It all starts when a title-card first transports us to Bumbasa, 1910, where a woman is tied to the trees, whipped free of her clothes, defiled by the machete-wielding locals, decapitated, defiled again (presuming you consider the primitive locals splashing themselves in her blood a defilement, which I do). And then, as if to add insult to injury, the poor woman's now removed head gains horrified consciousness along with vampire fangs. On an aside, if you Google "Bumbasa" you will find all the links pointing back to this film. Presumably the name was picked because it sounds like Mombasa, the second largest city in Kenya. According to the liner notes, the film "was to have been helmed in Haiti and New York" but when that became too expensive "the park grounds of Aldea del Fresno (a province of Madrid) and its "Safari Madrid" animal habitat substituted for the fictional African country of Bumbasa."
With the prologue out of the way we cut to the present (the "present" being the early-1970's), where a small group of six explorers arrive in Africa to study vanishing wildlife, only to find themselves on the vanishing side of things as well, thanks to basic Darwinian principles. Put another way, the guys are idiots and the women aren't that much smarter, but they are all beautiful: Kali Hansa (who also worked with Jess Franco) plays the role of a jealous woman with a lot of moxie. Former Miss Madrid, Bárbara Rey, stars as the first victim. Loretta Tovar is a photographer (and she of the aforementioned bucket of soapy water) while Maria Kosti plays a rich brat - both are Spanish horror genre veterans, and very easy on the eyes.
Several proponents of the film advise viewers to put aside their PC filters so as to ignore the films flaws and embrace it for what it is. To visit the official website and read Charles Forsyth's summation, this film is "pure 70's late-night trash," "a visual pulp adventure," and "an absurd, lurid, giddy, fantasy," with "an enormous amount of entertainment value." I'll concur. Having just seen a romantic comedy that bored me to tears with its predictability, and which will remain nameless, The Night of the Sorcerers felt like just the right tonic. With its fevered inanity going in all sorts of insane directions, it was certainly far from predictable. Watch this on a rainy day and with a friend endowed with a good sense of humor, and you'll have a blast.
This "Special Edition" dvd release by Deimos Entertainment/BCI Eclipse boasts a "complete uncut version of the film" and a high definition transfer from an original negative. True to the claim, the clarity and color on this are absolutely stunning.
Special features include: two audio tracks in Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 (of which the Castilian with English subtitles is recommended, as the English dubbed version is slightly out of synch), a theatrical trailer, Spanish credit sequence, alternate footage, a still gallery, and informative linear notes by Mirek Lipinski. The film is presented in a full frame ratio (described as 1.33:1 on the packaging, but appearing as an unmatted 1.66:1).
For more information about The Night of the Sorcerers, visit Deimos Entertainment. To order The Night of the Sorcerers, go to TCM Shopping.
by Pablo Kjolseth
