One of the key films for director Luis Buñuel, The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (originally Ensayo de un crimen, or Rehearsal for a Crime) is one of the closest works in his filmography to crossing the line into the horror genre. Along with titles like The Exterminating Angel, Viridiana, and Tristana, it percolates with a perverse sensibility that somehow stays within the confines of censorship at the time while feeling utterly transgressive at the same time in both its imagery and overall narrative about a sort-of serial killer who definitely doesn't follow a normal narrative path. Apart from a brief, unsuccessful sojourn to Hollywood the prior year, Buñuel had already been making films in Mexico since 1947, and he would continue to do so on and off over the next decade, with this one ranking as one of the very best. It has also been quietly influential ever since, obviously referenced multiple times by Pedro Almodóvar (including Antonio Banderas' character in Matador and the inclusion of the film itself in Live Flesh) and filtering into the fetishistic childhood imprinting and serial killer psychology of Dario Argento's Tenebrae, and Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre.

As a child during the Mexican Revolution, young Archibaldo "Archie" de la Cruz (played as an adult by Alonso) is given a ballerina music box by his mother that seems to have the ability to kill anyone he desires, starting with his governess. Fascinating with the sight of blood and straight razors, he reunites years later with the music box at an antique shop and begins indulging in murderous fantasies that entangle those around him. That includes his girlfriend and eventual fiancée, Carlotta (The Vampire's Welter), who's also involved with the married Alejandro (Landa), her ill-fated friend Patricia (Macedo), and Lavinia (Miroslava, who tragically committed suicide before the film's release), a model whose lookalike mannequin figures in Archibaldo's peculiar obsessions.

Extensively analyzed over the years, this film manages an astonishing tightrope act with its mixture of wry comedy and violent perversity, including the most macabre fantasy sequences this side of Unfaithfully Yours. The unforgettable Miroslava gets some of the best moments here, including a memorable early shot of her surrounded by a foregrounded flaming drink at a bar and the central sequence involving her, Archibald, and that mannequin whose fate is one of the most vivid dummy demises around. For a long time this was a film far easier to read about in reference books than actually see outside of very scratchy revival 16mm prints or very dupey VHS copies, but in more recent years it's been treated like the world classic that it is with some solid DVD and Blu-ray presentations. The latter option came first from VCI in 2022, taken from an excellent 4K restoration by the Cineteca Nacional México and featuring Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio with optional English subtitles. The one extras is a very thorough 26m40s video essay by Dr. Davit Wilt outlining the film's quite tragic production history, its release, and its place in the director's Mexican period.

In 2026, Second Run bowed the film on U.K. Blu-ray featuring the same restoration, looking pretty much identical but with a stronger LPCM 2.0 mono track with improved optional English subtitles. The Wilt video essay is ported over here, plus you get 2015's Surreal Frames, an impressionistic video series by writer-filmmaker Cristina Álvarez López in three parts: "Buñuel and Surrealism: Revolt into Love" (4m52s), combining moments from Un chien andalou, L'age d'or, and Las hurdes; "Buñuel in Mexico: The Logic of Delirium" (4m49s) covering El, Virdiana, and Simon of the Desert; and "International Buñuel: Interruption as Method" (5m29s) featuring The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, and That Obscure Object of Desire. The disc also features a BD-Rom option to see Buñuel’s annotated script of the film (in PDF or jpeg formats), plus a 24-page booklet with essays by Jordi Xifra and Cristina Álvarez López covering the 1944 source novel, Alonso's role in instigating the project, possible readings of the "happy" ending, and the common themes in Buñuel's three key creative periods.

Second Run (Blu-ray)

VCI (Blu-ray)

Reviewed on May 23, 2026