The Holy Mountain (1973)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  "Your sacrifice completes my Sanctuary of a Thousand Testicles." lol! The only thing further out is a cartoon by A.A.P. Like a cinematic equivalent to the Beatles' Tommorow Never Knows - takes a few holy texts and rocks them out, hard. "Zoom back,… More
  "Your sacrifice completes my Sanctuary of a Thousand Testicles." lol! The only thing further out is a cartoon by A.A.P. Like a cinematic equivalent to the Beatles' Tommorow Never Knows - takes a few holy texts and rocks them out, hard. "Zoom back, camera!"

• Carlos M

  
  This psychedelic, LSD-induced masterpiece is not only visually ambitious, with impeccable editing and cinematography, but is also absolutely imaginative, making brilliant use of archetypes and symbolism in a smart social commentary. Also, it is impressive how the fantastic score helps… More
  This psychedelic, LSD-induced masterpiece is not only visually ambitious, with impeccable editing and cinematography, but is also absolutely imaginative, making brilliant use of archetypes and symbolism in a smart social commentary. Also, it is impressive how the fantastic score helps create the perfect atmosphere in every scene.

• Pierluigi P

  
  Vomiting out visual ideas and lots of new age-pseudo mystical bullshit is enough to make me roll my eyes and/or laugh uncontrollably. Jodorowsky doesn't hold a thing here, nevertheless I think this kind of film is quite necessary to serve for other artist like some sort of red… More
  Vomiting out visual ideas and lots of new age-pseudo mystical bullshit is enough to make me roll my eyes and/or laugh uncontrollably. Jodorowsky doesn't hold a thing here, nevertheless I think this kind of film is quite necessary to serve for other artist like some sort of red traffic light, there's a point where is just much ado about nothing.

• Tsubaki S

  
  Well, it's not el Topo for sure. This mix of spiritual flavours and colors are just going to make more sense to people who are really into the esoteric. I prefer el topo, but once more, Jodorowsky has a great eye for composition. There are several fantastic visuals here, and… More
  Well, it's not el Topo for sure. This mix of spiritual flavours and colors are just going to make more sense to people who are really into the esoteric. I prefer el topo, but once more, Jodorowsky has a great eye for composition. There are several fantastic visuals here, and Mexico city's unique aura is captured with great energy here.

• Greg S

  
  After wordless adventures with a legless and armless companion, including some time spent at a carnival where bullfrogs are dressed as conquistadors, a Christlike figure rides up on a moon-shaped hook to a tower where an ascended master prepares him and eight others to ascend the Holy… More
  After wordless adventures with a legless and armless companion, including some time spent at a carnival where bullfrogs are dressed as conquistadors, a Christlike figure rides up on a moon-shaped hook to a tower where an ascended master prepares him and eight others to ascend the Holy Mountain by shaving his head and burning his feces. Then things get strange. Alejandro Jodoworsky decided that EL TOPO was too tame and conventional and he wanted to do something weird and outlandish this time; the results must be seen to be believed. Set designs, with live animals wandering through them, are incredible, and several illusions (like the birds that fly out of bullet holes in corpses) are unforgettable. The first 30 minutes or so are unparalleled in modern surrealism, though things take a dip in the middle portion when Jodorowsky tries out some tone-damaging social satire.

• Stephen M

  
  Another helping of vanity, insanity and profanity from the man who inflicted <I>El Topo</I> upon us. Hmm, I'm racking my brain here, trying to think of something complimentary to say about this... I like the art direction and I can't deny that he does pull off… More
  Another helping of vanity, insanity and profanity from the man who inflicted <I>El Topo</I> upon us. Hmm, I'm racking my brain here, trying to think of something complimentary to say about this... I like the art direction and I can't deny that he does pull off the occasional dazzling visual coup, but it would take a much better alchemist than Jodorowsky to turn this shit into gold. "I promised you the Great Secret and I will not disappoint you." Yeah, right! The ending is a total cop-out. Not that I was expecting the answer to the Meaning of Life or anything like that, but if Jodorowsky's message is that we should make the most of the real world and stop questing after illusory holy mountains, I wish he'd let me know two hours earlier and I wouldn't have wasted my time on his lousy movie. I was also irritated by the arrogant way he broke the fourth wall to impart this pearl of wisdom, as if I'm supposed to be so wrapped up in what he's doing I've forgotten it's only a movie. "Oh my God!!! You mean this is only a movie I've been watching? Not the profound spiritual experience I thought I was having?!?! The man's a genius!" I'm sorry, Alejandro, but you have to <i>cast</i> the spell before you can break it, and you never did.

