The Scapular

Servando González's 1968 Mexican film tells four separate stories through a scapular given to a priest by a dying woman. She says that those who do not believe in the object's protective power end up dead; the story then goes back through the periods in which the scapular changed hands, reaching as far as the revolutionary years. The film stands between horror and folk belief and draws its real tension from belief itself: the stories can be read as miracles or as coincidence, and González leaves that undecided. The episodes are not of equal strength; the second is clearly the best. The black and white photography and use of rural locations come close to the best Mexican cinema of the period. Who it's for: viewers interested in Latin American horror and narratives of folk belief. Who it's not for: anyone wanting intense horror, or who will find an episodic structure scattered.