Rating: *
Starring: Álvaro Morales, Andrea Freund and Blanca Lewin
As a slasher fan, I'm the kind of guy who's open to try out a country's "first" hack 'n stab film and, for most parts, I often end up liking what I saw, such as Israel's Rabies (2010) which took elements of the horror subgenre and twisted it in an interesting, more character driven way.
When I decided to give Chile's supposedly first slasher movie, I was hoping to see a similar treatment, only to fall wary seeing this happens to be marketed and released under Troma, a film company I have a love/hate thing going on. I guess I should have taken the terrible rating as further warning but, I was disarmed; oddly enough, Angel Negro (2000) is completely devoid of the usual Troma fare as it's not weird nor or campy. In fact, it's very bleak and often gritty, but it just didn't cut enough body parts or intrigue to keep me interested.Starting with a black and white recording ala found footage, chronicling a group of five's post-graduation celebration near an oceanside cliff. One thing led to another and it appears one of them, a sullen girl named Angel, falls to her death. Fast forward ten years later, Gabriel (who was Angel's lover) is still haunted by the events of that day and soon begins to notice his friends starting to turn up as corpses at the morgue he works at. Someone appears to be killing in the name of Angel, someone who's suspiciously female, suspiciously angry and wearing a white papier-mâché mask.
You may think you know the story and you're right; Angel Negro (2000) comes out under the post-Scream (1996) slasher boom, where teens are now optional victims and, more often, folks are trying to find new ways to mold their slasher kicks. Chile apparently wanted to go back to doing the usual murder mystery angle like that of Scream, or even the traditional Italian Giallo, but sadly it missed a lot of opportunities to make it any good. A lot.First, you got to hand it to Angel Negro (2000) to have one of the most sluggish pacing I've ever seen in a murder mystery. It's mostly talk; talks about the crime (and how sulky our lead is), how horrifying that fateful day was (which is really, horrifying. Depressing even!) with barely any stalking, chases or at least some notable killings! To say the murders are very uninspired is spot on as they range from simply stabbings, a garroting and ugh, two shootings. With the film's low onscreen bodycount, it almost felt like nothing much really happened here, nor does it feel like anything mattered, which is odd because the killer is offing people who're guilty. Normally, I should be thrilled, but I find myself half-away awake and sitting on my own spit puddles by the end of this flick.
Upsides for the movie would be, at least, its cool-looking killer; though the mask could use some more personality, their gaunt figure and wraith-like aesthetics really brings out the killer's creep factor. If only it didn't all clash against the murder mystery's formulaic rundown and very lame murders.
All in all, Angel Negro (2000) is just too darn serious to be taken lightly, yet too plain to be captivating. So, yeah, what else can I say? Well, it's not really what I can say, but what I can do...
(Kicks my DVD copy off a cliff*)
Bodycount:
1 female falls off a cliff
1 male seen with head wound
1 male found garroted with wire
1 male repeatedly knifed on the back
1 male stabbed with dagger
1 female shot
1 male shot, falls off a cliff
Total: 7
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