DANCE WITH THE DEVIL (aka PERDITA DURANGO)

Perdita Durango is sitting in a caf�, dreaming about a jaguar licking her naked body in bed. She wakes with a start, frightens off the advances of a lecherous business man, and leaves. She meets Romeo Dolorosa, a scary-looking man who it turns out is a voodoo priest. Together, they plot to kidnap a white kid, and sacrifice him in a ceremony, then eat him, in order to scare the locals. They kidnap two kids from a funfair, Estelle and Duane. Romeo rapes Estelle, whilst Perdita seduces Duane. They try to decide which kid to sacrifice, and choose Estelle. Just as Estelle is about to be killed, the police turn up and they have to flee. From here, the plot takes off wildly, involving a lorryload of foetuses (for the cosmetics industry) that has to be smuggled across the border, the police and FBI following them, and all sorts of mayhem. To describe the plot any further would be to spoil the film's many twists and turns, but anyone who has seen 'Wild at Heart' (see below) will have a good idea of what to expect...

Adapted from a graphic novel by Barry Gifford, '59 & Raining - The Story of Perdita Durango', itself adapted from a novella by Gifford (entitled simply 'Perdita Durango'), this film is a wild, genre-mixing, violent, extremely entertaining road movie. Being a big fan of Barry Gifford, I was very keen to see this film. I had read Gifford's 'The Wild Life of Sailor & Lula' (a book that contains 6 novellas, the first two of which are 'Wild at Heart' and 'Perdita Durango', the story on which this film is based) some time ago, and love David Lynch's adaptation of 'Wild at Heart' (the character of Perdita Durango is also in both the novella and the film of this, in which she's played by Isabella Rossellini), so I had high hopes for this film, despite it being directed by Alex De La Igelsia (his first English language film). De La Iglesia is best known for his feature debut, 'Accion Mutante', and also for his 2nd film, 'The Day of the Beast', neither of which are very impressive films in my opinion. However, with this film, he really makes up for it, throwing literally everything into the pan! The story pretty much sticks to the novella, with some added scenes, and also some extended scenes. De La Iglesia uses every cinematic trick in the book - rapid fire editing, slow motion photography, many flashbacks, crane shots, sweeping helicopter shots, etc, etc, to produce a really high octane thriller. The film looks extremely expensive for this type of production, with no expense seemingly spared, as all sorts of things are blown up and destroyed. The photography is absolutely gorgeous, with stunning scenery and some really fantastic cinematography.

The film features a high quota of gore and sex scenes, but the most dubious of these is that in which Romeo rapes Estelle, who starts to enjoy it. At the same time, Perdita and Duane watch through a window, leading to Perdita seducing the bound Dunae, then having sex with him whilst Romeo rapes Estelle. This scene is just as dodgy in the film as it is in this description, and could have been left out. Even in the book, this scene is not described in detail. The fact that Estelle looks about 14 years old, and is seen nude probably doesn't aid its case with the BBFC! Both Javier Bardem (Romeo) and Rosie Perez (Perdita) are excellent in thier roles, bringing just the right amout of crazed energy, and pent up violence. All the performances in the film are good, although Estelle & Duane get annoying (but they're supposed to be, so I guess this doesn't really count as a complaint!) The F/X are very good, and the music, by Simon Boswell, is excellent - one of his best in recent years.

If you like this type of film then you'll definitely like this one. If you don't like excessive violence/bad taste then you won't (though what are you doing at this site?!) Don't be put off by De La Iglesia's other films, this is a real eye opener, marking him as a talent to watch. The film is also one of the most expensive looking and enjoyable exploitation films of recent times. Highly recommended.

