While the single-word title EXORCISMO is perfect for this fascinating doc, its topic becomes clear only when the full subtitle is revealed—EXORCISMO: THE TRANSGRESSIVE LEGACY OF CLASIFICADA ‘S.’ Examining the origins and impact of Spain’s infamously restrictive category of S films in the aftermath of fascism in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, writer-director Alberto Sedano takes us on a comprehensive tour of the all the key films as well as the ideological, creative, and economic forces at play.
Freed from smothering censorship after decades, both filmmakers and audiences reveled in what was often a delirious outpouring of formerly forbidden images and subjects. Any genre cinephile is bound to be familiar with some of these films, and in fact several have been restored and released in recent years by Severin, which also produced EXORCISMO. Still, this is the kind of doc that yields unknown treasures every few minutes, making you scramble to note titles and years so you can track them down later. In this sense, EXORCISMO is generous almost to a fault as it relentlessly catalogs the breaking of one taboo after another with one outrageously violent or salacious clip after another.
Yet the film never skimps on analysis either, often brilliantly cutting between academics, critics, and filmmakers in mid-sentence as they complement or expand upon each other’s points. Perhaps most intriguing is how EXORCISMO traces the increasing presence of reactionary elements in the genre and exploitation films of the period. Often this would take the form of a moralistic dramatic conclusion that made sure that all the “deserving” characters or behaviors were punished by the time the credits rolled. While such a dynamic is evident in genre films from around the world and from other time periods, it seems more contradictory than usual in this context, given the powerful liberation of post-Franco Spanish cinema from political and religious censorship. Why, after just a few years, would the cultural pendulum start to swing back toward its point of origin? While the relevant historical developments are certainly covered, Sedano mostly abstains from getting too abstract or philosophical about this apparent dialectic. Which is probably smart, and of course leaves the question up to the audience to ponder. Was it a matter of achieving a kind of psychoanalytic equilibrium, with the collective id overthrowing a tyrannical superego until the ego finally stepped in to moderate things in 1983? Or were certain conservative aspects of Spanish culture—most notably Catholicism—too firmly entrenched to be permanently dislodged by such ephemeral fare as horror and sexploitation flicks...?
The one knock on EXORCISMO concerns its pacing in the second half. A couple of times the organizing principle seems to devolve into, “Wait, here’s another cool film... and here’s another one... and one more, too.” And no, that doesn’t mean that the films excerpted are not worthy of inclusion, but rather that the length of those excerpts could have been shortened. Similarly, Iggy Pop’s narration, the tone of which lies somewhere between ponderous and lugubrious, doesn’t exactly heighten the energy level just when that’s exactly what’s needed. In any case, such issues constitute a minor price of admission for the wild and thought-provoking world into which EXORCISMO grinningly invites us.
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