Product description

The Exterminating Angel [1962] [1966]

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Average customer rating: 4.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5027035004631
Label : Arrow Films
Manufacturer : Arrow Films
Publisher : Arrow Films
Release date : 2006-08-28
Title : The Exterminating Angel [1962] [1966]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 12 years and over
Format : PAL
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1966-06
Region code : 0
Running time : 90
Studio : Arrow Films
Theatrical releaseDate : 1962

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-05-08 rating:

Savages in the making.
Bunuel does it again - juxtaposing the superficiality and fragile characteristics of bourgoise society with the innate qualities of the beast that lies not very far from the human condition. The way he does this is sheer genius. The viewer is initially presented with a conventional dinner party for the rich and powerful, a bit of slapstick humour accompanied by a few surreal moments and, mysteriously, the gradual loss of the household staff with the exception of the butler (for me the hero of the piece). Then, when the guests decide to leave they can't. Why? We don't know! What follows is the disintegration of bourgoise morality, professional status and class divisions. With no food and only a fractured water pipe to quench their thirst the guests become increasingly tormented by their situation. Like lambs to the slaughter these people are no longer in control and their animal instincts take over. The scene with the severed hand is classic Bunuel.

review by: nlalonde5 date: 2006-10-10 rating:

A major flaw
One of Bunuel's best films, even if it could have been even better, if he would have waited ten years to produce it with greater actors and technique. But the problem here is that there are two very important scenes missing: the guests that will be unable to leave the party should have been seen entering the house twice (Yes, it's absurd, but it has a profound link with the fact that they can't leave.) This DVD unfortunately did cut both of the scenes, as if they were an error. Unforgivable.

review by: green-man-music date: 2006-09-14 rating:

A Surreal, Dark, and Funny Satire
As a dinner party for wealthy arostocrats is beginning, the hosts are suddenly faced with an inexplicable mass walkout as one by one their staff leave, each with their own reason. As the evening draws to a close, equally inexplicably, none of the guests find themselves able to leave. Breaking all their social taboos they all sleep on the floor in the dining room, beginning to become violent, lustful and degenerate as the days wear on. A crowd gathers outside, and equally none of the trapped partygoers' friends or relatives find themselves able to get in.

This is a great story; it plays out like a film-length version of one of the older style "Twilight Zone" episodes, and also has the lovely sting in the tail that goes with it. There are some surreal moments as well, including the random appearences of a bear and sheep inside the house and a disembodied floating hand.

There are clear stabs here by the director at what he sees as the aloofness of certain social groups considering themselves more civilised then others; the aristocracy, the masons, and the church.

Filmed in the 1960s in black and white and with subtitles to the Spanish dialogue, none of this detracts from a great story and an engrossing film.

review by: date: 2006-09-05 rating:

Not as good as it could have been
I read a detailed review for this years ago. It sounded great. So as soon as I heard that it had been released on DVD I bought it.

It is good, but not great. Nothing much really happens and it does drag a little in places.

I get the impression that if this was made five years later Bunuel would have done so much more with it. The black and white photography also makes the film seem stiffer and older than it is.

review by: prhsuk date: 2006-08-29 rating:

Surreal and dark
I first saw this film about 10 years ago when i was at college and have been waiting a long time for it to come out on DVD. "The Exterminating Angel" is an attack on wealth and religion. A wealthy dinner party slowly descends into madness as the servants run away and the guests discover they are unable to leave. No physical force prevents them from going - it's just that someone tries to leave they inexplicably change their mind. The same is true for anyone trying to enter. As the outside world becomes fascinated by their plight, the guests descend into hunger, rage and madness, losing all the airs and graces that make them "civilised" and "respectable".

The film never reveals the cause of the strange curse, but the title implies some kind of divine punishment. The film is still startling today, particularly a macabre hallucination in which a woman is menaced by a disembodied hand.

A surreal classic.

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