The Scapular (1968)
8/10
A religious ghost story
7 September 2014
Mexico's "La Epoca Del Oro" was noted for blending primitive superstition with baroque religious symbolism (isn't that what santeria is?) and all I can say is, that very Catholic country loved putting the fear of God into the devout.

A ghost story set around the time of the Mexican Revolution, THE SCAPULAR concerns an old woman on her deathbed who tells the priest giving her last rites of the strange and powerful influence a religious medal had on her four sons. It's told mostly in flashback and the fog-bound atmospherics "Golden Age" cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa provides in abundance makes it look like we're observing the otherworldly goings-ons through the mists of time. If using black & white was a deliberate choice for this 1968 flick, it was a stoke of genius. An impressed 8/10 but only because I'm not into organized religion (although I'll grant it's pretty scary).
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