• Randy T

  
  I get the impression that writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky was raised in a repressive Catholic boarding school populated with sadistic nuns and this, <i>The Holy Mountain</i>, is his revenge. It's full of blasphemous imagery that I'm certain caused more than… More
  I get the impression that writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky was raised in a repressive Catholic boarding school populated with sadistic nuns and this, <i>The Holy Mountain</i>, is his revenge. It's full of blasphemous imagery that I'm certain caused more than one self-righteous christian to exit the theater before the last reel concluded. Personally, I wasn't offended, but I'm a less-than-devout protestant who is detached enough to see the irony of it all. I don't necessarily agree with Jodorowsky's vision but I definitely applaud his courage.

• Anthony L

  
  A bizarre and surreal film, full of imagery and symbolism. Typical Jodorowsky really. Astrology, religion, alchemy, enlightenment, it?s all there. I loved everything about the film apart from Jodorowsky's usual animal cruelty and the ending.....at least at first. It is actually a… More
  A bizarre and surreal film, full of imagery and symbolism. Typical Jodorowsky really. Astrology, religion, alchemy, enlightenment, it?s all there. I loved everything about the film apart from Jodorowsky's usual animal cruelty and the ending.....at least at first. It is actually a very cleaver end to a film and it would have been totally original at the time, it?s just watching it now, you just can't help but think 'Monty Python'. Not as good as El Topo but still awesome!

• Ken S

  
  Unique.

• Tim S

  
  First thing I'll say is that this is a movie you should watch by yourself and then never watch again. Don't bring this to a party trying to be hip and then bust this out, like, "Hey, have you guys seen this...". If someone did that at my house, I would ask them to… More
  First thing I'll say is that this is a movie you should watch by yourself and then never watch again. Don't bring this to a party trying to be hip and then bust this out, like, "Hey, have you guys seen this...". If someone did that at my house, I would ask them to leave. I would thank them, but I would ask them to leave. There are some beautiful shots in this film and some brilliant sequences, but there are a lot of I am going to shock the shit of anyone moments and some sexual things that will never allow you to watch a porn ever again. I do appreciate the fact that some of these sets were really impressive and the fact that so much work went into creating them. Also, the film looks great and it kept my interest the entire way through, even through the cringing.

• Daniel J D

  
  Like El Topo, Holy Mountain is slow but often poignant. The beginning and ending are both equally stunning, arguably moreso than its predecessor. However, A little editing in between would've gone a long way this time around. There are so many gems, verbal and visual alike, but… More
  Like El Topo, Holy Mountain is slow but often poignant. The beginning and ending are both equally stunning, arguably moreso than its predecessor. However, A little editing in between would've gone a long way this time around. There are so many gems, verbal and visual alike, but I couldn't watch it in one setting. So many great one-liners and scenes are all-but-lost in a smattering of pointless and half-retarded dialogue and scenes, namely between the middle and ending. The explanation of the universal journeyman was especially harrowing. Half the time it was funny and interesting and half the time it was simply poorly written and truly unnecessary, and strangely, formulaic. How odd for Jodorowsky! The music was further boring and formulaic, and it takes a lot for me to enjoy a movie with a (near) piss-poor soundtrack. How sad that his Dune production never came to be, that David Lynch and not he, who cared so much more deeply about the project, eventually made the movie. Jodorowsky influenced so many great artistic talents in the process. It's truly horrible that he never got to see his own great masterpiece come to life.

