Performers Cristina Maldonado, Theresa Schrezenmeir and musician Tarnovski reinterpret the film El Santo vs The Vampire Women, through live manipulation of scenes from this classic Mexican horror. A vampire castle, dusty coffins in a cocoon of cobwebs, a noir audiovisual ritual.

The Telekinetic Assault Group loosely follows on a previous project of Cristina Maldonado What She Does. Here, the classic film material is remixed using hand-made visual collages and a set of projection devices. In this case, the B horror movie El Santo vs The Vampire Women. The story of the cruel battle of a heroic wrestler against an army of bloodthirsty women is from the golden age of Mexican Lucha libre horror of the early 1960s. However, in this reinterpretation by TAG, the main hero never appears on the screen, and the story focuses almost exclusively on the sexy vampires united around their queen. An adventure where the masculine and feminine principles intertwine is reduced to the female line, creating a whole new story, exaggerated by a new-age pro-feminist manifesto.

TAG only uses the images from the original film, dialogue and sounds are replaced with a new soundtrack by Tarnovsky (e.g. Gurun Gurun). Cristina Maldonado’s real-time visual, movement and sound manipulation is based on the rituals and prayers which appear in the film. She uses glass balls, mirrors, crystals, her own skin and voice as elements that undermine or disturb the storyline of the film and “multiply” its perceived reality. The result is an “audiovisual ritual,” in which the immediate reality fuses with fiction, and the noir atmosphere of a supernatural movie infiltrates the concert and theatre space.

Medium: audio-visual performance / live/expanded cinema concert

Duration: 60 min
Year: 2019
Version: English
Premiered in: Punctum, Prague
Performed in: Punctum, Prague
Divadlo 29, Pardubice, Czech Republic
Festival Malá inventura 2019
Prague Quadriennale 2019
International Festival Theater der Dinge,  Schaubude Berlin, Germany 

Keywords: noir, sexy vampires, power

Concept / Direction / Visuals: Cristina Maldonado
Sound:Jara Tarnovski
Voice: Theresa Schrezenmeir
Co-production: Jedefrau.org
Centre for Open Culture Pardubice Terra Madoda
Support: Punctum
Ministry of Culture Czech Republic
Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, México

Press:

theaterderdinge.com: Zu Tisch mit Vampirinnen. Rezension von Beate Absalon zu NOIR AV RITUAL von 
Telekinetic Assault Group [DE] / At the table with vampires. Recension of Beate Absalon of NOIR AV 
RITUAL by Telekinetic Assault Group

"According to the signs, we were in a mysterious ritual. We did not get any direct answers to what was 
aimed at with this. The missing narrative is perhaps related to the immortality of the vampires, 
who wake up and seduce again and again in the eternal round dance without leading anywhere, because 
something like finitude is needed for that. But what does the empty space created in the performance 
around the Luchador El Santo mean, in which the artist inscribes herself?"


thetheatretimes.com: PQ 2019: AN A+ B-MOVIE [ENG]

"Oftentimes Maldonado would distort the image on the screen, putting her fingers in front of the 
projection to scrunch it up, or a piece of paper to heighten the effect when one of the vampires 
was set on fire. But sometimes she put herself through the wringer. She rolled on the floor wearing 
a small mask that covered her eyes with the eyes of the actress, which were too large and too dramatic 
for her face but somehow made her resemble semi-celebrity chef Carla Lalli Music. The creepiest 
bit was when she held up a small video of her own mouth over her mouth telling a pre-recorded story 
about encountering the smell of death on the tram. Her face participated in the story-telling, 
and it was like she was lip-syncing to herself."


fullmoonzine.cz: Noirový rituál: Telekinetic Assault Group [CZ] / Noir Ritual