Synopsis: A journey that takes one man into the bowels of black magic in Mexico City.
In Curandero, Federal Agent Magdalena (Gizeht Galatea) recruits a local curandero (native healer/shaman) named Carlos (Carlos Gallardo) to purify a police station after its been cursed by Castaneda (Gabriel Pingarron) during his escape. Losing his faith in the gifts he has, Carlos soon finds himself quickly immersed in a Satanic cult’s black magic rituals in the back alleys of Mexico City.
Written by Robert Rodriguez, this story has his creative signature all over it. However, the execution lacks his stylized polish. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t good, it’s just different. It seemed like the director was trying to capture that gritty realism of El Mariachi but ended up creating something that more closely resembled a telenovela. Utilizing seizure inducing flashes of demonic imagery filmed through what looked like broadcast studio cameras, this film just felt kind of slightly off. If you can get past that though, the story is actually quite interesting. At its heart, it’s a story of redemption. With the protagonist learning to trust his gifts passed down by his father through the many trials he’s presented battling a Satanic cult leader. Sub-story aside, I’m all for taking a deep dive into ritualistic black magic in the heart of Mexico City. That’s a genre I’d like to explore deeper.
I will give props to the director though for accomplishing what he managed to do with a small-ish $3,000,000 budget. The scenery was dark and gritty, the practical effects were done very well (not so much with the cgi, but that can be overlooked), and it was well acted. I’m sure with a little more money and maybe a different director at the helm, I would have liked this better but it was a satisfactory flick. Nothing stood out as good or bad, just average all around.
I do want to point out that the stream I caught was entirely in Spanish but subtitled so be prepared. If you want to catch this one for yourself, it’s currently streaming on Paramount+ as of this writing.
Join me again tomorrow as we continue our horror journey down the rabbit hole.
