Pure Blood

Luis Ospina's 1982 Colombian film follows a wealthy businessman dependent on transfusions. His illness requires young blood; his son forces three employees to supply it, and the men begin taking children off the street. The film joins horror to the question of class. The survival of the rich is tied directly to the bodies of the poor, and the narrative does not leave this as analogy but shows it concretely. Ospina came from a circle of directors in the city of Cali, a group known as tropical gothic. The images are dark, the humour black and the violence explicit. The film caused argument in Colombia. Who it's for: those who like Latin American genre cinema and political horror. Who it's not for: viewers for whom violence against children would sit heavily; the film takes it as a direct subject.