Forget
about getting Medieval. Vengeful Pre-Columbian gods are way more hardcore than
that. Tahawatinsupay is one of the hardest-cored, but it is his executioner you
really have to worry about. That would be whoever happens to be wearing the
skull-like Mask of Anhanga. Unfortunately, it finds its way onto someone’s head
in modern-day São Paulo, resulting in a trail of fresh corpses. A disgraced
police detective is out of her depth working the uncanny case in Kapel Furman
& Armando Fonseca’s Skull: The Mask, which screens (virtually) as
part of the (online) 2020 Chattanooga Film Festival.
The
film starts way back in 1944, when a sinister military expedition tried to
harvest the power of the Mask of Anhanga. It ended badly for them. The mask next
resurfaces in our time, when the Brazilian branch of a sinister Chinese conglomerate
unearths it in an Amazonian construction site. It turns out Tack Waelder, the CEO
was hoping to find it. In fact, he already abducted three Bolivian immigrant
kids to sacrifice in his planned ceremony. That is the case Det. Beatriz Obdias
is currently working, but making no progress on.
Unfortunately,
the young gothy lover of Waelder’s deputy cannot resist performing her own
ritual with the mask. This is obviously an extraordinarily stupid decision that
ends just as badly for her. It also launches the mask into the world and onto
the streets of São Paulo, where it does what it does best—kill people. Obdias
and her partner have no idea what they are tracking, but Manco Ramirez does. He
has sworn to protect the world from the mask, but as a classic loner-type, he
is not good at making friends and influencing people.
Basically,
Skull is about as micro as a budget can get. However, its admirable
energy level, intriguing use of Pre-Columbian lore, and gleefully gory
practical effects make it a highly watchable overachiever. It is important to emphasis
the latter, because Furman & Fonseca have blood splattering and body parts
flying everywhere. Yet, despite the supernatural elements, Skull often
functions like a slasher movie and a procedural.
Natalia
Rodrigues (who appeared in the Elis Regina biopic) is suitably disillusioned and
hard-bitten as Det. Obdias. Ivo Muller has a real Hammer Horror villain thing
going on as Waelder, which is cool, but Wilton Andrade just doesn’t look like
the indestructible superman his character, Ramirez, seems to be (sometimes to
such a laughable extent, the film approaches parody).
Skull
certainly
has its share of rough edges, but you can see the inspiration in scene after scene.
Cronos was more polished, but seeing Skull today is similar to
the lightning-bolt-out-of-the-blue experience of watching Del Toro’s film for
the first-time in 1993. These filmmakers have that much potential, so just
imagine what they can do with a semi-professional budget. Highly recommended
for fans of scrappy independent horror and maniacally graphic practical effects,
Skull: The Mask screens virtually (5/22-5/25) during this year’s
Chattanooga Film Festival.
