Patricio Valladares
An underground Chilean film-maker who mixes elements of both arthouse and grindhouse, with an emphasis on modern extreme violence, torture and some gore. Also involved in comics and short movies, and frequently injects black humor or homages to grindhouse movies, along with artistic cinematography, somewhat intellectual dialogue and the occasional surrealism. His serial-killers tend to make repeat appearances in his movies.
For the first half of this movie, I thought it was a spoof on Von Trier's Antichrist. A man with magical powers lives in a forest after an apocalyptic event that turned everyone violent. Bibilical and other quotes are splashed across the screen, telling the tale of creation in reverse, the magician also talking in reverse, speaking of a great magic trick that he must perform involving death and violence, as if he were undoing creation itself by using nature's own cruelty against it. He digs out a woman's body, shares with her his plans and then keeps performing sadistic acts of violence, cruelty and rape on her, speaking of his desire for cruelty and the magic he will create. So we have irrational and endless torture between a man and a woman, pretentious biblical themes, a forest, and gratuitous penetration shots, and it's so nonsensical it must be a spoof. But then the movie starts suggesting other solutions: A sci-fi Matrix-like reality, experimental mental procedures, computer programs with biblical names, the inside of a killer's mind who may be a murderous circus performer, or perhaps a hero who fights the system. Which reality is real is left up to the viewer, and Valladares pulls out all the stops to make this an artistic, surreal, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, sadistic head-scratcher. Moderately interesting.
Pitch-black humor and implausible twists fill this Chilean horror movie about two killers who find themselves hired to kill the same woman. One is The Italian, who sees himself as an experienced and professional stylist, with rules about how to torture and kill his victims with a certain dignity, brutality and style. The other is a young and simpler-minded man with a chainsaw and a taste for rape and the perverse. They immediately start to argue and discuss methods and techniques, disagreeing on most issues but also reminiscing on past kills and reputations, discussing the philosophy of killing and the arbitrary limits that each one draws, while the horrified victim sits bound and screaming to a chair. Matters deterioriate, and there are several plot-twists that are implausible but amusing. Also included are a couple of surreal scenes involving The Italian romancing or raping his victim in natural settings like some kind of vampire before the kill.
An anthology of horror films on the theme of intimate relationships gone very very twisted. Toro Loco is a badly acted cowboy who 'ties' the three films together by going after the people involved in the films out of some kind of sick idealism of his own, his weapon of choice being a cow's skull (huh?) or gun. He is also chased by a samurai-sword wielding man in a silly mask (don't ask). The first film 'Eat me Tender' is the most dull and empty, featuring an artsy montage of serial-killer-themed footage and quotes as the police investigate a cannibal-killer, with a twist involving a like-minded serial-killer companion. The second, No Ordinary Love, is the most graphically sick, filming a cheating husband and a hooker in a motel room as the sex becomes more and more sadistic involving broken glass and needles, with an ending that turns the tables. The final film (You Like This) is about a very confused and broken man abused by his wife who turns to homosexuality and other kinks (insert artsy and graphic gay imagery here) only to find that his lover (who may not be real) will go to really sick and gory lengths to keep him.