PUNTA SINISTRA is more of a thriller or adventure film rather than a horror film. It has some trappings of witchcraft and the occult, but none of these are fully fleshed out. In Renaud Gauthier’s filmography, if you are looking for something that is more in the horror genre, try his other films Aquaslash or Discopath. I haven’t seen either of them, but I might check them out because the names seem to have potential. The cinematography is by Luis Almada and for an actor without any previous credits as a DP, he seems to have done a pretty good job.

It is essentially the story of Marcotte, who says he is a journalist and is played by the writer/director Renaud Gauthier. The small cast is rounded out by Patricia Léger as Claudine, whose main function seems to be to look good in a bathing suit walking out of the water, and Jason Eugene Bober as Ojo, who is seemingly Claudine’s ex.

Bear in mind, while you read this review, that the film I watched had a time code and a temporary music track. It’s not finished, which makes one wonder exactly why did they enter it into a film festival if it’s not done. By the way, the temp track music is from the nineties and it was occasionally like watching Hackers but with more tarot cards and snorkeling for drugs.

The film looks pretty good but suffers from a lack of a strongly constructed plot. The story meanders around and the film really only gets a little more interesting when a couple of weirdo assassins show up. Rhamses Navarrete as Jerga and Jopi Quevedo as Kola Loka, in particular, add some strange-old menace when they infrequently dance in. Kola Loka literally dances up to her victims and says nothing while Jerga does all the talking and threatening. The scenes where they show up are my favorites in the film, especially one surprising and nasty bit of eye violence that I believe Maestro Lucio Fulci might have nodded his head in approval of. That said, the brother-sister assassin team reminds me a bit of the trio of assassins in Wild At Heart, but not enough to really make me upset about it.

I have a soft spot for weirdo assassins. Sue me.

As is, the film runs a minuscule 63 minutes, so it’s not like you are being asked to invest a lot of time in this, but I can’t fully recommend it because of the many moments that sag in between dance parties. PUNTA SINISTRA isn’t quite entertaining or sleazy enough to be full-on exploitation or a successful pastiche of 70s low-budget films like I feel it wants to be, but it’s definitely not the most boring film I’ve ever watched. It is saved from full mediocrity by the Murder Dance Twin Team, but it nearly wasn’t. Be warned.

PUNTA SINISTRA had its world premiere at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival.