Santa Sangre (1989)

Santa Sangre (1989) — directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky — is a hallucinatory blend of drama, horror and thriller that follows Fenix, a traumatized former circus performer who escapes from a mental institution and returns to the violent, religiously obsessed world of his past. Through a mosaic of flashbacks and fevered hallucinations we learn how his father’s brutal act (the amputation of his mother’s arms) and the family’s cultlike devotion to a “holy blood” martyr shattered his life. Back in the present, Fenix becomes, in a literal and psychological sense, “his mother’s arms” as he and his armless mother re-form a grotesque, murderous partnership to settle old scores. Watching Santa Sangre is an intense sensory experience. The film is operatic and surreal: circus imagery, lurid colors, religious iconography and dream-logic editing create a floating, nightmarish atmosphere. Expect jolting shifts between past and present, elaborate tableaux, ritualistic staging and moments of explicit, unsettling violence. The cinematography and production design are often beautiful and bizarre at once, mixing tenderness and brutality in a way that feels ritualistic rather than merely exploitative. The movie is as much psychological and symbolic allegory as it is a murder thriller — themes of trauma, identity, maternal control, faith, and bodily dismemberment are explored with dark poetry. It’s emotionally affecting and occasionally grotesque, a cult classic that rewards viewers who like art-house surrealism mixed with visceral horror. Content warning: graphic violence, dismemberment, and disturbing sexual and religious imagery — not for the faint of heart.

Actors: Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Runtime: 123 min

Genres: Drama, Horror, Thriller

6.8 /10 7.5 /10 7.2 /10