Decadent Gothic scenery? Check. Carnies drenched in blood? Check. Zombies full-on bashing each other with swords? Check! O Cemitério das Almas Perdidas (or, for those of us reading the English subtitles, The Cemetery of Lost Souls) is a gritty, gory dark fantasy/action-adventure/horror mashup from Brazilian writer and director Rodrigo Aragão.

The plot splits between two centuries, the only apparent connection between them a mysterious cemetery tucked beneath the shadow of a crumbling castle on a hill. In the 16th century, a Catholic priest (Renato Chocair) steals a book of demonic black magic and sets out on a journey to The Land of the Holy Cross (the original European name for Brazil), styling himself after Cipriano, an ancient wizard. After demonstrating the power of his Black Book on the journey, he recruits a loyal following to aid him in “cleansing” the land of the indigenous Tupi and plundering its abundance for themselves.

A complication arises when he witnesses one of the slaughtered Tupi, a young woman named Aiyra (Allana Lopes), seemingly rise from the dead. As he becomes increasingly obsessed with his quest to defy death, his obsession with Aiyra grows, and a young monk, Joaquim (Caio Macedo), takes notice of her as well. (And if you’re wondering, I’ll be upfront: this movie fails the Aila Test a couple times over.) As Cipriano grows increasingly mad with power, Joaquim and Aiyra grow closer – and bolder, leading up to a gore-fest battle between Cipriano’s men and a tribe friendly with Aiyra’s.

Meanwhile, in 20th century Brazil, a young man (Diego Garcias) dreams of the cemetery beneath the castle where the battle took place. His friends in the traveling sideshow he works for tease him, but he finds comfort in these dreams. He begins to realize just how real they are when their next stop is a small village overlooked by the very castle he’d been dreaming of. If I were Jorge, I would’ve skedaddled at that point. But it wouldn’t be much of a movie if he had, so I suppose I can’t fault him. The carnies set up their show, and what do you know: it’s the terrifying tale of the wizard Cipriano, his experiments with death and resurrection, and the dealings with demons that go with.

For a small-scale production, it’s pretty good, but the deeply religious people of the village are not appreciative. So unappreciative, in fact, that they kidnap the performers and leave them in the cemetery in sealed coffins. From here, the two centuries are brought together in bombastic, bloody fashion, and all the seemingly discordant plot threads reveal themselves to have been a glorious tapestry of good and evil, love and revenge, and freedom and sacrifice, all in a stylish and fun package that brings to mind a Lusophone Guillermo del Toro.

This is no Hollywood horror, but for those who are able to read subtitles (or otherwise understand Portuguese) and willing to be patient with a somewhat trippy story structure (I could write an article on why this alone is brilliant, but you came here for a horror movie review, not an essay on the history of Brazil), O Cemitério das Almas Perdidas (The Cemetery of Lost Souls) is a delightful film for when you just want some good, dumb fun. Did I mention the swordfighting zombies?

9 out of 10