Aug 2, 2020

Enemy Blood (1971)


(Original Title: La sangre enemiga) Based on the Luis Spota novel, this film was a big hit in Mexico.  It is a well-made drama about the sad and tragic world of a group of street clowns.  This is probably too much quality to belong on VZ1, but it does have its exploitation elements, and a good deal of nudity from Mercedes Carreño.




 Mercedes Carreño plays Sara, a beautiful young street performer, always smiling and full of life.


 Would you believe, this is her husband? Esteban, the Hunchback Clown (David Reynoso)

 Needless to say, it's a fucked up marriage. 

 One night, this studly guy strolls into their camp to be with Sara.

Estaban straight up kills his ass. With the help of his mentally challenged son, Paco, he's thrown face down into the outhouse.  

 Sara is woken up, and they pack up to move to the next town.

 The setting of this film is often striking.

Sara and her friend Alma (Letícia Robles)

Poor Alma spends half her days getting manhandled. 

 Sara thinks back to meeting the guy that was killed...

He was a welder that showed up to their performance.

 She should have been with a guy like him - not an old hunchbacked clown.

 Sara thinks back to how she got hitched to this loser to begin with.  Basically, her family forced her once she was caught with his sorry ass.

 Their performance is rained out, and Sara comes home wet.



 Esteban can't deal with the sight of her naked - he knows he's not worthy.  He's also incapable of giving her an orgasm.

 Sara runs to the local grocer, Luciano (Eric del Castillo).

 He takes her to the stockroom and they have sex. But afterwards, he basically tells her she's trash and this was a one-night-stand.

Sara delivers an unusually exuberant performance the next day.

 The males in the audience flock around her.


 Esteban finally has had enough and puts a stop to it.

 Sara is afflicted with abdominal pains and must go to the hospital.


 There, she has fever dreams...

 In her dream, she's dancing naked - and making out with Alma.

 Dimas (Carlos Ancira), the blind creep that provides music for their show, rapes Alma...


 Alma is able to break free and beets him with a belt.

 Sara needs to find an outlet for her sexual frustration.

 She finds it in Paco, Esteban's mentally handicapped son (technically, her stepson).

 Esteban catches them in the act.

Esteban can't deal with it, so he stabs Sara to death.


A tragic tale, well acted, well directed, and way too good to be on VZ1.  Mercedes Carreño was incredible.  If I had one complaint it's that it's downbeat the whole way through, without a second of levity.  It's hard to maintain such a level of misery from start to finish.  Not my type of movie, but I can tell quality when I see it. 

Double Feature: Gabriela (1983) - Another film based on a novel about a young vivacious woman exploring sexual freedom, while hitched to a gross old man.  
★★★★★

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