Excitation

Jean Garrett's 1977 Brazilian film follows a couple who leave the city for a house by the sea. Helena has come to recover from nervous crises, but in the house she begins seeing increasingly severe hallucinations and objects seem to move on their own. The film does not say whether what she sees is real. Her husband does not believe her and that disbelief makes things worse; the narrative draws its fear from being left alone rather than from the supernatural. The production comes out of the low-budget genre cinema of Sao Paulo. That branch of production was known for erotic content and the film carries it; horror and sexuality are used together. Who it's for: those curious about Brazilian genre cinema and seventies horror. Who it's not for: viewers uncomfortable with explicit sexual content; the film uses it often and carries the view of its period.