LGM Film Club, Part 236: The Phantom of the Monastery

I recently checked out the 1934 Mexican horror film The Phantom of the Monastery, directed by Fernando de Fuentes, one of the early pioneers of the vastly underrated Mexican film industry. This is a pretty good film. To be honest, old monasteries are inherently creepy so it’s not that hard to set the scene. Moreover, a big part of the Mexican Revolution was breaking the power of the Catholic Church, so much so that it led to a second civil war in the Cristero Rebellion. For the kind of modern audiences in Mexico City and Guadalajara this film was meant for then, the evil power of old monasteries and the weirdo monks inside of them made all the sense of the world. This is one of those all-atmosphere films and it works pretty well. The plot revolves around three hikers who get lost and have to stay overnight somewhere and run across the monastery. Two are married but she’s in love with his best friend, who is also there. The strangeness of the monastery turns that attraction up to 11. It’s worth noting that the ending of the film is extremely unsatisfactory. But despite that, it’s still pretty good. Check it out.