Santa Sangre (1989)
89%RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Those unfamiliar with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s style may find it overwhelming, but Santa Sangre is a provocative psychedelic journey featuring the director’s signature touches of violence, vulgarity, and an oddly personal moral center.
Santa Sangre is a wild ride that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about cinema. It’s like if Luis Buñuel and Federico Fellini had a baby and then David Lynch came in to babysit. The imagery is haunting and the violence is grotesque, but somehow it all comes together to create a beautiful and powerful story. And let’s not forget the circus music that will hypnotize you into a state of pure cinematic bliss. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re up for the challenge, Santa Sangre is a must-see.
Production Company(ies)
13 Productions, ARTE Fondazione Montecinemaverita
Distributor
Republic Pictures
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
MPAA / Certificate
Rated NC-17 for several scenes of extremely explicit violence
Year of Release
1990
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 3m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 30, 1990 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 28, 2014
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Sabrina Dennison, Thelma Tixou, Adan Jodorowsky, directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, Roberto Leoni, Claudio Argento, horror, NC-17, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Carrie Rickey, Michael Upchurch, Dave Kehr, Noel Murray, Peter Travers, Derek Malcolm, Anthony Arrigo, MPAA rating, produced by Claudio Argento, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s style, violence, vulgarity, personal moral center, trauma, knife-thrower, trapeze artist, grotesque, armless mother, psychedelic journey, symbols, imagery, Gnosticism, surreal scenes, psycho-sexual trauma, metaphors, faith, identity, redemption, revenge, circus imagery, blood poetry, hypnotic, hallucinatory visual style, caricatured characters, emotional, symbolism, mommy issues, garden variety horror film, psychological meaning, circus setting
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Blanca Guerra – Concha
Guy Stockwell – Orgo
Sabrina Dennison – Alma
Thelma Tixou – The Tattooed Woman
Adan Jodorowsky – Young Fenix
Director(s)
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Writer(s)
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Roberto Leoni, Claudio Argento
Producer(s)
Claudio Argento
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (43) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (6)
You can say this: It is never boring.
November 15, 2013 | Rating: 2.5/4
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Santa Sangre’s content puts it beyond the call of duty for even the most slavishly devoted art-house denizen.
November 15, 2013 | Rating: 2/4
Michael Upchurch
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
What Jodorowsky lacks is a sense of humor, in the absence of which his films turn ludicrous.
November 15, 2013 | Rating: 2/4
Dave Kehr
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Drawing on his training in mime and his fascination with Gnosticism, Jodorowsky converted a story about a bizarre murderer into a grand work of art, full of symbols and imagery that reach beyond language to something primal and original.
November 26, 2012 | Rating: A-
Noel Murray
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
Visionary and haunting, Santa Sangre is a mixture of blood poetry and gobbledygook that keeps springing astonishingly to life.
November 26, 2012
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
Not as good as his previous El Topo, but pretty eye-opening all the same.
September 21, 2012 | Rating: 4/5
Derek Malcolm
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
Undoubtedly the definitive word on Jodorowsky’s celebrated surreal serial killer picture. A big recommendation.
June 29, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Anthony Arrigo
Dread Central
The love child of Luis Buñuel and Federico Fellini (with a [****] by David Lynch for good measure).
May 23, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
It just seems timeless. It’s a beautiful story and… it’s so powerful and you can tell how much passion and love went into this film.
October 22, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
Emma Wolfe
SpookyAstronauts
A trip that was calculated carefully, the near constant use of slightly off-key circus music adding to its hypnotic quality.
February 28, 2019
Naila Scargill
Exquisite Terror
Whether or not this is the most accessible of Jodorowsky’s films… it is certainly the most accessible “Jodorowksy film,” a vision filled with circus imagery, surreal scenes, grotesque violence and psycho-sexual trauma.
August 4, 2017
Sean Axmaker
Stream on Demand
While it’s not especially easy viewing, and unquestionably not for all tastes, Santa Sangre is exhilarating, challenging, enigmatic and distressing, but entirely rewarding and entertaining.
November 15, 2013 | Rating: 9/10
Martin Unsworth
Starburst…
Plot
In Mexico, a traumatized son bonds grotesquely with his now-armless mother, who is a trapeze artist, in the horror film Holy Blood.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast of Holy Blood includes Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Sabrina Dennison, Thelma Tixou, and Adan Jodorowsky.
Alejandro-Jodorowsky.jpg
