Verdict
Summary
It works. If you’re a fan of the Creepshow / Tales From the Crypt variety of anthology, this one has the right ingredients for a fan following. But like all anthologies, some stories are more effective than others.
Plot:
A mysterious traveler on the run from a malevolent entity is waylaid at a police station where he tells some outlandish horror stories to the detectives assigned to his case.
Review:
A bloodbath occurs on the North American side of the border of Mexico, and the sole survivor who calls himself The Traveler (Efren Ramirez) is questioned by two overweight detectives (Greg Grunberg and Sonya Eddy). The Traveler insists he’s innocent, but first he warns the detectives that there’s a creature hunting him and that they’d better release him ASAP or the police station is going to be under siege Terminator style, which sounds crazy (and is obviously crazy), but the cops delay and laugh at him, forcing this twitchy guy to tell them some stories that he think will prove his case, but only makes things stranger. He tells a story about a modern-day vampire (“El Vampiro”) who ventures out on Halloween to suck some blood out in the open but things get complicated big time when his night out goes completely sideways. The Traveler also tells a story (“Tambien Lo Vi”) about a guy in a dark apartment that might have ghosts in it, but the trick is in trying to prove it, and prove it he most certainly does, leading to both ghastly and hilarious results. There’s another story (“Nahuales”) about a native tribe that worships a Mesoamerican deity, and the most insane story of all (“The Hammer of Zanzibar”) involves the petrified phallus of a monster that has the power to kill demons! The wraparound story about The Traveler and the creature that hunts him goes completely balls-out when the creature shows up and lays siege to the police station, but nothing can stop it … except a magic gun and a magic bullet that the police confiscated from The Traveler, but by the time the detectives finally believe his story, it might too late to save them all.
A pretty original and fun horror anthology from five filmmakers – Alejandro Brugues, Mike Medez, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Eduardo Sanchez, and Damian Rugna – Satanic Hispanics has the perfect setup to warrant sequels, and The Traveler makes a intriguing mysterious protagonist in the style of HBO’s old anthology show The Hitchhiker from the ’80s, but throw in some spicy salsa and we’ve got this concoction. It works. If you’re a fan of the Creepshow / Tales From the Crypt variety of anthology, this one has the right ingredients for a fan following.
Epic Pictures / Dread has just released a Blu-ray of Satanic Hispanics, and while it largely went unnoticed in its one-night only theatrical screening back in October, the film is likely going to find its audience here on home video. The disc has a commentary, trailers, and “Dread Talk.”
