Next up in our Into The Dark series coverage comes one that I've been excited to see and review and that is Gigi Saul Guerrero's Culture Shock. Gigi started the Luchagore production company some time ago and has produced and directed several cool horror films but this just might be her masterpiece to date. The first half of Culture Shock deals with real world horrors as we follow Marisol (Martha Higareda) a latina women who has been sexually assaulted resulting in pregnancy trying to get across the Mexican border to the United States. She both tries to help a young boy in the journey while trying to make friends with a hard killer Santo (Richard Cabral) who ends up being a very well rounded character. The entire journey of the group trying to cross the border is very well put together and is a real feeling drama kind of a movie. The horror aspect is the fact that there are unquestionably people who get victimized like Marisol and then face a truly scary situation in crossing the border illegally.
While these are components of a great film, I did feel like the lead up to this point while powerful, did drag slightly. However, the curveball that gets thrown at us is when Marisol gets to America and everything is very beautiful. Marisol dosen't remember having her child, but upon waking up in a "Dream Neighborhood" she has her daughter presented to her by Betty (Barbra Crampton) and is shown just how great America is. Marisol soon becomes very suspicious and rightfully so. The citizens of this neighborhood don't seem quite right and upon singing the Mexican National Anthem we find out that the whole thing is a computer simulation and the mayor Thomas (Sean Ashmore) is actually a lab tech that is holding
immigrants that are caught at the border in a make shift torture chamber. Thomas has a change of heart at the end the of the film and rebels against his employer and helps Marisol and Santo have a shot of escape. The film ends with Marisol returning to Mexico to be with her family after giving birth for real and Santo staying in the U.S. This film obviously had a message (several in fact) but the way it is taking those messages and putting them into a very well done film puts it on top of the Into The Dark Rankings for me.
Into The Dark Rankings
1. Culture Shock 9.25/10
2. All That We Destroy 9/10
3. Down 8.5/10
4. The Body 8/10
5. They Come Knocking 7.5/10
6. Pooka 6.5/10
7. Flesh & Blood 5/10
8. Treehouse 4/10
9. I'm Just F*cking With You 3.75/10
10. New Year, New You 3.5/10
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