Anise is a woman living in the Argentine countryside with a singular, driving obsession: she wants to be a mother. Her husband is impotent, but that doesn’t stop her from seeking out every possible avenue to conceive, from the desperate (prostitution) to the supernatural (visiting a local witch). However, she has a secret admirer who makes her dance card a literal obituary page. The Pombero, a goblin-like creature of Guarani folklore, has fallen in love with her. He’s the jealous type, and he’s more than happy to slaughter any man who dares to touch the object of his affection.

If you’ve spent any time in the sweat-soaked trenches of South American exploitation cinema, you know the name Armando Bó. He was the man who turned Isabel “Coca” Sarli into a global icon of “sex-and-nature” cinema. Usually, their films involve Isabel wandering through a jungle or a river while men lose their minds over her.

Once you see her, you’ll get it.

Bewitched (originally titled Embrujada) follows that blueprint but adds a heavy dose of folk horror and supernatural sleaze. It’s less of a romantic drama and more of a nightmare where the Coca Sarli brand of eroticism meets a slasher movie directed by a man who clearly spent too much time staring at the sun. Bó dives deep into Paraguayan/Argentine myths. The Pombero isn’t a sparkly vampire; he’s a hairy, whistling forest spirit.

According to Guarani legend, the Pombero is a protector of birds and the forest. If you want to stay on his good side, you must leave honey, brandy and tobacco on a fence post for thirty nights. He is often blamed for unexplained pregnancies or the disappearance of women. Bó took this abductor aspect and made the Pombero into a supernatural stalker with a kill count.

As for his obsession — both Bó and the Pombero — Isabel Sarli was never just an actress; she was a force of nature. Starting as a model, she became Miss Argentina and reached the semi-finals of Miss Universe 1955. Her acting debut was in Thunder Among the Leaves, which has a controversial nude scene featuring Sarli that made it the first Argentine film to feature full frontal nudity. If you’re doing an SAT-style question here, Bó is to Jess Franco as Sarli is to Lina Romay. They became lovers, and she became the primary star of his films until he died in 1981.

John Waters has stated several times that Sarli’s movies have inspired some of his own films, and he presented Fuego in Argentina and got to meet her. He famously treated her like royalty. He once described her films as “feminist” in their own warped way because Sarli’s characters were often hyper-sexual beings who existed entirely outside the proper moral codes of the time.

Even when the script asks her to do the impossible, Sarli commits 100%. Her descent from a hopeful bride to a woman haunted by a forest demon is played with an operatic level of mania. 

Embrujada was released during a period of intense political turmoil and strict censorship in Argentina. The fact that Bó managed to release a film about a woman seeking supernatural impregnation and a forest goblin’s killing spree is a testament to his tenacity (and his ability to market art vs smut). Much like Franco and Romay, he and his muse were able to make aberrant cinema in the most restrictive of political cultures.

You can watch this on Cultpix.