Born and raised in Mexico and now residing in Canada, LuchaGore Productions‘ Gigi Saul Guerrero specializes in dark and gritty films steeped in Mexican traditions. “Dia de los Muertos,” recently released as part of the DVD/VOD anthology México Bárbaro, features strippers in sugar skull face paint getting riotous revenge on the sleazy men who objectify them. Guerrero’s latest short film Madre de Dios stars Tristan Risk as the personification of Santa Maria/Muerte torturously forced to give gory birth to a demonic offspring. But her most successful film thus far is El Gigante, which will screen at the New York City Horror Film Festival on Nov. 14 and will be part of Buried Alive Film Fest‘s Closing Night Shorts program on Nov. 15. With it’s disturbing look at just how far one Mexican immigrant is (not so) willing to go to cross the United States border, El Gigante is 13-plus minutes of masked wrestling mayhem.
“The film is based off the first chapter of a horror novel by Shane McKenzie called Muerte Con Carne,” says Guerrero. “When I read his book I was like, ‘This is the coolest freaking book ever!’ It’s Mexican, it’s dirty, it’s gritty, it’s exactly everything I love. He saw lots of our shorts and our segment for México Bárbaro and immediately was like, ‘You guys have got to make my book into a movie!’ We originally made the short as a proof of concept to sell the idea of the entire feature of El Gigante. The short is doing so well that we are now partnered with Raven Banner Entertainment to make the feature film happen. That’s a big project for next year. We’re going to adapt the entire book.”
See, I told you this family is weird.
Until then, we’re left with this grindhouse gorefest about a man who encounters an enormous, lucha libre-obsessed monster in a burlap mask and his sadistic family inside a wrestling ring. The foreign objects Gigante (played by Vancouver actor/boxer David Forts) brings into play during this match would make even the most hardcore deathmatch competitors cringe.
“The book is about this psychotic villain that’s obsessed with lucha libre,” says Guerrero. “He watches lucha libre down in his underground room in their house in the middle of nowhere. That’s all he does is watch old lucha libre tapes. He puts his obsession into his kills in their homemade wrestling ring. Every element in the short – the cannibalism, the lucha libre, the border crossing and, of course, the delicious tacos they sell – will be brought into the feature.”
Following this weekend’s festivals, the film will screen at Monster Fest on Nov. 28, A Night of Horror Film Festival on Dec. 5 and Macabre Faire Film Fest in January.
Canadian actor/boxer David Forts portrays Mexican monster/wrestler Gigante.
“What I love so much about it is it’s a totally different take on border crossing,” says Guerrero. “It’s got that hillbilly, old-school horror feel we all love. The feature script is really, really gory and fucked up. It’s got the perfect amount of humor and it’s disgusting. I thought the combination was perfect. I absolutely love it. I’m excited!”