Written and directed by Bigas Luna
Starring Zelda Rubinstein, Michael Lerner, Talia Paul, Clara Pastor, Angel Jove
Tagline: THE EYES OF THE CITY ARE MINE…
John (Lerner), a disturbed orderly who works at an ophthalmology lab, is slowly going blind due to diabetes. He is also having trouble coping with reality, and is under the hypnotic control of his crazy, domineering mother (Rubinstein). For reasons not really explained, Mom regularly hypnotizes John, sending him out into the streets to murder people, remove their EYES with a scalpel, and bring the bloody orbs to her as gifts!
But just as we’re getting used to this grisly storyline, we learn that what we’re watching is in fact a MOVIE-WITHIN-A-MOVIE, called THE MOMMY (!) And some audience members in the theater watching THAT film are starting to be affected by the hypnotic powers of Rubinstein’s character on the screen… particularly one guy who starts killing off some of the theater patrons! Got that? But this twist is just the START of the surreal, disorienting, and yes, hypnotic thrills to come…
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ANGUISH was written and directed by the late Bigas Luna, a Spanish filmmaker who would gain arthouse prominence with his 1992 romantic comedy-drama, JAMON, JAMON. Many of Luna’s films have stylized, off-kilter elements, and deal with obsessive, troubled, oddball characters. (His religious-themed film REBORN features Dennis Hopper as a preacher trying to exploit and profit from a young woman suffering from “stigmata” attacks.)
ANGUISH, a Spanish/U.S. co-production shot in English with a mostly American cast, was, as far as I know, Luna’s only venture into full throttle horror territory. For this film, he packs in all kinds of bizarre elements like telepathic communication, animal symbolism, jarring sound design, as well as lots of spiral imagery (hypno-wheels, snail shells), all of which seem to be designed to create a disorienting experience for the viewer. Oh, and there’s plenty of icky eyeball abuse, both real (actual eye surgery footage) and simulated (convincing gore effects).
Lerner is both sympathetic and scary as the increasingly erratic John, while Rubinstein, best known as “Tangina” in the POLTERGIEST films, plays things over the top, but her histrionics actually fit with the movie’s completely unhinged tone.
Luna is also playing with us, the audience, by suggesting that WE are being hypnotized and manipulated by his movie, as evidenced by the gimmicky, William Castle style disclaimer at the start of the film:
“DURING THE FILM YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE, YOU WILL BE SUBJECTED TO SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES AND MILD HYPNOSIS. THIS WILL CAUSE YOU NO PHYSICAL HARM OR LASTING EFFECT, BUT IF FOR ANY REASON YOU LOSE CONTROL OR FEEL THAT YOUR MIND IS LEAVING YOUR BODY, LEAVE THE AUDITORIUM IMMEDIATELY.”
Fun stuff, and the film’s purposely disjointed structure does indeed keep the viewer guessing what parts of ANGUISH are supposed to be real or fantasy, both for the characters in the movie, AND for the characters in the movie WITHIN the movie! To put it bluntly, ANGUISH is one trippy mind fuck. I can just imagine the baffled reactions from horror fans at the time who saw this in theaters expecting another typical slasher flick.
Is ANGUISH for everyone? Surely not. But if you’re an adventurous horror buff looking for a hallucinogenic, unsettling, and often shocking film unlike any other, then feast your EYES on this baby!
Poster art and pics below!
Shawn ‘Eye See You’ Sheridan
