La tía Alejandra (1980) User Reviews

Creepy and atmospheric.

[insomniac_rod · 8/10 · 25 May 2008]

A quality Mexican Horror film that has the elements to be considered a Classic. In the likes of Mexican Horror Carlos Enrique Taboada, this movie has a creepy atmosphere, eerie settings, and a Giallo look that makes the viewing experience truly uncomfortable.

The plot deals with witchcraft and revenge. For being a Mexican movie, it covers aspects that not many movies do: the murder of children and rituals.

But the movie focuses more on creepy scenes that deal with witchcraft. The possessed puppets will always stay in my mind because it's truly a unique element from the movie. Plus, Alejandra's death is truly inspired by Italian Horror from the 70's. A winning formula if you say.

The cast is perfect. Isabel Corona delivers a tremendous performance as Tia Alejandra. She looks evil and indifferent. Her revenge is portrayed perfectly. Diana Bracho is EXCELLENT as always. Manuel Ojeda is good on his role and his death always makes me cringe although it's not very graphic.

The children did a good job.

This movie always moved me in a negative way because we Mexicans have a conception of very old women as being tender, nice. And also we always seem to think children are not dangerous. In this movie, it's proved wrong and thing gets worse when there's a revenge sub-plot.

Please watch this creepy Mexican tale of Horror. You won't be disappointed.

Classic film!

[jp_91 · 8/10 · 20 January 2022]

"La tía Alejandra" is an interesting movie that touches on themes about witchcraft, with a good script and intelligent dialogues. The performances are good, especially those of Diana Bracho and Isabela Corona. The setting and filming locations mix to create a gloomy atmosphere. Arturo Ripstein's direction is correct. The soundtrack is good, most of it done with synthesizers, which could have been exploited but was forgotten. A classic of Mexican horror cinema.

As Mexican King Diamond would say, "Bienvenido a casa."

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 1 July 2020]

Arturo Ripstein, who also made The Castle of Purity, directed this film, which tells us of the black magic - or maybe not - within the titular aunt Alejandra (Isabela Corona, who started her career as a diva of the screen in the 30's) causing chaos just by existing.

Alejandra arrives to stay in the house of Lucia, Rudolfo and their three children. A bitter older woman given to mood swings, the children eventually begin to torment her, by which point she reveals her witch nature (if you'll pardon the pun).

She finds ways to get back at each of them, choking out her nephew through sorcery and setting the house ablaze when one of the children burns her face. This is a film that presents magic as a fact of life - and in some cultures it is - and those who believe that we have aged out of the occult in modern times must pay the price.

As the great conspiracy writer James Shelby Downard once said, "Never allow anyone the luxury of assuming that because the dead and deadening scenery of the American city-of-dreadful-night is so utterly devoid of mystery, so thoroughly flat-footed, sterile and infantile, so burdened with the illusory gloss of "baseball-hot dogs-apple-pie-and-Chevrolet" that it is somehow outside the psycho-sexual domain."

Except in Mexico. And yeah, Brujeria is real.

Powerful Witch

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 24 April 2023]

When the grandmother dies, Aunt Alejandra (Isabela Corona) moves to the house of her nephew Rodolfo (Manuel Ojeda). He is married with Lucía (Diana Bracho), and they have the teenager Malena (Lilan Davis); the boy Andrés (Adonay Somoza Jr.); and the little girl Martita (María Rebeca), and the family welcomes her home. Soon, Aunt Alejandra, who is a witch, becomes close to Martita and teaches her witchcraft. When Malena and Andrés mock her, she revenges and the children die, in the beginning of the destruction of the whole family.

"La tía Alejandra" is a great supernatural movie directed by Arturo Ripstein. The film is never graphic or gore, but the plot is scary. The conclusion is ambiguous, but it seems that Martita has learned the lessons of Aunt Alejandra. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Tia Alejandra" ("The Aunt Alejandra")

A Highly Underrated Horror Film

[soul_crush · 10/10 · 20 June 2004]

"La tía Alejandra" demonstrates very well that rare, occult Mexican tradition of paying tribute to the dead, demons and the dark side of the Mexican folklore. For me, the movie has a dominant power in ambiance made possible by a a great cast (Diana Bracho has always been remarkable)and subtle horror. Overall most elements that bring a fantastic story alive, work very well together. In some sort of way the movie has a very Mario Bava feeling to it, the plot not being too complex nor too unpredictable, the fear factors are quite clear and the whole story emerges through Aunt Alejandras' character. Despite all this, the objective is not focused in puzzle solving by the viewer but frightening him with bleak surroundings and sounds (tough the music is a huge flaw in my opinion)I find this movie to get even more frightening as time goes by and since it was filmed in the late seventies the structure of the old traditional Mexico helps a lot to create mystery and mysticism; this, however might be difficult to relate to foreign viewers that are not familiar to "old" Mexican traditions but at the same time it pretty much gives a good idea of what Mexican ghost stories and legends are about."La tia alejandra" is perhaps far from being a horror classic but it is very overlooked and underrated, I recommend it for horror fans who prefer a chill in their spine than blood and guts on their screen.

Masterpiece of Mexican Horror

[chris-810-745673 · 9/10 · 5 January 2012]

The language used by Ripstein in "La tía Alejandra" is very simple in almost all the film. There are very few camera movements, almost always direct angles, without music and barely special effects. All this helps to centered the atteintion around the story and the characters, with great acting of Isabela Corona (as Alejandra) and Diana Bracho (as Lucía). Just at the end, when both women struggle it is barely richer.

The identity of Alejandra and the origin of deaths in the house are ambivalent. She can be a real witch or just a eccentric woman pretending to have powers, so the family could be going crazy and misjudging Alejandra... the spectator decides. The boiling water is never seeing while Malena is inside the bath, Martha is not turned into bird, and Lucía keeps hearing Alejandra's corpse, for example.

The old house where everything happens gives a macabre atmosphere. At the end, Lucía is the only real murder, also cruel. In the last part she appears covered with shadows and her dress is black, in opposition, Alejandra appears clear and with direct lights, even after death.