Alucarda (1977), directed by Juan López Moctezuma, is a Mexican horror film loosely based on Carmilla (1872), by Sheridan Le Fanu. The film has achieved a cult-like status in Mexico and around the world, in part due to the director’s enigmatic figure. Though neither the protagonist, Alucarda, nor her new companion are supernatural beings, the director stated that "the film draws on the vampire tradition, and in a way the protagonist is a female vampire … but not in the sense of a blood drinker" (in Greene). In this paper, I will explore the similarities and divergences between the source material and López Moctezuma’s film, as well as the influence of Mexico’s tragic 1968 student protest on the anti-government and anti-clerical sentiment that pervades the film. At the end of this paper, I hope to elucidate how Mexican society and culture transform traditional Gothic motifs and the vampire myth to great acclaim.

1. Women in Darkness
The Relocation of Le Fanu’s Carmilla to the Mexican context in Alucarda, hija de
las tinieblas

2. Women in Darkness
The Relocation of Le Fanu’s Carmilla to the Mexican context in Alucarda, Daughter
of Darkness

3. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
3

4. S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
4
Mexican Cinema
Golden Age (1936-1956)
123 films produced in 1950
Golden Age of Horror and Science
Fictions (1960s)
Birth of Mexican “[Masked] Wrestler” films
2
0
X
X
4

5. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
5

6. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
6

7. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
7

8. Vampires in Mexican
Cinema
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
8

9. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
9
Santo vs. las mujeres vampiro
(Samson vs. the Vampire Women)
11 October 1962
First Santo movie to receive significant
international attention – Released in
the USA and played at the1965
Festival of San Sebastian in Spain

10. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
10
Samson vs. the Vampire Women
(1962)
The Vengeance of the Vampire Women
(1970)

11. Social Unrest
and its impact in Mexican Cinema
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
11

12. S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
12
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
12
“The crisis of 1968 was not a structural crisis that
would place at risk the very survival of the nation; it
was above all, a political, moral, and psychological
crisis, a crisis of values and principles, which shook up
the triumphant echoes of the governing elite;
it was a bloody announcement that times had
changed, without changing the means to confront
them.”
(Héctor Aguilar Camín and Lorenzo Meyer)
Tlatelolco Square massacre in Mexico City
October 2, 1968

13. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
13
“El Halconazo” (1971)
Still from Roma (2018), directed by Alfonso Cuarón

14. Juan López Moctezuma
el director maldito
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
14

15. Juan López Moctezuma
May 19, 1932 – August 2, 1995
Mexican director, actor, and radio host
Televisa Europa
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Roman Polanski,
Guillermo del Toro,
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
15
The Mansion of Madness, 1973

16. Juan López Moctezuma
“another Mexico City avant-gardist ... and future
director of cheap horror films.”
Midnight Movies (1983), J. Hoberman and
Jonathan Rosenbaum
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
16
Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary, 1975

17. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
17
“The Mexican tradition for [horror] films is very
simplistic and very conformist, in my opinion, despite
their surface delirium. I don’t really like them very
much.... I think my films much more belong in the
surrealist tradition than in the Mexican one.”
Juan López Moctezuma, 1977

19. Feature, Start, and Credits // Justine meets Alucarda // Gypsies // Haunted chapel // Hellfire

20. Particular Features
Mexican movie shot entirely in English
Filmed in 1975
Late Mexican release in 1978
2-week theatre run followed by criticism
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
20

21. Particular Features
Excessiveness of -exploitations
Live vs. Death / Good vs. Evils
The Primitive/Modernity
Distrust/Failings of Church and science
Radical portrayal of youth
Inversed codes
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
21

22. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
22
A Matter of
Parentage
Justine Alucarda

23. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
23
A Matter of
Parentage
“Carmilla” (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu
Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker
Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue (1791/7)
by Marquis de Sade

24. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
24
A Matter of
Parentage

25. Female Characters
Mother Superior Sister Angélica
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
25

26. Male Characters
Father Lázaro Gipsy* Doctor Oszek
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
26

27. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
27
Opening scene – A woman (later identified as Lucy Westenra) gives birth to a girl
(1850)

28. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
28
Fifteen years later, Alucarda and Justine come upon the former’s birthplace and Lucy’s
mummified body

29. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
29
“Foucault suggested, ‘The asylum is a religious domain
without religion.’ In Alucarda, the convent becomes a
psychiatric domain without psychiatry.”
The Mexican Cinema of Darkness (2007), Doyle Greene
Madness and Sexuality

30. The contradictions of the excessive
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
30

31. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
31
Still from the movie Macario (1960), directed by Roberto

32. Bodily excess
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
32

33. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
33

34. Unveiling the primitive in modernity
Religion and superstition vs. Science and
reason
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
34

35. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
35

36. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
36

37. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
37
“The film isn't exactly anti-clerical: while Dr. Oszek berates
Father Lázaro and the nuns for torturing Justine to death, it later
turns out their diagnosis of demonic possession was
(apparently) correct. Furthermore, Sister Angélica is a positive
figure throughout the film, and the other church members are
depicted as somewhat overzealous, but not evil.”
(https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~dwilt/alucarda.htm)

38. Male Characters
Father Lázaro Gipsy* Doctor Oszek
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
38

39. 2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
39

40. pauodeth@gmail.com
@paulinaodeth
2
0
X
X
S
A
M
P
L
E
F
O
O
T
E
R
T
E
X
T
40