After long being a fan of Day of the Beast and Perdita Durango, I managed to finally track this down in the bargain bin of a second-hand video shop, and I certainly wasn't disappointed by it. The first half, taking in spoof news programmes (similar to the mock psychic phone-in show in ...Beast), a phenomenally kitsch Almodovar-esque party scene, and large amounts of extreme violence, is brilliant. As always, beneath the violence, humour and genre-spoofery, de la Iglesia engages in a serious subtext of social criticism, in this case of beauty-led bourgeois culture.
Unfortunately, this serious side is abandoned in the second half, as is anything resembling a decent plot. However, right till its end the film remains hugely entertaining, if ramshackle in structure, and is crammed with eccentric and unusual touches and beautifully shot. Alex Angulo is as brilliant as always, and the film provides an interesting insight into the origins of its director's wonderful subsequent work.
Unfortunately, this serious side is abandoned in the second half, as is anything resembling a decent plot. However, right till its end the film remains hugely entertaining, if ramshackle in structure, and is crammed with eccentric and unusual touches and beautifully shot. Alex Angulo is as brilliant as always, and the film provides an interesting insight into the origins of its director's wonderful subsequent work.