Five stories and wraparound all about Latine culture, tales, and folklore brought together by five directors. Starting with a police raid, the film brings a man found on the scene of a massive crime to the police station where he tells a few tales before things go to hell in the station itself.
The current available credits on IMDB feel like they might be incomplete, listing only three writers (Pete Barnstrom, Alejandro Mendez, and Lino K. Villa), listing the five directors: Alejandro Brugués, ike Mendez, Demián Rugna, Gigi Saul Guerrero, and Eduardo Sánchez (but not which part they handled), so this review is working from available information and knownledge, while trying to keep things as spoiler-free as possible.
The film these short stories create once put together is a fun watch that shows the different styles for each director. The wraparound story is great, and the fourth chapter called Nahuales as well as the fifth chapter called The Hammer of Zanzibar are the definite strongest of the bunch. The stories in all of them are well-written and well-directed, but these two shorts and the wraparound really stand out. Nahuales has to be noted in particular here as it is directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero, a favorite at Cinema Crazed and someone who has a ton of new directorial working coming in the next year or so. Her work here is on part with her past work in terms of genre and quality, she really has found her voice and is ready to have fun with it. Nahuales allows her to have some fun while bringing a folktale to the screen for the masses. Her short her shows that she can really direct and is quite well edited, giving just the right tone to things and allowing the viewer to really seen the action. The short The Hammer of Zanzibar for its part brings Alejandro Brugués and his style to the screen beautiful. It’s a bit nuts, has a very peculiar weapon, and is a boatload of fun. Yes, it has some ridiculous moments, but it works here and it’s exactly what the film needed before its finale. Overall, the shorts come together really well and the whole works great as a feature, having a theme and a wraparound that really work here.
The cast for these shorts and the film as a whole is overall fantastic. There are some standouts of course, including Efren Ramirez who is absolutely great as the traveler, giving him that mysterious creep factor while making him a believable storyteller. His work here bounces very well with that of Greg Grunberg has the detective who is interviewing him with his partner. Also requiring a few works are Morgana Ignis as King Zombie and Gabriela Ruíz as Madre Tierra. Both of them work under a lot of makeup here and pull off these parts fantastically well. These are physical parts more than word-heavy parts and they make these their own and then some. Another fun aspect of the cast for horror fans will be playing spot the familiar face and the horror directors involved here.
In terms of special effects, the practical effects are absolutely fantastic, giving the right amount of otherworldly and occasional gross out moment. The film makes the most of this, showing just the right amount of it all and avoiding visual effects like cgi for most of the film. What cgi there is here is sadly not quite on part with the practical effects and that is one of those things that sticks out a little. Thankfully, it looks to be used minimally, so it’s easy to overlook it. One more small issue, the subtitles on the version available for review were not even from section to section with difference in fonts and in colors that were a little annoying.
As a whole, Satanic Hispanics is a whole lot of fun with some good gore, fantastic acting, and stories that work together really well. The film is one of those anthologies that will be fun to rewatch again and again through the years.