• Ross C

  
  Weird hippy shit that's like a Mexican attempt at a Monty Python-style movie on politics and religion

• Cassandra M

  
  This is one of a kind, only his other films come close to it. The drunks at the drive-in used to honk in protest over Holy Mountain, one of its few general release venues, because they couldn't make heads or tails of it. Jodorowoski describes himself as a game player or… More
  This is one of a kind, only his other films come close to it. The drunks at the drive-in used to honk in protest over Holy Mountain, one of its few general release venues, because they couldn't make heads or tails of it. Jodorowoski describes himself as a game player or "trickster" not a film maker. Much of Holy Mountain does, indeed, play tricks on the viewer. While the movie seems to be telling a story of some sort of quest to find cosmic enlightenment, this is only a thread which ties together Jodorowoski's many strange and hallucinogenic images. Jodorowoski frequently makes use of grotesque and revolting scenes, as well as bizarre music, to startle and unnerve the viewer. At some level he challenges the audience to make sense of his movie, if that is what it you'd call it, though not many have succeeded. With much nudity, violence and sexual content this is not a family movie and certainly will not please every taste.

• Michael G

  
  For some reason I really can't explain, I liked The Holy Mountain. It started off with that Full Of Shit Or Complete Genius thing that El Topo had going on. It started off with what seemed to be the sole purpose of just trying to shock the shit out of people under the guise of… More
  For some reason I really can't explain, I liked The Holy Mountain. It started off with that Full Of Shit Or Complete Genius thing that El Topo had going on. It started off with what seemed to be the sole purpose of just trying to shock the shit out of people under the guise of brilliance. I like the imagery (namely of the nine) here even if the execution of the story was hit and miss. The music was pretty wild but overall I'm convinced that Jodorowsky had the extremely good fortune of being in the right place at the right time as far as being a filmmaker is concerned. He was in an era where it was seemingly so easy to (like in the film) just shit in a jar and convince people it was gold. That's something that can't be done so easily these days with more skeptical audiences. So when all's said and done, I think Jodorowsky is more of a lucky filmmaker than a good one even if he can create some spectacular imagery.

• Lafe F

  
  This movie could be set on another planet and considered a sci-fi/fantasy. A masterpiece in filmmaking, but watch out! The images are very powerful and burned into my mind forever. There is much ugliness and freakiness in this movie. But the experience is alluring; I find myself… More
  This movie could be set on another planet and considered a sci-fi/fantasy. A masterpiece in filmmaking, but watch out! The images are very powerful and burned into my mind forever. There is much ugliness and freakiness in this movie. But the experience is alluring; I find myself wanting to re-watch it regularly. It shows human excess in the form of characters who rule the 9 planets. It takes all organized beliefs, chews them up, and vomits them out in multi-colored reeking detail. It's an offensive, but mind-stretching experience, which takes us to the answer we've all been seeking, but might be something we don't appreciate after the tiring and insane journey.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"The Holy Mountain" is a surreal acid trip of a movie by Alejandro Jodorowsky. No matter how outlandish the imagery may get, there is at least something of a narrative under that. A thief(Hector Salinas) is not having a good day, being almost crucified… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"The Holy Mountain" is a surreal acid trip of a movie by Alejandro Jodorowsky. No matter how outlandish the imagery may get, there is at least something of a narrative under that. A thief(Hector Salinas) is not having a good day, being almost crucified and stoned(not the drug variety, although there is plenty of that to go around). He is also involuntarily used as a model for Jesus mannequins and develops a following amongst young women during a street festival as police kill protesters and have sex with anything that moves. At a tower, he is scooped up to have an audience with a mystery man(Alexandro Jodorowsky), an expert at martial arts and medicine, who has a proposition for the thief.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]With "The Holy Mountain," Alejandro Jodorowsky takes the idea of a quest and turns it on its head before putting it into a washing machine. The movie is saying that all the answers we seek are inside of us(quite literally in one case). And once we cast away this corrupt society ruled over by corporations and police that has imprisoned all of us, we can have faith in ourselves.[/font]

