Rojo sangre (2004)

Paul Naschy is certainly a big contender for Spain's biggest ever horror star; with a great deal of cult films under his belt, most notably his "Homo Lobo" series. However, since the seventies his fame has dwindled somewhat; but on the evidence of this film, his acting and writing talent certainly hasn't! Rojo Sangre is a strange and wayward film that won't appeal to all tastes; but it's certainly an interesting cult film and the fact that it's a semi-autobiographical film for Paul Naschy makes it all the more interesting. The plot focuses on Pablo Thevenet; a down and out actor with nothing but bad luck. His daughter was murdered and his wife left him, and despite once being a big star; he now can't find any sort of acting work. He gets something of a break when he's offered a job as a 'living statue' at a Stag club, and although he finds the role demeaning; he takes it because the money is good and no other offers are coming his way. His hatred for the modern movie business is overwhelming, however, and it's not long before he begins a murderous tirade against all those that have stopped him from getting work.The thing I liked most about this film is the way that the plot moves. It's never obvious where the film is going and Naschy's script always allows some surprises. The direction is taken up by Christian Molina, and I'm sure the last name will be familiar to Naschy fans as it's his son! Molina's direction is always assured and he manages several stylish moments. The film is perhaps a little too flashy, but everything in the direction bodes well with the way that the story is presented. The film is bolstered courtesy of an excellent performance by Paul Naschy; perhaps even the best of his career. The fact that the role reflects upon his own career aside, you can't fail but be impressed with Naschy here; he absolutely becomes the central character and you can never doubt him for a second. One of the many subplots of the film features the central character slashing up various people while dressed as historical characters and this provides the film with some of its best moments. The gore is actually quite restrained but it's still nice to see. There's not really a defining point to the film and the ending contains more questions than answers but it does at least bring some closure to the plot. Overall, Rojo Sangre is an excellent swan song for Naschy's career and I'm sure that fans of the great Spanish actor's career will appreciate it.

Pretentious. Profoundly ignorant of the Genre. Plain wrong semantics and ghastly performances.One would think, given the scale of this production (several Million Euros) that the Producers would have certain need to perform, that they would make a movie suitable for their peers: The new emerging Cinema Directors, Sadly it is anything but.The Photography is nothing but a cheap lookalike to the amalgamate many other directors have accomplished for this Genre, it fails promptly right after the Initial establishing shot and goes under ever since.The Storytelling is suitable for 1st grade Cinema School students, it never gets off the ground, and you can't but feel sorry for Naschy when you realise the poor Direction this film has.On the VFX lines...let's just say I have seen better work done in After Effects by a freshman in College, Spanish Cinema is going underwater and without an air tank, as my old pappy used to say, it's now dead, dead, dead.

Rojo Sangre is one more of those garbage films that Spain has been pumping out like donuts in the name of the emerging young directors. The birth of a horrible phenomenon that has been a practice in Spain in order to claim a spot in commercial film making.It is all wrong.A film with a huge budget (ab)used to trick the amateur viewer and make him believe the film deserves a chance to be watched. High production values with absolutely no motivation to consolidate them with the story line.Overdone stylistic artifacts.Expensive effects that belong more in a hard rock music video then on the big screen. No character development.Dialogues to make you twist up out of embarrassment. I could go on describing the "horrorific" experience I had watching this pretentious film but I'll leave it to you to take over from here. Please , "young Spanish directors" try to go to film school and above all work before you ask daddy to give you money to make a film.

Naschy has stated in interviews that the film is semi-autobiographical and you can't help but feel sorry for the guy (both Thevenet and Naschy). With today's fickle movie audiences and industry, a certain sense of history and respect for the older generation of horror actors seems to be missing. As a young girl bluntly tells Thevenet, "I wasn't even born when you were making films" (to which he replies, "Just remember more silicone helps mask a lack of talent."). It may be a cliché, but Naschy has pretty much done it all when it comes to the horror genre and not a lot of people remember that. Naschy is awfully angry at that fact and the script (which he penned himself) definitely reflects that. Heck, when Thevenet throws out the titles of some of the films he has made, they are all real Naschy titles! To know that ROJO SANGRE debuted the same year as the miserable Fred Olen Ray/Naschy vehicle TOMB OF THE WEREWOLF is telling. Comparing the two side by side, it appears that Naschy knows all too well the plight of his main character. But it is nice to see this level of bitterness being used as a creative outlet instead of festering in Naschy's mind. If this film had not been made, perhaps Naschy would really have gone on a killing spree. ROJO SANGRE is a beautifully filmed and stately in terms of scale. Director Christian Molina (no relation to Jacinto "Paul Naschy" Molina) delivers a one of the best horror debuts in recent memory. He has an interesting visual sense that reminds me a lot of a young Russell Mulcahy, Jan Kounen and, to a lesser extent, Dario Argento. Some of his scene transitions are pretty darn clever (unfortunately, some are also a bit distracting) and the editing is first-rate. He is definitely someone whose future projects I look forward to.