El regreso de la (real) naturaleza como crítica social en el cine fantástico de Antonio Mercero

Abstract

This paper proposes to recover the filmography of a director who has any critical studies: Antonio Mercero. First let’s stipulate that the Spanish horror film can be divided into two categories, one of exploitation and other, in which Mercero can be framed, critical of the social context. This critique is formulated, following Artaud and Paglia, through an irruption of a natural order prior to the socialized nature of today. This irruption of something supernatural from a place so elusive that it is impossible to visualize and understand rationally shakes social structures and draws the protagonist into a descent within the chthonic. Thus, Mercero manages to establish a criticism of a society like the Spanish under Franco, in which individualism and appearances prevailed, typical features of societies under totalitarian regimes.