The Phantom Of The Monastery (1934)

[GlacierTuba]

This was a blind buy based off of the hype around La Llorona. Figured I may as well give it a try...and WOW it does NOT disappoint!!

Admittedly this is a film with an extremely thin plot, and bizarrely inspired by an element of truth, but its basic, wafer thin plot and situation are what I think works so strongly in this films success and favour.

Essentially the plot is about three people, a husband and wife and the best friend of the husband. They are lost in a forest after going for a walk and need to find shelter for the night as the forest is deemed to be too dangerous. A bloke that looks a lot like Raul Julia as M Bison in Street Fighter II arrives with his dog and leads them to an old Monastery up in the foothills to spend the night...

The first half is a lot of procedure and set up and kind of edges you to a level of expectation of grisly pay offs about to arrive. I won't spoil it though, you'll need to watch it to see how it plays out. I will openly admit though, there is a scene later on concerning a key character in the film. It genuinely made me jump!

TWICE.

POO. NEARLY. CAME. OUT.

The latter half of the film sees even more exposition and payoffs arrive. The film really cranks it up for the ending. Yet again, it's so basic but it works so well and so strongly. I genuinely adored the ending.

The film does suffer a bit from 'Walton-on-the-Naze amateur dramatics society' post-silent era acting. It's not too bad though but I did find it more jarring than Rodrigo's bedroom door. Also the repeated use of specific cue music got on my wick a bit but again, it is what it is.

I loved the opening credits sequence by the way. The whole time I thought I was watching the team line-ups being introduced at a Premier League match on Sky Sports Super Sunday! Those that know what I mean by that will probably not be able to unsee that when they watch it now. Sorry!

Bit of trivia for you by the way. The guy who plays Alfonso was actually married to the lady that plays Christina in the film in real life! But something very disturbing about the fella that played Alfonso is that in real life, after making the film, he left Mexico and went to Spain to work as a fascist spy for that scumbag General Franco.

Anyways, this film was brilliant. It burns a bit slowly to start with, but it just simmers so nicely for an ending that felt ahead of its time. I absolutely loved this film. Very highly recommended (for what my recommendation may be worth!).

[T4ffer]

Has it been mentioned anywhere what is the weird flickering l, in longer shots it can be seen as if a light source toggles between two different bulbs every 3-4 seconds.

Edit: But it actually seems more like post processing because the contrastier shadows don’t move. Yep and it’s in the final outdoor scene as well. It seems almost so rhythmical that seems like it’s done post editing but might have been an effect created by the camera as well.

Third thought: gamma toggle between two settings every 4 seconds? Was quite distracting for me, I would even say it ruined the movie watching experience.

I'm really flabbergasted that reviews don't seem to be mentioning this... does it only occur with my European version of UB824 or something?

[GlacierTuba]

Can't say I noticed any of that. I was too busy powerhosing litres of poo off of my sofa. (DAMN YOU RODRIGO!!!! )

In all seriousness, I'll watch it again soon and see what's up. Maybe the chap/chapess from Indicator may be able to tell us more.

[T4ffer]

An amazon review mentions that this issue is talked about in the commentary so it seems to be a known issue, but maybe it somehow affects me personally more than others, either due to my particular tech choices or I just can get easily distracted by such issues.

[GlacierTuba]

Originally Posted by T4ffer

An amazon review mentions that this issue is talked about in the commentary so it seems to be a known issue, but maybe it somehow affects me personally more than others, either due to my particular tech choices or I just can get easily distracted by such issues.

I've ripped the commentary to *.ogg and put it on my DAP. i'll queue it up soon enough and see what the commentary says.

Still loved the film though. When you look at the sum of its parts, that ending was really nicely done and in my opinion very much ahead of it's time. I'm trying to think of a modern film with a similar plot line, or potentially influenced by this film.

First film that came to my mind was

[Show spoiler]From Dusk Til Dawn

. I spoliered that so as to not potentially ruin the film for anyone. Also oddly reminded me a tiny smidgen of

[Show spoiler]The Beyond

. Not with the whole bleak, apathetic, "we're doomed" feeling, but definitely

[Show spoiler]the sense of acceptance by the trio that they all experienced something really messed up that changed their lives forever. Particularly Alfonso, he came away from that a changed man.

Loved it.

[GlacierTuba]

Going back for a second helping as my Halloween pick for 2024.


DAMN YOU RODRIGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ClassicCraig]

I saw this discounted on Amazon via the Movie Deals page here about two weeks ago, and bought it based on the comments here. I'd never heard of it before, and I really enjoyed it so thank you all for contributing!
T4ffer you aren't crazy and it's not your player:

Originally Posted by T4ffer

weird flickering ... in longer shots it can be seen as if a light source toggles between two different bulbs every 3-4 seconds.

At first I thought it was, as you speculated, intentional switching between light sources but, as you probably noticed, it's also present in a shot of the rising sun, which probably didn't need extra lighting. Do the shadows move or is it maybe a problem with the development, printing, storage or scanning process causing the density to fluctuate every X number of frames? (I don't think it's a problem for the entire movie, so maybe only some reels were affected.)

One thing that confuses me about the plot:

[Show spoiler]Based on Cristina's carving being covered with dust, coupled with the caretaker's comments, the trio traveled back in time. But it had to have occurred when they were outdoors before they met the stranger with the dog. Is there any clue about when that happened?

Maybe I should "repeat to [my]self it's just a show, and really just relax."

[GlacierTuba]

That's great you enjoyed it! Rodrigo still haunts my soul to this day!! DAMN YOU RODRIGOOOO!!!

[ClassicCraig]

Hey T4ffer -- the flickering is mentioned in the commentary by Stephen Jones at 1:01:40 (and again about a minute later). He thinks the light is being moved manually as a technique, and I agree.
In the shot at 19:30, look at the wall at the end of the corridor. It looks like the light is moving up and down -- it's not two alternating lights.
For those who haven't noticed it: the moving light happens frequently throughout the movie, starting at about 4 minutes, but it's not constant.