The Witch's Mirror (1962)

Eduardo is a wealthy doctor. He is bored with his wife Elena and wants to marry Deborah. Fortunately he lives in a country where poisoning your wife is legal. Fate has decided Elena must die, unable to be saved by her satanic witch godmother and her ancient magic Persian mirror. However, once dead, her spirit can raise havoc in the newlyweds life.The restoration quality was phenomenally good. Indeed it must have looked better than originally shown. I liked the plot as the film swung to a grave robbing mad scientist genre. The motions of the actors were from the silent era and the soundtrack sounded like it was from the forties. The Satanic witchcraft in the film was similar to what my Santanya worshiping Hispanic grandmother would use. Note the correct use of the six sided star as opposed to the typical five pointed star.Okay, who keeps an owl in their operating room/lab?

Most Latin American people are familiarized with those Mexican soap operas that are overflowing with baseless action and pitiful situations. They're undeniably amusing and it's all right to watch them if you're too bored and you want to have a good laugh. However, it's not funny anymore when you really trust an old Mexican Gothic horror film and you find one or two similarities between those ridiculous soap operas and the movie you wanted to see. Firstly, I would like to say that I do not mean to be rude to anyone with this review. I know Mexican people are very nationalistic and they tend to stand up for their films a lot. I understand that and to be honest, I actually really enjoy Mexican horror films too. That's the reason why I was somehow disenchanted when I found out that "El Espejo de la Bruja" was not exactly as good as I was expecting.The film sets in motion with a very well done introduction to the main characters, a beautiful woman named Elena and her godmother, Sara (also known as… The Witch!). The view is quite stylish and atmospheric. Both characters look darkly beautiful and yet naïve somehow. In this opening scene, Elena becomes aware of a very shattering truth about her approaching fate, through the magic mirror that belongs to her godmother. Unfortunately, this depressing reality cannot be altered, since all judicious witches know very well that the itinerary of life, is not meant to be disrespected. Broken-hearted and clueless, Elena has no choice but facing the reality and becoming a victim of her atrocious fate. As it was stated previously, all bright witches know very well that fate is not meant to be changed, however, there are no laws aligned with revenge. In "El Espejo de la Bruja", we see a resented woman trying to make justice and claim for the blood of those who harmed her goddaughter. Sara is the witch and when witches are good, they're very good, but when they're bad….It would be unfair to say that "El Espejo de la Bruja" is only laughable and overwhelming when it comes to making a reasonable balance. My only problem is that there was a little bit too much action for my taste. During the first half an hour, it is like the audience has nothing else to see, but there's still more and more and more. All of a sudden, a dramatic Gothic horror tale turns into "Re-Animator". The bad thing is that the humorous situations are not exactly intentional. Armando Calvo's performance is perhaps one of the worst in this film and his facial expressions are merely side-splitting. The rest of the cast is all right, but the problem is that Mr. Calvo looked over the top all the time, which is a tragedy, considering that he's the leading male character. Then, there are all these scenes in which we see Rosa Arenas's character wearing some kind of big bandage that covers her entire face, with the two little holes for the eyes. That is perhaps one of the most hysterical images ever and I'm not just talking about this particular film. It resembles the invisible man, but wearing a delicate night gown. "El Espejo de la Bruja" is full of action, which can be entertaining for moments and overwhelming for others. It has a few good things that make it enjoyable for all horror fans, for example, the already established but still welcomed clichés like: owls, dark shadows of Satan, lots of fire, graveyard scenes, phantasmagorical silhouettes and of course...black cats!. Overall, an okay flick, but I still think I'm not the only one who lost interest during the last minutes, ironically due to the overindulgence of action. If you're in the mood for a good Mexican Gothic horror film, rent "La Maldicion de la Llorona" instead.

There are some nice visual moments in the film involving the mirror, but more often you have to give the filmmakers credit for trying things that don't quite work. Like a "detached" hand that is obviously some one wearing a black cleave so you won't see the black cleave but you do.Characterizations and the acting and the dubbing are all pretty flat and one dimensional and that's what really sinks it.Still it's fairly lively and though cheaply made decently produced especially for the time and place where it was made. Never dull, just never takes off either. Decent photography. Uneven special effects. Could really use more music to add atmosphere.

The Witch's Mirror is a veritable cornucopia of horror themes. Over the years, I've seen a number of very promising films ruined by an overly ambitious screenplay that tries to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the plot. Fortunately, The Witch's Mirror defies the odds and most of varied plot elements work. The movie is sort of a mixture of an Italian Gothic ghost story (like Riccardo Freda's The Ghost) and a brilliant surgeon turned mad scientist film (like Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face) with a dash of grave robbing and devil worshipping. The fact that director Chano Urueta was able to combine all of these elements into an entertaining movie and effectively keep distractive plot holes to a minimum is amazing. As my examples would seem to indicate, while The Witch's Mirror is a Mexican made film, it has a definite European feel to it. And like its European counterparts, Urueta was able to effectively fill The Witch's Mirror with atmosphere to burn. If you're looking for that old-school, slow-burn, atmospheric type of horror, you can't go wrong with The Witch's Mirror.