‘Curandero: Dawn of the Demon’ Movie Review

Directed by Eduardo Rodriguez

Written by Robert Rodriguez & Luz María Rojas

Starring: Carlos Gallardo, Gizeht Galatea, Gabriel Pingarrón

A journey that takes one man into the bowels of black magic in Mexico City

Possibly the most boring and poorly filmed horror movie I’ve seen in a year. Eduardo Rodriguez isn’t working from a stellar script by any means, but there was enough here to at least make this a C+ horror flick. Curandero is brimming with static camera angles and poorly executed editing on a bed of terrible, lifeless acting. I get excited over films involving black magic or Satanism, so I had high hopes going into this disjointed disappointment.

The film tells the story of a man living in his father’s shadow. Carlos’ father was the local spiritualist of sorts, a good man who left a legacy of healing and light. Carlos (Carlos Gallardo) has inherited his dad’s occupation: a curandero, which I assume is Spanish for boring. Carlos meets a pretty detective who benefited from his family talent. Pulled into the hunt for a Mexican drug lord with a penchant for black magic, Carlos and Magdalena (Gizeht Galatea) must put a stop to this diabolical business man. Sound good? Nope.

Clichéd to the core, plagued with bad acting/directing/storytelling, this supernatural horror film was dead before it had a chance. This IMDb release date for this is 2005 – maybe that’s how long they’ve tried to bury this body. This film is a waste of time, money, and review time. I wouldn’t have even reviewed this, but felt compelled to save at least one person a furrowed brow and $4.99 cost at Amazon VOD. Dammit, black magic movies…I expect more from you.