Color, 1976, 95 mins. 4 secs.
Directed by Mario Sábato
Starring
Sergio Renán, Carlos Moreno, Franklin Caicedo, Osvaldo Terranova, Carlos Antón, Christina Banegas
Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray) (US R0 HD) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9)
Several times a 
year you can count on the Mondo Macabro catalog to throw out an obscure surprise, and that was definitely the case with the Argentinian 
paranoid horror film The Power of Darkness (El poder de las tinieblas), an offbeat Argentinian thriller based on part of the acclaimed 1961 novel On Heroes and Tombs by Ernesto Sábato, who co-wrote the screenplay with his son and the director of the film, Mario Sábato. Anyone expecting a crazed South American shocker will likely be disappointed as this is much more on the suggestive horror side, with very little on-camera violence and only a quick bit of minor nudity. Instead it's an eerie, doom-laden story of urban paranoia drenched in atmosphere helped immeasurably by an incredible music score by still-active composer and screenwriter Victor Proncet.
One night while heading to grab dinner and a movie with his neighbor and new best friend (Moreno), Fernando is accosted by Juan (Caicedo), a childhood pal who needs to speak to him urgently. Fernando pushes him away, but Juan continues to approach him starting the following day claiming that he's been targeted by a conspiracy of 
blind men whose number is growing rapidly all over town. In the process he gradually drags out of Fernando some of their darker childhood 
memories like his tendency to pluck out the eyes of birds, all while Fernando is still haunted by his recent divorce with only limited visitation with his young daughter. Juan seems more terrified and disheveled with each encounter, and when he believes Fernando has now also become a potential victim of the underground agents of terror, he encourages a record to be kept in case the worst should happen. As uncanny events pile up, Fernando begins to record his experiences on reel-to-reel tape while also keeping an increasingly fearful eye on those around him.
Though you could certainly read this as an allegory about a guilt-ridden psyche with its constant images of birds right down to the opening credits and wallpaper patterns, The Power of Darkness thankfully doesn't play a coy "is he or isn't he crazy?" game with the viewer. The last ten minutes are genuinely unnerving and wrap things up on a satisfying note, and Renán does a solid job of unraveling over the course of the film while building a character who maybe does deserve some of the persecution he's getting. The supporting cast is colorful and always interesting including numerous silent blind players and a 
highly eccentric role for Osvaldo Terranova as Fernando's other close neighbor, a musical eccentric who also comes into 
play in the final stretch. The film also has a playful side including a nice little dialogue nod to Rosemary's Baby, and it would make a fine double feature with something like The Perfume of the Lady in Black, Zeder, or The Tenant.
Mondo Macabro's Blu-ray release marks what appears to be the first official home video release of this film and is definitely its first English-friendly one. A very poor quality gray market version has been around from what looks like a TV broadcast, but this is obviously many miles better in visual and audio quality. The film has a deliberately stylized quality with a heavy gray, green, and blue look occasionally broken by startling bursts of the color red, which is presumably accurate to the intended look as its increasing darkness mimics the feelings of blindness itself. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 Spanish mono track sounds very good and comes with optional English subtitles. Extras are limited to the theatrical trailer and an interesting 5m2s text piece over film footage covering the source novel and the process of adapting it from the final third, with one big element understandably sidelined in the process.
Reviewed on May 6, 2026
