The Untamed - Lilith Likes to Watch Monster Lover May

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Title: The Untamed (AKA La Región Salvaje)
Year: 2016

Starring: Ruth Ramos, Simone Bucio, Jesús Meza

Director: Amat Escalante

Synopsis: Desperate to flee but consumed by fear, Alejandra, a young mother and working housewife, is trapped in a violent and unsatisfying relationship with her husband, Angel. She leans on her brother Fabián for support, but he has secrets of his own. All of their lives are turned upside down by the arrival of the mysterious Veronica. She convinces them that in the nearby woods, inside an isolated cabin, dwells something not of this world that could be the answer to all of their problems… something whose force they cannot resist and with whom they must make peace or suffer its wrath. - via Letterboxd.com

Lilith's Notes: The other joke I was going to make was "It's good to see the intestines from Annhiliation still getting movie roles."

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"It can only give pleasure."

Well, here we are, at the end of another Monster Lover May. Are we ending with a roar or a whimper?

I'm not sure. For now, all I can tell you for certain is that our final film is The Untamed.

I know this film will appeal to a very well known staple of monster lovers. One that has a proud tradition of content that dates back hundreds of years. One that has become almost mainstream.

Yes, you know it. I know it. The Japanese hentai artists perfected it.

Tentacles.

The film begins with the camera slowly and lovingly panningn down a woman's nude body. This is Veronica (played by Simone Bucio). She is in the throes of some sort of pleasure and the audience doesn't know the truth of it all until we see a tentacle slip out from between her thighs and retreat into the darkness.

What a way to start a film.

Vero is wounded by the creature and goes to see a doctor whom she gradually entangles along with the doctor's sister and her boyfriend into the lustful embrace of the tentacles.

But that's not the real story here. The real story, is the one of Alejandra (played by Ruth Ramos), and her husband Angel (played by Jesus Mesa). Alejandra is dissatisfied with her violent husband and sexually frustrated. Angel is a bigot in the streets and a gay in the sheets as he carries on an affair with Fabian (played by Eden Villavicencio), his brother in law.

This foursome of Alejandra, Angel, Fabian and Veronica are intertwined in a web of lust and lies until, to quote Alejandra, the dead bodies are piling up.

So, the monster is a being of lust. As in buried between Alejandra's thighs, every inch of her body is completely wrapped up in its prehensile limbs. She is filled and caressed from every angle, made weightless and brought to ecstasy to a level that nothing else can satisfy.

She is the envy of many monster lovers, no doubt.

Unfortunately, other than the monster, I'm sort of at a loss as to what to say about The Untamed.

There are some really good creative shots in this film. Memorable enough to sear into my brain. One is of a shot under Veronica's skirt, where she sits in a puddle of wetness that seeps from her body, persumibly left there by the creature.

Another is a shot of Vero trying to kickstart her scooter, which cuts directly with Fabian climbing a small tree and his foot slips just as one would, well, kickstart a bike! I kinda loved it. The shot slowly tightens in on that tree, inviting the viewer to look for something alien hiding in the roots and the twist of the branches. Is there something? Or is it just the power of suggestion?

A third memorable moment is when the movie indulges in its own Chaos Reigns moment inside a crater. You'll know it when you see it.

I think what's truly keeping me from embracing this movie is that it's not surreal or dreamlike or just plain weird enough. It's not a modern fairytale like Pan's Labyrinth nor is it an artfully ambitious meditation like Anti-Christ. However, I do strongly suggest that if you decide to enjoy The Untamed, perhaps pair it with a double feature with Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession or the aformentioned Anti-Christ.

It's too grounded in every aspect, no matter how pleasurable those aspects may be.

But, at the very least, it's good to see the Squid Baby from Men in Black still getting acting gigs. The film industry can be hell for child stars!

Best Moment: The alien sex scene, of course! But actually all of the sex scenes were on point.

Worst Moment: The subtext was heavy but got in its own way the way similar sorts of movies do, like Anti-Christ, Possession or It Follows.

LILITH'S SCORE: 3/5

Until next time, my voracious voyeurs. I’m Lilith, and I’m always watching.