busy exporting plenty of pulp-style horror films from the 1960s onward involving wrestlers, robots, bloody apes, and brain-eating beasts, 
other local filmmakers were drawing on other influences like the giallo and suggestive Gothic horror with less international exposure. Though he didn't direct a large number of genre films, Carlos Enrique Taboada made his mark with an intermittent string of masterpieces highlighted by the legendary 1968 supernatural classic Even the Wind Is Afraid (Hasta el viento tiene miedo), which was remade in 2007 and given a very disappointing, substandard Blu-ray release in the U.S. by VCI. A far more satisfying salute to the director can be found in Vinegar Syndrome's two disc Blu-ray set from 2023, Mexican Gothic: The Films of Carlos Enrique Taboada, compiling two horror films and a twisted crime drama for a nice overview of his variety as a filmmaker.
can do anything they want. Veronica claims she is an actual witch (and not really a child) to a new, wealthier student at school, 
Flavia (Gutiérrez), and says she can pass powerful spells with agents like her pet spider. Despite her parents telling her that witches aren't real, Flavia comes to believe Veronica and has bizarre dreams in which her young friend becomes a terrifying crone. Veronica claims she can help Flavia out by getting rid of her pesky piano lessons, but the ramifications soon become sinister and quite deadly with the purported sorceress using the situation for extortion and manipulation.
MA 
Spanish 2.0 mono with optional English subs), but it's so much better here than any prior presentation that you're unlikely to notice. 
Packed with familiar faces who would become fixtures in Mexican film and TV (including Pedro Armendáriz Jr. hot off of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Chosen Survivors), Darker Than Night is a more overt supernatural horror film than usual for Taboada (along with his brilliant The Stone Book, which is crying out for a good Blu-ray release). It's just the thing to pop on for some Halloween-style viewing thanks to its spooky settings and moody stalking sequences. Several bits are reminiscent of Japanese ghost story films, and while this isn't a gorefest by any means, it does pack in some macabre chills including an effective library attack and a grisly little stinger at the end. Released on DVD in Mexico in 2007, this one has made the custom subtitled rounds for ages but gets its first official English-friendly release here looking excellent apart from some age-related damage during the main titles. Framing, color saturation, and detail all look wonderful, and the numerous dark scenes are much more legible now than ever.
of a small group of people who stumble on a valuable stash only for it to tear them apart (carried on well into the '90s with films like 
Shallow Grave and A Simple Plan). Here the parties in question are lumberjack Porfirio (Tarso) and co-worker Evodio (Robles), who live next to each other and team up when the former spies a plane crash out in the wilderness. The duo decide to loot the planeload of dead, wealthy passengers for all they can before it's discovered, roping in their wives as well, Fina (Lazareno) and pregnant Rita (Monteros). What they think is a way out of their impoverished existence turns into a nightmare as greed and treachery erupt between them -- with Porfirio in particular taking drastic, violent measures that could be their downfall.
unsettling. What really makes the film work is the fact that it maintains sympathy for everyone even when their actions become 
completely beyond the pale; you can understand why everything happens even when it takes a horrifying turn. This one doesn't seem to have gotten around in English at all until the Vinegar Syndrome release (and even the Mexican VHS has been pretty scarce for a long time), so this will be a fresh discovery for most buyers. The restoration here looks just as strong as the others, leaving in some baked-in anomalies like a few scenes where one of the cameras was clearly malfunctioning and leaving some damage on the right side in a few alternating shots. The second disc also features the video extras, namely a trio of informative video essays by Valeria Villegas (14m, 14m31s, 14m46s) covering the reinvigoration of Mexican cinema in the '70s, the social movements and political climate at the time, the director's extreme care with living creatures of all stripes, the significance of several actors and their connections to Taboada's other work, and the different aspects of the horror genre threaded throughout his filmography. 