those mentioned are far superior, this definitely fits in well with those titles.
Scared Stiff Rating 6.5/10
