Runtime: 111 minutes
Directed by: Rene Cardona, Jr.
Starring: Hugo Stiglitz, John Huston, Andres Garcia, Gloria Guida, Claudine Auger
From: A few different Mexican companies
The Bermuda Triangle myth was just 70's poppycock based off of conjecture, half-truths and outright fibs... even then, I was entertained by this movie. The lore behind the triangle is natural for a horror movie between all the alleged disappearances, sinking planes/ships, weird events-some of which is referenced here. Earlier in the year I purchased The Cardona Collection (as in Rene, Jr.) from Vinegar Syndrome yet because I am me it's just now that I cracked into it. I was hoping for fun schlock and this it was, despite some slow stretches for an almost two hour movie. As it's Cardona, of course Hugo Stiglitz has a prominent role.
A ship is chartered so some people (including John Huston, the most famous name in the cast; another famous name is Claudine Auger) could photograph underwater ruins; the people on board number at least a dozen so in fact there is plenty of cannon fodder. I did not mind the movie taking its time slowly unfurling the spooky events that begin when a doll is found floating in the middle of the ocean and it's retrieved; the little girl on the vessel takes possession of it and of course she starts acting rather peculiar. The other oddball events include a scene involving birds, lights, the radios going out, an underwater earthquake, and sudden storms.
Drama was at least attempted and some scenes were nice in that they let things breathe so characters could interact with each other. That said, I was amused at the over the top moments, from the characters (the ship engineer, Hugo Stiglitz as the ship captain and a Black chef named Simon were my favorite) to some outrageous lines to a hilarious married couple that loathe each other so they unleash the most caustic barbs against each other in amazing scenes full of passive-aggressive behavior.
Many not sharing the enthusiasm I have for this daffy B-movie... I get it. The Bermuda Triangle just happened to entertain me. Heck, it even shares the pessimism emblematic of many 70's pictures. After all, there's some particularly bad dubbing, more underwater footage than what I was expecting, and a groovy Stelvio Cipriani score.
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