“I don’t recognize myself anymore.”
There is nothing more heartbreaking than being hurt by someone you trust. This is, unfortunately, a stark reality for many young women and girls and the work of Mexican filmmaker Alexandra Carlota Velasco forces audiences to confront that reality. Premiering at this past Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Velasco’s latest short film Eternal Inferno is a story about revenge and the ways in which trauma, and how a lack of justice in the face of that trauma, can transform you.
Damiana (Sofia Engberg) is crashing out after an ex shares nude photos of her across the internet–a classic case of revenge porn. Even more gruesome is what happens when her guard is down and Xavi (Americo Hollander), a “friend” who Damiana goes to in this time of pain, takes advantage of her vulnerability. This betrayal sends Damiana into the streets of Mexico City, where the underground tunnels act as a sight for her transformation. Coming face to face with three alluring strangers, Angélica (Cachorra), Eva (Elsa Gil), and Lilith (Catalina Berarducci), her pain gives way to a vengeful bloodlust.
The women of this story find solace in each other and unleash their rage on a city that will not protect them. In 2016, national surveys estimated that “in Mexico, around 6.5 per cent (approximately 2.83 million) of all women and girls aged 15 and above who had been in a relationship at some stage in their lives had been victims of intimate partner sexual violence” (INEGI 2016). Additionally, 81% of victims of victims of intimate partner sexual violence go on to suffer from various mental health disorders, with one in four reporting suicidal tendencies (INEGI 2016). In the year 2025, these issues are still salient, and the work of women like Velasco is as crucial as ever. Whether they manifest as gritty grindhouse films like I Spit on Your Grave (1978), or stories of thirsty succubi like Jennifer’s Body (2009), or even as tales of vampires, the nuances of revenge will continue to be teased out until society reckons with it’s crimes.
Sofia Engberg is mesmerizing as Damania. As she loses herself in the eerie and liminal underground tunnels, in a haunting scene that conjures memories of the infamous subway scene in Zuławski’s Possession (1981), we get lost in her intoxicating eyes and Damania becomes a vessel for all of us women who have been victimized by sleazy men. Through her surrealist style, Alexandra Carlota Velasco creates soul-stirring dream-like visuals that speak to Damania’s disassociation from her physical self. Velasco’s approach to visual storytelling, with the help of director of photography Sophia Stieglitz, easily communicates Damania’s internal journey and you can feel the rage building and bubbling through the screen.
Eternal Inferno is a harrowing film with magical visuals. Velasco is a powerful filmmaker exploring how anger can be destructive and the results can be monstrous. Fans of nightmarish and vengeful femmes should be keen to let themselves be devoured by her filmography.
Siren Death Cult 