AMANDO DE OSSORIO WEEK: Las alimañas (1977)

When two bandits steal gems and other valuable pieces of fine art from a museum in the Dominican Republic, they don’t even get a moment to moment to celebrate their ill-gained treasures. Instead, their American partner Todd (Paul Benson) who is hiding at the home of his girlfriend Margaret (Rosa Valenti) and her girlfriend Jacqueline (Verónica Miriel). Oh yeah — they also have an alligator in the back so if he needs to disposes of any bodies to keep all those stolen museum relics, he has them.

Directed and written by Amando de Ossorio, this has little of his trademark slow motion or supernatural moments, but is really about the horror that man can visit on other men. Or women on men. Or alligators on humans. You know what I mean.

Shot in Madrid, the Dominican Republic and Miami, as well as a museum in Santo Domingo, this is a movie that ends with every single person paying the price for their crime. It’s a dark film, which is the one thing that ties it to the rest of de Ossorio’s work. It’s not easy to find, but hey — I am always, if anything, a completist.

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