Vacation of Terror (1989)

An evil witch gets burned at the stake, but vows to return and get her revenge prior to being torched. A hundred years later a family -- architect father Fernando (Julio Aleman), naggy pregnant wife Lorena (attractive Nuria Bages), daughter Gaby (Gianella Hassle Kus), twin sons Pedrito (Ernesto East) and Jaimito (Carlos East, Jr.), sweet niece Paulina (the fetching Gabriela Hassle), and Paulina's affable occult enthusiast boyfriend Julio (an engaging performance by Pedro Fernandez) -- decide to vacation at a summer home located in the same immediate countryside area where the witch was killed. Trouble ensues when Gaby finds a doll possessed by the lethal spirit of the malevolent witch. Director Rene Cardona III eschews graphic gore in favor of creating and sustaining a creepy ooga-booga atmosphere that becomes more progressively eerie and frightening as the story unfolds. Said uncanny mood culminates in an especially intense and harrowing last third. Moreover, the capable acting from a uniformly solid cast, Luis Medina's polished cinematography, the likable characters, the exciting fiery conclusion, Eugenio Castillo's shivery, ominous score, plenty of unsettling visuals (the bleeding tree and walls are truly scary and unnerving while the shots of vile rotting food covered with bugs, rats and snakes are just plain gross), the constant pace, and the crude, yet effective special effects further enhance the overall sound quality of this nifty little horror picture.

Having spent the past two years in Mexico I saw a lot of films like this on TV, and it's nice to see some of them released in America on DVD and with English subtitles (since my Spanish leaves a lot to be desired). Although these movies were mostly made in the 80's and (presumably) released theatrically, they are very low-budget and somewhat tame, and kind of have the feeling of 1970's made-for-TV American horror movies (albeit in Spanish). The name of the director of this one, Rene Cardona III, may sound familiar. That's because he is third-generation Mexican director, the grandson of Rene Cardona, who directed some of the more famous "lucha libre"/ monster movies of the 1960's like "Doctor of Doom" and "Night of the Bloody Apes", and the son of Rene Cardona Jr., who was not the best but was probably the most internationally successful Mexican horror/exploitation director of the 1970's and early 1980's with films like "Alive" and "The Bermuda Triangle" to his credit. Cardona III is not quite such a seething cauldron of talent--he is best known for his endless series of "Risa de Vacaciones" ("Funny Vacations") movies, idiotic sex comedies with precious little sex aside from a lot of overweight Mexican woman in bikinis.This movie starts out with a witch being burned at the stake (yes, twenty five years later they were still ripping off Mario Bava's "Black Sunday"). Then it cuts to a typical middle-class Mexican family going to the new "casa de campo" (vacation home) that the father has just bought, much to the wife's consternation. And once you see it, you'll probably sympathize with her since it's the rundown ruins of the witch's lair. The family has twin boys and little girl and they also bring along their teenage babysitting niece (who the father seems to have a little thing for), and her goofy boyfriend tags along as well. The trouble begins when the little girl finds a doll of the witch and is possessed by it, and said doll starts telekinetically making short work of the family. (It may seem that Cardona III borrowed the evil doll plot from his own father's "The Bermuda Triangle", but the "muneca maldita" is actually an old Mexican horror standby going all the way back to the creepy classic "Curse of the Doll People") Fortunately for all involved, however, the boyfriend has traded an Indian witch-doctor his Walkman for a protective amulet. This movie is actually REALLY tame--there is little or no violent death, and the teen-babe niece has her clothing telekinetically torn at one point, but (regettably) not stripped off.Still I kind of enjoyed this. This kind of PG horror is a nice respite from the horror/exploitation depravity I usually indulge in. And if you know enough about Mexican horror movies to have found your way to this site, I imagine you'll probably enjoy it somewhat too.

The witch of the village has been torched and the only memories to this are a medallion and an antique doll. A few years later a family goes on vacation to experience their new country home in the outside regions of a pueblo called Valle de Bravo Madero Mexico. Once there the resentful ghosts and memories of the past become apparent and refuse to stay put. The six year old girl of the family falls into a well and finds the ragged old doll which will now bring back one of the many dark entities of the witch. Through incredible telekinetic powers and magical voodoo as well as bloody hallucinations the hell from beneath has come back and will now try to posses the young girl before the night is over. The witch's vengeance is finally alive and ready to bring an end to the family...one by one.

This genre was very poor in the 80's in Mexico, in those years productions were bad and full of sluts, vicious, old ,morbid men, so this movie was a refreshing pause between all that kind of trash.This movie is about a family going on vacation to their new bought country house, they don't suspect what horrible things are going to happen. In this trip go mother, father, daughter , brothers (twins), a nephew (she is elder than children, she's about 19) and nephew's boyfriend.When they arrive to the house, children went gone to explore, the little girl falls into a hole and then she found a DOLL!If you saw the movie, you could see it hasn't spectacular fx, but only seeing that horrible doll you'll feel goosebumps, it is suposse that a witch spirit lives inside it.Devil doll take control of a little girl mind, and it would try to kill all family members......Could it kill of them?????????????The script is very predictable but this movie is very entertaining.