Search - Veneno Para las Hadas on DVD

A Gem of a Movie

Charles Blaine Fielding | SEATTLE, WA. USA | 07/04/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's easy to overlook this this little gem. A Mexican film from 1984, it features two little girls about age 11. It is probably best defined as a psychological thriller.

They meet at a private girls' school when Veronica {the little villain} meets a new student Flavia, naive and inclined to believe the machiavellian Veronica. Veronica fancies herself a wicked witch, and the other students are already on to her. But with Flavia she meets someone who is ignorant of her ways. It helps too that Flavia comes from a wealthy family.

Through a series of fortutious circumstances, Veronica is increasingly able to convince Flavia that she indeed is in league with the devil. In the end, Veronica's performance rebounds on her.

There is an internal logic to the movie that only plays out at the end.

This is not a major Hollywood production. It was obviously made on a limited budget, and it's special effects are particularly amateurish. But the movie's strenghs out-weigh its financial limitations.

Accept it on its own terms.

Blaine in Seattle"

A Mexican Bad Seed

Beth | Mesa, AZ United States | 04/07/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This obscure early 80's Mexican film has been one of my favorite finds of this year. A schoolgirl finds friendship in a strange lonely orphan who is obsessed with witchcraft. The girl believes herself to be a witch. When her spells start to come true she just becomes encouraged. The two take it upon themselves to find a poison for the fairies to increase the orphan's power.

The movie presents the adult bystanders as dominant figures who view the problems of children with condescension, as no doubt is often the case. Child's play isn't always bunnies and jacks. It can involve a dark side as explored in movies like Celia Child of Terror and Heavenly Creatures.

The ending has drawn several complaints as being out of the characters in the movie. However I disagree. I thought it was executed well. The movie has a beautiful vibrant look to it and the costume design is neat. Also goes by Poison for the Fairies."

Campy at best...horrible when judged.

Rob Ez | Chicago | 06/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"That being said, I LOVE this film.

The story is about one thing and one thing only: Flavia is a girl whose parents raised her as an atheist, therefore has no knowledge of the supernatural and has no grasp on whats plausible. Moving to a new town she meets Graciela, a girl obsessed with witchcraft and convinces her new friend that she is a witch by taking advantage of systematic circumstances and taking credit for them. Slowly she takes control of Flavia in the way that religion does for many people: Control of their minds through fear of damnation if they don't do as their told.

Having said that, the film is mostly scene after scene after scene of the two girls playing. The movie has campy moments with awful low-budget special effects that are entertaining. A person with short attention span can get lost watching this film, so you have to pay attention even when you think nothing is happening. Then the last 5 minutes of the film goes toward the unexpected (at least for a juvenile film) and the film becomes a CAMP movie rather than an awful one.

The cinematography utilizes what I call the "Muppet Babies" approach (I know there's probably a real term) which consists of only shots of the children and adults are shot only from the waist down or their backs to the camera. We get the sensation peeking and being at the childs level where adults are our antagonists.

The film was originally shot and released in 1984 in Mexico, but dissapeared from movie houses soon after. It was commercially unsuccessful and due to the lack of licensing and what was thought of no interest from the public, the film was NEVER re-aired on television or brought out to video until now. This is why many in Mexico have either forgotten about this movie or never knew of its existance, despite having a bit of a cult following. There is a goth band in Mexico called "Veneno Para Las Hadas", look for their page on Myspace. It did however, win many awards in 1985 at the Ariels (Mexican Academy Awards). This was however, right in the middle of Mexican cinema's worst period of artistic drought, where on a good year you got 5 nationaly produced films.

This is a great film for people who LOVE campy horror flicks and art films...but if you're expecting a "Latin American Cinema Classic", as this company has marketed this movie, you will be very dissapointed.

:)"

Classic Mexican "Horror" Film

Kardius | USA | 09/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The greatest accomplishment of underrated Mexican film director Carlos Enrique Taboada was to contribute horror films that steered away from the campy "Monster/Vampire VS. Masked Wrestler" that dominated Mexican cinema from the 1950s on.

Veneno para las hadas, his last film, is probably his best. (His best known film, though, is the 1960s flick Hasta el viento tiene miedo.) The film is told from the point of view of two girls(you never see the faces of adults, unless they're fantasies) and the plot centers on the relationship between a blonde orphan who, inspired by fairy tales, pretends to be a witch, and a wealthy brunette who believes and falls prey to all her lies. The few special effects are justifiably cheesy, since they're supposed to be from the point of view of the two girls.

In short, this film is an interesting attempt at psychological horror by a Mexican film director and well worth watching."