La Furia de Mackenzie is a 2005 Spanish film that pays affectionate tribute —through laughs, gooey monsters, and an unapologetically ’80s vibe— to the golden age of horror and adventure flicks from the VHS era. Directed by José Luis Reinoso, Paco Campano, and Félix Caña, the film is a love letter to the B-movie gems that shaped a generation raised on video rentals, dazzled by bold cover art, and obsessed with monsters, explosions, and square-jawed heroes.
The directors, then in their early thirties, nostalgically recall those days when choosing a movie felt like a sacred ritual. That very sense of wonder inspired La Furia de Mackenzie, a horror comedy where two escaped convicts, a relentless sheriff, a not-so-normal family, and ravenous alien creatures collide in a blood-splattered mix of camp and chaos—all brought to life with tongue-in-cheek humor and charmingly DIY effects.
Though the story is set in the deep American South, the movie was actually shot in Carmona, a town in southern Spain. The idea to set the action in rural America came after the team—long-time friends and veterans of homemade cult projects like The Slaughter of Utrera—scrapped their initial concept (Dracula vs. Bin Laden) and embraced the spirit of the ’80s "monster-in-the-house" formula. When they arrived in Carmona and saw the dusty roads and wide open spaces, they knew they’d found their own little Texas.
Despite what one might expect, having three directors on set wasn’t chaotic. Each had a defined role —one handled cinematography, another directed actors or managed the monsters, and another worked with smoke effects or sound. While the occasional contradiction did arise, the final result feels surprisingly cohesive, thanks to a shared vision and a team-first mindset that prioritized fun over ego.
A standout of the film is lead actor Rubén "Cucaracho" Hernández, who the directors gleefully describe as the "Spanish Bruce Campbell". Initially skeptical about playing the hero, Rubén quickly proved indispensable, stealing every scene with his expressive performance. "Without him", they insist, "there would be no Mackenzie".
The shoot stretched out over nearly two years of weekend filming, fueled by passion and low-budget ingenuity. Special effects were crafted by hand. Sound was recorded under makeshift conditions, with whole sessions devoted to monster growls. Meals often consisted of cheap sausages. José recalls with a laugh that simply finishing the film was one of the greatest challenges —at one point, they even ran out of toilet paper on set.
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