SPIRITISM (1961)
Article #286 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-26-2001
Posting date: 5-11-2002

A woman tries to take care of the financial problems of her family by making a deal with the devil.

I was honestly surprised by this Mexican variation on a famous horror story which every description of the movie mentions, but which really doesn’t come into play until the last part of the movie. I found myself touched and moved by some of the events and relationships; there is a seance in the middle of the movie involving a woman who is in denial about her own death that is almost heartbreaking, even in the dubbed version of the movie I saw. Quite frankly, it doesn’t resemble any other Mexican horror movie I’ve seen, and it has many elements you certainly wouldn’t find in an American movie of this vintage either. It’s not perfect (it’s quite talky at times, and the final ending narration is pretty bad), but I was really impressed. This may be the best Mexican horror film I’ve seen.