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DIRECTED BY: Gonzalo Suarez
FEATURING: Ana Belen, Victor Manuel, Michael J. Pollard, Maria Vica
PLOT: Their honeymoon goes awry when newlyweds unwittingly park their camper at the edge of a haunted forest.
COMMENTS: Morbo is a ghost story without ghosts. The English title, Morbidness, pretty much sums it up. A honeymooning couple find themselves engulfed in a sinister atmosphere that they’re at a loss to explain. Moments of violence erupt out of the tension, but this nontraditional horror film mostly traffics in mood.
A pre-credits introduction sets the scene. As the camera floats through a deserted, crumbling mansion, disembodied voices recount their misfortunes: the devastating forest fire that tore through the landscape, wrecking their livelihood, leaving them old before their time, ruined by injury, illness, and poverty. The empty rooms echo with plaintive laments. Amid the decaying furnishings, a reporduction of the Mona Lisa sits on the floor, symbol of their former prosperity and a hint of the mystery to come.
The opening credits then roll over a static shot of a church interior. We meet Alicia and Diego as they drive off to their honeymoon, a camping expedition designed to provide them with peace and quiet. They choose a secluded forest glade on their campsite, failing to notice the “No Trespassing” sign at the side of the road. When they set out to explore the area, Diego comes across the rotting, headless carcass of a dead animal without a head. He doesn’t mention it to Alicia.
Despite this disturbing discovery, they settle in, unpacking their wedding gifts from the camper and decorating the clearing with inflatable furniture. At first they are content to be together, sharing confidences and increasing their intimacy. They open the wedding gifts and immediately start mocking both the contents and the people who gifted them. “A real Leonardo,” Alicia sarcastically declares when she opens a package to reveal a Mona Lisa print.
Her disdain aside, the image triggers a vivid memory for Alicia. She recounts a dream she once had of inhabiting a summer house where a copy of the Mona Lisa hung on the chimney. The detailed vision includes gardens surrounding the house, a picturesque old mill, and a well.
Made in Spain during the tail end of the Franco regime, Morbo pushes the limits of state-imposed censorship. Through its irreverent attitude towards marriage and the sanctity of the nuclear family, it challenges prevailing Catholic beliefs and the encroaching consumerism of lavish wedding and honeymoon practices.
Along with the societal critique, director Suarez toys with the conventions of the Western horror film. The couple make a classic gas station stop along their journey, during which Alicia peels off her wedding dress to display a white crocheted bikini underneath. She unceremoniously tosses the dress into the back seat, and there it will remain, a casually discarded symbol of tradition.
It isn’t long before bizarre events begin taking place, leading to arguments between Alicia and Diego. An old house nearby becomes a point of contention. Diego sees it first, but he’s evasive when describing it to Alicia. Since it has a well, she’s confident the residents will allow them to replenish their water supply, but whenever Diego goes to ask, he’s says no one’s home. They find a river nearby, but Alicia refuses to drink or use the water out of fear of insects.
More alarming to the couple is evidence that someone may be spying on them. The invisible antagonist tampers with their car, as well as their water canisters. The theft of Alicia’s wedding dress proves to be the last straw. Determined to find the thief, she runs off to the old house on her own. Despite the prevailing aura of obfuscation, Morbo concludes with a satisfyingly bloody denouement for viewers who manage to make it to the end. The plot loops back to the introduction, connecting various narrative threads, although it can never entirely account for the strange workings of Fate.
Belen and Manuel, the two leads, were popular celebrities known for their left-wing sympathies, and a couple at the time. Their casting was a coup for Suarez, who remained somewhat outside the mainstream. He had begun his career in film as a scriptwriter before deciding to direct his own films. He was affiliated with the Barcelona School, a group of intellectuals, artists, film makers, and musicians who frequented the newly flourishing night club scene in the city. But Suarez always stayed true to his unique vision. Many of his films similarly deal with unseen forces that catch his protagonists in their inexorable grip.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
unexpected and delightfully strange moment, the beleaguered sorcerer escapes Chung and his battalion of ghosts by throwing a wad of cash into their air and yelling, “Count Dracula! Come to my aid!” Sure enough, a pasty European with fangs suddenly appears and flits about, flummoxing his opponents but also not really coming to anyone’s aid. It’s a genuinely bonkers moment, and knowing they had this one up their sleeve, the filmmakers could have used more of them.