TEARS OF KALI

Three stories that share a common denominator in the psycho-religious sect Taylor-Errickson. «Shakti». A journalist, determined to write a dossier on the murder of a follower of the Taylor-Errickson sect that occurred in 1988, goes to the psychiatric hospital where the woman who was considered responsible for the murder is confined; but the woman claims to be innocent and that the real author of the murder was an evil spirit. «Devi». A young man, forced to consult a psychiatrist due to problems managing his anger, finds himself in treatment with a doctor who applies rather questionable methods. «Kalì». A well-known healer finds himself treating a woman for a painful stiffening of the spine, but by straightening the patient's back, he frees a parasitic spirit that had settled in the woman's body. «Tears of Kalì» is a small German film from 2003, made with few resources but with great skill; the three stories that compose it are a concentration of sadism and cruelty, definitely not suitable for weak stomachs. The film has clear intentions of criticizing the numerous pseudo-religious sects that proliferated in the 1970s and 1980s around the world and their conceptual resurrection in the second half of the 1990s through the Eastern new age trend; in this case, we see an Indian sect (but founded by Westerners) that has as its focal point the achievement of a mystical ecstasy that puts spirit and body in communication, but does so with means that are often as drastic as cruel and self-injurious. We will then see a girl who cuts her eyelids to be able to «see», a guy who literally comes out of his skin, and so on, in a whirlwind of blood and madness. The three stories are very varied: the first has a narrative structure and some visual solutions that closely resemble modern Oriental horrors, with a heart-pounding scene set in an elevator; the second story is the least narratively articulated, but probably the most impressive; the third is the most classic, almost «Creepshow», with an invisible demon, living dead, and some nods to Raimi's «Evil dead». Various and tasty are also the quotes from Italian genre cinema, with clear references to Fulci's most famous films (the eyes dripping with blood and the splinter in the eye, respectively from «Paura nella città dei morti viventi» and «Zombi 2») and an explicit quote to the spaghetti western (they talk about «Keoma»). «Tears of Kalì» is therefore a mature example of low-budget horror that celebrates the tradition of episodic films, treating the available material in a crude and repulsive way. It is definitely worth a look.