Al Filo del Terror (1990) On the Edge of Terror | Merits of Sin | Region-Free (DVD)

Title: On the Edge of Terror (1992)

Genre: Horror

Plot Synopsis

Fernando Almada plays El Griego, a washed-up ventriloquist teetering on the edge of insanity. As his fame fades, he begins to violently lash out at his puppets, which may be more than lifeless props. As his grip on reality deteriorates, the line between delusion and supernatural vengeance blurs, leading to unsettling confrontations with the very dolls that once made him a star.

Cast and Crew

• Director: Alfredo B. Crevenna

• Writers: Carlos Valdemar

• Cast:

  • Fernando Almada as El Griego

  • Lina Santos as Laura

  • Roberto Cañedo as Inspector Morales

  • Julieta Rosen as Sonia

  • Armando Silvestre as Doctor Rivas

IMDb Link: On the Edge of Terror (1992) 

Reviews from Letterboxd:

1. Foxhack – ★★★½
   “A has-been ventriloquist blames his failure on his puppets, and takes out his frustrations by punishing them physically. The puppets seem to have a life of their own, however… This movie is really strange on multiple levels, but it gets even weirder if you consider that this might very well be Fernando Almada’s best performance. You see, he usually played a tough guy character, but here, he actually has to act… and there’s a scene around a third of the way into the movie where he has a small nervous breakdown and… he actually looks like he’s having one.”

2. Justin Decloux – ★★★★
   “The cover art is misleading. This isn’t a CHILD’S PLAY rip-off, but a searing psychological drama in which a 63-year-old ventriloquist, who looks like Joe Spinell, goes to disturbing extremes to spruce up his act. To enjoy this film, you must buy into a world that revolves around ventriloquism. There’s even a roving gang of journalists who only cover the art of puppetry. Ventriloquism is so crucial that fistfights break out at bars about it. The dolls are sometimes made of wood, while other times they are little people in clown make-up with the voices of a heavy smoker or Marge Simpson. It is very upsetting.”

3. Smokin’ Garfield – ★★★
   “Al Filo del Terror and A Night to Dismember have the same blood-dripping font for their titles. Aside from that, they take wildly different approaches for their weirdness. While A Night to Dismember delivers a kaleidoscope of disconnected scenes to expose the awful family at its core, Al Filo del Terror prefers flat lighting from a mid-80’s children’s movie and static shots also from a mid-80’s children’s movie to tell the tale of an awful man who looks like Joe Spinell’s less cool cousin and his legion of ventriloquist dummies that he keeps in his lovely ranch house’s basement which looks very similar to a mad scientist’s dungeon in a Monogram movie. Speaking of the 1940s, this has a delightful scene of whirling heads surrounding our terrible dummy-and-child whipping dude. Is all of this violence worth being a great ventriloquist? Did Shari Lewis have to punch Lambchop to get all those magical performances?”

Meta Description:
A surreal Mexican horror film about a disturbed ventriloquist haunted by his puppets, On the Edge of Terror (1992) blends psychological breakdowns and eerie puppet terror in a uniquely unsettling story from director Alfredo B. Crevenna.