Aaaaaaah, a Mexican filmclassic from the Master of Terror - Carlos
Enrique Taboada on a US DVD and .... WITH english subtitles.
Unbelievable and those were the days. Today it seems inpossible
to find the "really" great Mexican director's films on DVD or Blu-ray
with english subtitles, as Arturo Ripstein's or Carlos Enrique Taboada's.
This DVD must be at least 10 years old and i re-watched this strangely
fascinating drama-terror for the 2nd time in 2015.
I don't know much about this director as i can't find his films anywhere
with english subs - besides this one then.
But Carlos Taboada seems to be regarded as The Méxican Master of
Terror with films Hasta El Viento Tiene Miedo 1968 (Även vinden är
rädd?), El Libre de Piedra 1968 (En bok av sten) and Mas Negro Que
La Noche (Mörkare än natten) and these films you really, REALLY
want to se with subtitles. No interest from any non-méxican company
yet though. You can find them on Youtube however, but then without
any english subs and in POOR resolution and a No-No.

Note in 2023: US VCI Entertainment released Hasta el viento tiene
miedo (Even the Wind is Afraid, 1968) on bluray in 2020.
US Vinegar Syndrome released Mas Negro Que La Noche and
Veneno para las Hadas on a 2 disc bluray in 2023

Veneno Para Las Hadas (1984) - Warning for Spoilers below

This GREAT and FASCINATING film was Taboada's last film as a
director (1929-1997). It's a drama horror thriller and it's both scary and
different and almost a cinematic masterpiece and on my Méxican Top
Ten for sure. Ten year old Ana Patricia Rojo is brilliant.
A Film about two 10 year old girls and how their power of imagination
leads to a tragic catastrophe. Warning, this film has a heavy Feel Bad
ending that's almost painful to watch, poor little girl ... please save me.

There's a new girl in class, the rich girl Flavia (Elsa María Gutiérrez)
and she starts to hang out with Verónica (Ana Patricia Rojo) and soon
they're best buddies. Verónica has lost her parents in an accident and
is living with her old grandmother and her Nanny. She has been raised
constantly listening to her nanna's stories about witches and black magic.
Two different childhoods - Flavia safely in her bed with cuddly toys,
stuffed animals around her and a pair of loving parents and Verónica
without parents in a world of chaos and magic. She's convinced that
she's a witch with magic powers and she draws Flavia into her world
of magic with her wild stories. They skip school one day and Verónica
drags Flavia to watch old mummies. Verónica seems to take on this
world of black magic almost cheerfully and naively as a child but her
influence on Flavia leeds to disaster. Flavia starts having nightmares
and nasty visions and her world has turned into one filled with terror
and unsecurity. She's under Verónica's complete control.

Verónica is invited to Flavia's familys summer house in the countryside,
and this constitutes the second part of the film.

The Girls, the witches, project then is to make a magic potion, a poison
against their arch-enemies The Fairies and things get disastrously out
of hand. Sad, sad but with very a powerful ending.
Taboada has shot this film in a very interesting and consequential way
where the Grown-ups are shown from the childrens perspective - filmed
from below and we never see their heads, except: the face of a dead
pianoteacher, the imagined witch-face of Verónicas grandmother and
from a distance, of the farm-hand.

It's a shame that this Truly Great film isn't better known outside of
México. Very recommended.
4:3 Fullscreen original ratio, 2.0 spanish speaking with english subs
Note 2023:The 2023 Vinegar Syndrome bluray release presented
in 1.85:1 widescreen