• Ryan M

  
  8.7/10 Alexandro Jodorowsky is one of my favorite filmmakers; a man able to summon his very dreams onto the screen. He makes surrealist films like nobody else can, and admittedly, many people attempt. He is different. He is a man who will go as far as to do psychadelics to… More
  8.7/10 Alexandro Jodorowsky is one of my favorite filmmakers; a man able to summon his very dreams onto the screen. He makes surrealist films like nobody else can, and admittedly, many people attempt. He is different. He is a man who will go as far as to do psychadelics to create an image. He's a passionate and frequent lucid dreamer. I wish I could be as genius as him. He began his reign of surrealist terror and fascination with "El Topo", and he went from there to here. "The Holy Mountain", his second film, is also the second film I've seen from the filmmaker; my first outing being the mind-blowing "Santa Sangre". But perhaps the very term "mind-blowing" cannot be attached to a Jodorowsky film; since all of his films serve their purpose as escapist imagery-driven works of art. To call "The Holy Mountain" one of the director's best is a lie; it is a great film, and there are no "best" Jodorowsky films. They are all, at least somewhat, fascinating. This is one of those films that leaves a certain impact on the viewer, and it is the kind that disturbs us because we can't quite identify it. While most films attempt stories which are straight-forward and spoon-fed to us, films like this one are different. "The Holy Mountain", unlike "Santa Sangre", does not so-much tell a story; but more-so, it is a celebration of the macabre and the gruesome corners of our darkest imaginations. It came from a brilliant, educated, one-of-a-kind mind; that is Jodorowsky's. So, what exactly is the film, if its story is almost non-existent? I can't tell you much beyond what I am about to. The film is basically a series of religious and rather admittedly sacrilegious images. An almost Christ-like figure walks from scenario-to-scenario; stopping only when he meets a man (played by the director) who takes him in as an apprentice. The hero of the story wants gold, and he will get gold, as well as he follows his mentor. He meets seven people; all of whom live on different planets. They are, like the Christ-like man, mortal...but perhaps they are something more. There, that's all you get in terms of story; because that's (nearly) all there is to it. One would consider doing an entire study on the imagery shown here, most of which I won't spoil for you, because it must be experienced; and what an experience it is. These are some of the richest, most symbolic, powerfully resonant images I've ever seen in film. I don't consider myself religious, and you don't need to be to appreciate what you see and feel whilst watching the film, but the more you know; the more you are ultimately able to perceive and understand. So in ways, there are rewards to living your life, in a spiritual sense; and one of them is being able to survive such a sensory assault as "The Holy Mountain". On top of how beautiful (and disgusting) the images can be, the film also cares about what it needs to care about. It has a story, albeit a confusing (but still worthwhile) one. The acting is solid, but not crucial to the overall film. Perhaps this is because, in an Alexandro Jodorowsky film, you need not worry about having memorable characters; only memorable directorial choices. Some of the filmmaker's best work is contained within the frames of this film, and watching it shot-by-shot might just be essential for understanding everything. It is an overwhelming film. It is unlike anything I've ever seen. It could be seen as either overly indulgent and pretentious, or beautiful and unique. All I know is that the film is what it is; a fascinating, symbolic film, and I loved it.

• Alec B

  
  Visually remarkable and totally original this is a movie that is way the hell out there. The satirical moments are pure genius and they are pretty universal (psychedelic shotguns are always a good idea). I think the last section goes on a little too long and it can't measure up… More
  Visually remarkable and totally original this is a movie that is way the hell out there. The satirical moments are pure genius and they are pretty universal (psychedelic shotguns are always a good idea). I think the last section goes on a little too long and it can't measure up to the brilliant insanity of the first 3/4, but I like how Alejandro Jodorowsky was willing to just fuck the audience at the end.

• Ed Fucking H

  
  I'm not going to pretend like I understand what all of the imagery here means, but this film had my undivided attention from the start to the end. Every single frame in this film looked incredible and there were many memorable images that stick out in my mind. In short this film… More
  I'm not going to pretend like I understand what all of the imagery here means, but this film had my undivided attention from the start to the end. Every single frame in this film looked incredible and there were many memorable images that stick out in my mind. In short this film was intelligent, disturbing, funny, thought provoking and beautiful. One of a kind.

• Stephen M

  
  Super awesome crazy movie with outstanding sequences of unbelievably detailed and beautiful imagery and some seriously funny scenes. One of the best.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings