A child is witness to an assault on a monk by the gang of Lorenzo the Fifth. The monk escapes and takes refuge in the estate of Doña Carlota, a countess who lives with her son Juan and daughter Beatriz. Basilisa, the maid, conjures the devil to free her son from an irreversible illness, but to do so the evil must be transmitted to an innocent soul, and for that she chooses Beatriz. The child begins to be the victim of a possession, for which everyone blames the monk.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched Spanish Gothic that looks expensive despite the budget
Acting
Nadiuska's Basilisa: deranged maternal desperation as performance art
Costume
Doña Carlota's mourning blacks and Beatriz's corruption-white
Director
Gonzalo Suárez
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gonzalo Suárez adapted his own novel, part of Spain's 'fantaterror' boom where Franco-era censorship forced political commentary into horror allegory.
Sandra Mozarowsky, who plays possessed Beatriz at 13, died in a mysterious fall at 18—urban legend claims this film cursed its young star.
ES
