Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Perdita Durango 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 17, 2021

There’s a rather interesting and perhaps potentially humorous disclaimer that is offered at the beginning of a short but fascinating overview of the apparently real events underlying Perdita Durango which is offered on this Blu-ray disc as a supplement. At the beginning of Narcosatanicos: ‘Perdita Durango’ and the Matamoros Cult viewers are cautioned that some nefarious types have twisted religious beliefs (in this case relating to Santeria) to their own villainous ends, and that other, more righteous, believers have followed these traditions without things like, you know, human sacrifices and the like resulting. If that reprehensible behavior isn’t part of mainstream worship circles (at least in anything other than vestigial ways, a la the Bible story of Abraham and Isaac), it would be very easy to generalize the warning to reflect various objectionable “interpretations” of religious tenets by all sorts of people. If the title and woman’s name of Perdita Durango may strike some as a bit familiar, it may because they’ve seen Isabella Rosselini’s relatively brief but memorable turn as the character in Wild at Heart. That film, like this one, was culled from a novel by Barry Gifford, though, as evidenced by the title of Narcosatanicos above, a title which is itself in a Spanish language version that of a non-fiction book by Jim Schutze, there are elements of Perdita Durango that are at least a bit reflective of actual events. In 1989, a Texas university student named Mark Kilroy was kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico and was ultimately tortured and killed in a human sacrifice ritual. Completing this virtual round robin of interdisciplinary influences, a number of elements of this true life criminal horror story were evidently influenced at least in part by John Schlesinger’s 1987 film The Believers, and there are certainly elements in both that outing and Perdita Durango that kind of refract off of each other.

There were evidently both a man and a woman at the head of the cult which murdered Mark Kilroy, and in this film those characters become Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem) and Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez). Perdita is introduced first, in a kind of cheekily amusing scene where she's hit on by the kind of guy who is still wearing doubleknits, and who soon realizes Perdita is not the kind of woman to suffer fools gladly. She soon meets up with Romeo, and the two just kind of instantly become a couple. Romeo is a "holy man" of sorts, one who is convinced some magic talismans he carries give him super powers, powers which in fact seem to be real when he evades any snooping by the border crossing police, despite the fact that there's a body in the back seat of his car.

Lest anyone mistake this film for a traditional "ripped from the headlines" recreation of an abysmal incident, Perdita Durango is decidedly more whimsical and potentially unsettling in a number of ways. Romeo is shown to be something of a charlatan, which perhaps "distances" him from being really evil with regard to his supposed Santeria sacrifices. Except the film also borrows from real events by having Romeo, at Perdita's urging, kidnap not one but two Americans for a ritualistic killing spree. If that eventuality is at least delayed, the film goes of on a number of patently wild tangents, including the transportation of fetal matter (to make cosmetics), rival gangs and a cat and mouse game involving a DEA agent named Dumas (James Gandolfini). Just for good measure, there's a brief but totally gonzo detour through Vera Cruz.

The result is one part David Lynch, one part Quentin Tarantino, with maybe just a soupçon of Alejandro González Iñárritu thrown in for good measure. The presentational aspects that Alex de la Iglesia brings to the enterprise are rarely less than arresting (no policing pun intended), and the film offers absolutely astounding showcases for both Javier Bardem, who is relentlessly feral in his portrayal, and Rosie Perez, who against all odds brings a certain comedic flair to often horrifying events.

Perdita Durango 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 version. More screenshots from the 1080 presentation can be seen accompanying our Perdita Durango Blu-ray review.

Perdita Durango is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Severin Films with a 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. This is another often quite striking looking 4K presentation from Severin, who offers a little bit more of a generic "restored in 4K" on this film's accompanying press sheet, than Severin's The Day of the Beast 4K, which stated it was sourced off the original camera negative. I'm scoring this just a little less favorably than I did the 4K release of The Day of the Beast, though when this presentation is hitting on all cylinders, which it does in more brightly lit outdoor moments in particular, it arguably looks as good as the other de la Iglesia offering. There are some fluctuations in clarity and fine detail levels, though, and a few interstitial scenes don't quite have the "pop" that a lot of this transfer does. That said, HDR has added a number of really lustrous highlights, including almost orangish yellows to the opening vignette with Perdita and a leopard, or some of the later reds and (again) yellows, which are often almost sumptuously saturated. The credits sequence offers a noticeable downtick in saturation and clarity, but other moments, like the almost sepia toned sequence after the bank robbery, still show excellent fine detail levels. Grain does ebb and flow and can occasionally look pretty yellow itself, but on the whole resolves naturally. My score is 4.25.

Perdita Durango 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both the 4K UHD and 1080 presentations of Perdita Durango feature nicely rendered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks in English or Spanish. I toggled back and forth between these, but admittedly spent most of my time on the English language track. I didn't notice any huge differences in amplitude or general mix levels between the two languages. The frequent use of source cues and underscore tends to provide a nice consistent bed of surround activity, and the many noisy scenes, including some of the ritualistic aspects, offer smart channelization of individual effects. Some of the more calamitous events as things spiral out of control also present good opportunities for sound effects like gunfire. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Perdita Durango 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc offers only Trailers as supplements.

• Trailer 1 (1080p; 1:37)


• Trailer 2 (1080p; 1:50)

The 1080 disc included with this release has the Trailers along with the rest of the supplements detailed in our Perdita Durango Blu-ray review.

Perdita Durango 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perdita Durango , though evidenty based at least in part on real events, is an increasingly more surreal viewing experience, though it's an often completely visceral one. This film perhaps unavoidably reminded me of Wild at Heart, but some of its more gonzo presentational aspects also brought to mind over the top films about murderous couples like Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. Bardem and Perez are unforgettable, and fans of either or both of these performers who haven't seen this film are in for a (disturbing?) treat. Severin is offering a release with secure technical merits and the 1080 disc has some nice supplements. Recommended.