Ofelia Escudero (Claudia Islas) is a young woman living in an apartment with Aurora (Susana Dosamantes), Pilar (Helena Rojo), and now, Aurora’s cousin, Marta (Lucia Mendez). Ofelia receives a letter about her Aunt Susana’s (Tamara Garina) death. Susana’s lawyer (Enrique Ponton) informs her that she is the only heir to her aunt’s estate. Ofelia inherits not only a large house, but its grounds and everything in the house as well as a sizable pile of money. The only stipulation in the will is that she is also entrusted with the care of Susana’s cat, Becquer. Becquer is a black cat that was the only thing Susana adored.
Ofelia and the other three girls move to the mansion. Other than the cat, the only other resident of the house is the somber housekeeper, Sofia (Alicia Palacios). Ofelia takes her responsibility for Becquer seriously, but the other girls don’t like cats. Aurora has a pet canary. When she finds the cage on the floor and her bird dead, she knows that Becquer is responsible. Soon after that the cat disappears. A few days later Ofelia finds the cat dead in the cellar. She assumes it was mistakenly locked in and died of starvation. The cat is buried in the yard.
One by one, the girls in the house begin hearing strange noises and seeing shadows. Aurora is then found dead at the library where she works. She was found hanging upside down in a stairwell. It is believed she had a heart attack. Then another girl is mysteriously found dead. Eventually Ofelia learns what really happened to the cat and is afraid that Aunt Susana is now haunting the mansion and causing the death of those responsible for killing her beloved Becquer.
“Blacker than the Night” AKA “Darker than the Night” AKA “Mas Negro que la Noche” was released in 1975 and was written and directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada. It is a Mexican psychological horror thriller. A remake of the film was done in 2014 and was titled “Darker than the Night”.
The movie seems a little slow going at first, and perhaps a little long, but the story was good, and the mystery was interesting. You’re not sure if the events are being caused by a flesh and blood killer or if there is a supernatural element causing everything. The ambiguity of it is what draws you in. Besides the spooky housekeeper there are also some possible suspects in the boyfriends and or ex-husbands of a couple of the girls. It all makes for an engaging and suspenseful film. Add to that the fact that you really don’t like most of the girls and are OK with them being killed.
There isn’t a lot of blood or gore in the movie. Most of the scares come from eerie imagery, moody atmosphere and a few jump scares. There’s also not a lot of nudity in the film either. If it wasn’t for the lack of blood and boobs the movie could be mistaken for giallo.
All in all, not a bad little ghost story.