Jul 2, 2020

Journey to the Afterlife (1980)

(Original Title: Viaje al más allá ) A Spanish horror anthology of various parapsychological tales told among a group of individuals at a mansion in the Pyrenees. Some of the stories are duds, but a couple are really good - the Berta Cabré exorcism story in particular.



 It begins with writer/director Sebastián D'Arbó acting like Rod Serling introducing his tales of parapsychology.  This film was actually the first in a series.

 An unrelated group of individuals are brought to a mansion in the Pyrenees to tell their tales.

Dr. Meinen (Narciso Ibáñez Menta) records them so he can transcribe the stories for his publication.

 Viajante (Emilio Gutiérrez Caba) provides the first (and lamest) of the stories.

 He tells the story of picking up a creepy hitch hiker.

But was he even real?  He sees him in the ambulance, and there's an empty bloody seat in his car.

 Padre (Carlos Martos) tells the best story.

 The story involves a student, Teresa (Berta Cabré).


 Teresa masturbates and summons the devil.

 A nun sees her drawing pictures of satan and smacks her.

 She's brought before the padre.

 And here we go.  Berta Cabré, as always, fucking rules.


Teresa, clearly possessed, drops to the floor and the nuns haul her to the church.

 What a scene.  She screams and fights the whole way, with dress wide open and see-through panties.



 The priest does his thing while she writhes on the altar.

 Just wow.



 Finally, the demon is exorcised and Teresa passes out.  The camera takes a minute to ogle Berta Cabré's body. 


The next story is a bit of a dud.  It features Rosa Morata.  I loved Morata in What A Mess They Got Me Into! (1980), which Berta Cabré also starred in.  A shame Morata isn't given much to do in this stupid story.

 The couple are sunbathing when they find they're young son has suffered an accidnt.

Their son seems to now be in touch with a dead kid.  So, this guy is brought in to help figure things out via hypnosis.  Blah, blah, blah. Boring.  Next story.  

 Eva (Montserrat Prous) has just moved into a new house.  Already she's getting a strange vibe about the place.  Prous was awesome in El Fontanero, Su Mujer, y Otras Cosas de Meter (1981); sadly she doesn't provide the great nudity as she did in that film.

 Eva keeps having bad dreams and seeing weird happenings in their new house.

 She loses her breath and almost suffocates.

 She imagines her husband's bloody hand coming toward her.  She faints.

 She's taken to a parapsychologist to sort this out.

 A Ouija board  - never a good idea in a horror film.

 Seances are also bad ideas.

 Not kidding when I say this is one of the most frightening seance scenes I've ever witnessed.  

 Holy fuck.  I can't even explain what goes down in that seance.  

Dr. Meinen (Narciso Ibáñez Menta) bids us farewell - until next time.


So, a couple of these stories were bangers.  Both the Berta Cabré and the Montserrat Prous story were well done.  The trouble is, everything else isn't just bad it's boring.  But that's the beauty of the horror anthology - they don't all have to be good because you're quickly moving on to the next one.  Personally, I'd still take Tales from the Crypt (1972) over this, but it was a good watch nonetheless. Amicus anthologies were definitely better than this during their heyday, but they still never had anything like  Berta Cabré nude and arching her back on an altar.  Just sayin'.

Double Feature: It's tempting to choose a horror anthology, but with Berta Cabré doing the naked possessed chick bit, we have to go with Magdalena, Possessed by the Devil (1974). 

★★★★★

1 comment:

  1. Still searching for a print of this one. Your description probably makes it sound better than it really is; but any combination of Berta Cabré and Montserrat Prous is worth watching.

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