DVD Specification
Original year of release - 1997
Approximate running time - 121min.
Aspect ratio - Widescreen 2.35:1
System - NTSC (colour)
Rating - Unrated
Sound - Dolby Digital 5.1
DVD release - A-Pix Entertainment
Region Coding - Region 0 (code free)

DVD Extras
Original theatrical trailer
Video trailer
Cast & Crew filmographies
Previews of other A-Pix DVD's
Spanish subtitles

DVD Ratings (out of 5)
Picture - 4
The picture is really stunning. I watched it on a widescreen TV, and the colours are absolutely breath-taking, almost like the old Technicolor prints. I haven't been as impressed by any DVD as I was by this one. Every image is crystal clear and the colours are vibrant, and very well-defined (including the blacks). The real pity is the lack of anamorphic enhancement, particularly with the film being presented here in full scope. Many sequences of the film are spoken in Spanish, with English subtitles, and the sub's are displayed on the lower black bar, so if the picture had been 16x9 enhanced, then these would have had to be moved onto the image itself, so maybe this explains A-Pix's decision (I shouldn't think they have all that much money to get the print altered, and they did provide 16x9 enhancement on their DVD of Argento's 'Phantom'). This would definitely score a '5' but for this short-coming.
Sound - 5
Again, excellent. DD5.1 is rare for a film of this type, and the soundtrack is very clear and free from hiss. The music sounds great. What more can I say?
Extras - 2
Somewhat poor, really. A couple of trailers, and some (good) biographies. A commentary would have been most welcome on this film, as would behind-the-scenes footage, interviews or extra footage (some of the cut stuff, perhaps?) - a shame that none of this is included as the DVD would have been going on for perfect, had it been! One other complaint here; the menu screens are somewhat annoying - it takes a few seconds each time you move screen before you can select an option, as you have to wait for the 'gun' icon to appear. Not a big problem, but if you're trying to move between screens fast, it's a pain. Strangely, A-Pix's DVD of Argento's 'Phantom of the Opera' suffers from exactly the same complaint - the menus on that disc are particularly annoying. It looks like the same software has been used to construct both discs, as they both use the same, slow 'icon' interface, be it a gun (this DVD), or a lightning bolt (Phantom). Still, as I said, a minor complaint.
Overall Rating - 4
A-Pix have done a grand job with this DVD. An excellent transfer, excellent sound, full scope. A shame about the extras and the lack of 16x9 anamorphic enhancement. Whilst it might not be the 'director's cut' claimed on the front, it's likely to be the most complete version we'll ever see in this country. The film itself is extremely enjoyable, and is something you'd probably want to watch more than once.

AKA
'Perdita Durango' (Original Spanish Release)

Alternative versions
The original Spanish version ('Perdita Durango'), presented by the director at the 1998 Fantasy Film Festival 1998 in Munich, runs 10 minutes longer and features more sex and violence.

This DVD is touted as being an 'Unrated Director's Cut' but has in fact been cut. Apparently a scene has been removed in which Romeo receives head from a very young girl. Also removed is a scene in which Romeo interacts with footage from 'Vera Cruz'. This footage has been removed as the insistence of the copyright holders, but can still be found in the original Spanish version, bootlegs of which are around.

It has been released as 'Perdita Durango' here in the UK. The BBFC have cut 36s from the UK cinema version, which runs 124m 11s, and 37s from the video version, which runs 118m 10s - strange! It is very dubious as to what state these releases are in - I don't know anyone who's seen the film theatrically over here, and the video has yet to be released, but it's safe to say you can expect some distributor pre-cutting, in addition to the BBFC's cuts (there's no way any distributor would leave the rape scene intact in a print for BBFC approval - it would be a waste of time).

Movie Facts
Cult film director Alex Cox ('Repo Man', 'Sid & Nancy', 'Straight to Hell' etc.) plays FBI Agent Doyle in the film. Cox has close connections with the Spanish cinema, having worked extensively in it during the late 80's/early 90's, and making several films in the Spanish language (the best of which is 'Highway Patrolman').

During filming, Carlos Bardem and Javier Bardem got badly burnt due to excessive gunpowder and a badly synchronized explosion caused by a special effects technician. Another crew member got second and third degree burns in 80% of his body.

Awards
The film Won the 'Special Mention' award at the 1998 International Festival of Fantasy Film.

It also won awards for 'Best Make-up & Hairstyles' and 'Best Production Supervision' and was nominated for 'Best Costume Design' and 'Best Original Score' at the 1998 Goya Awards.

Official site
CLICK HERE to visit the film's official (Spanish language) website.