The Instituto Cultural de México and Casa América, with the support of the National Film Library of Mexico, present the cycle Classic Mexican Horror Cinema, in the framework of the Mexican festivities of the Day of the Dead. A tribute to the Mexican director, producer and screenwriter Carlos Enrique Taboada (1929-1997), known as the “Duke of terror”.
Carlos Enrique Taboada was a film director and screenwriter, known for his horror and suspense films. In 1950 he began working as a screenwriter and director of television programs. He made his film debut in 1954 with Kid Tabaco, his first screenplay. Some of his best known works are Poison for the Fairies, for which he received the Ariel Award for Best Director in 1986, Blackest than the Night, Fog Jiron, The Stone Book and Up the Wind is Afraid.
Taboada directed about a dozen films, now considered cult films. His ability to create gothic atmospheres, the elegance in his direction, the focus on psychological fear and his ability to interweave it with dark visual poetics led him to create horror works with a unique, deeply artistic aesthetic. Her themes like witchcraft, the supernatural, the mystery around women with shrill personalities and children with hidden sides resonate as her main characteristics.
This cycle, in which three of his films will be screened, seeks to recall his contributions and his enduring legacy, as well as being witnesses of the power of cinema to scare, move, reflect and demonstrate that terror can be both an entertainment and an art.
The screenings will take place in the Iberia cinema of Casa de América at 7 pm, with free admission until capacity is full (70 seats). Tickets will be distributed at the Cibeles information point one hour before each screening begins.
On Monday, 11 November, Blackest Than Night (1975) will be screened:
After the death of Aunt Susana, her niece Ophelia becomes heiress to the old house on condition that she take care of her pet: a black cat named Becker. When she moves into the house with her friends, the cat appears mysteriously dead in the basement and strange things start happening in the house.
Monday, November 18, The Stone Book (1969):
Little Silvia is the daughter of wealthy Eugenio Ruvacalba, who hires a governess to look after her. Since then, the girl behaves very strangely and says she is playing with Hugo, a stone statue of a boy reading a book. It seems a game of children, but it is a macabre obsession.
Thursday, November 28, Until the wind is afraid (1968):
The story follows a group of young students, two teachers and a gardener from a boarding school for ladies who experience the paranormal events of a sorrowful soul, which roams around the premises in search of revenge.
