Anti-Worlds Releasing, available now on VOD

When a rural police officer investigates the bizarre case of a headless woman found in a remote area by the Andes mountains, the husband of his lover becomes the prime suspect. 

Starting with the most gruesome of cut throats, this Argentinian shocker really can’t decide whether it’s a ponderous arthouse movie or a risible creature feature. It’s a similar affliction that applied to Zulawski’s 1981 Possession, and writer/director Alejandro Fadel’s movie here veers between the most glacial of paces to schlock horror.

Newcomer Victor Lopez is policeman Cruz, investigating a series of decapitations. Things really come home when his lover is a victim and her husband is arrested as prime suspect. But what is the significance of the voices that he hears in his head, the symmetry of the mountains, or the alliteration in a non-sensical mantra?

It’s no spoiler to say that the deaths have been caused by a monster – this is established early on – but what might surprise is the creature, with the tail of a flailing, bulbous penis and the face of a giant, toothsome vagina. Yes, you did read that right! And when the confrontation between cop and monster happens, you’ll be wondering just what on Earth this hokum – which evokes the worst excesses of David Lynch and True Detective Season 1 – is all about.

Verdict: My first experience of Argentinian horror, this is quite unlike anything I’ve seen in years, but don’t necessarily take that as a compliment. 6/10