I was very much surprised and shocked by how much I enjoyed this film, which at times to me ventures dangerously close to what I would call a "snuff film."

The story follows the character of a retired matador who murders women for his sexual pleasure, videotaping them so that he is able to pleasure himself later on when he watches them. He eventually meets his match in another character (a lawyer) that is just as murderous and played by Assumpta Serna. The film is actually wonderfully acted and photographed throughout. The film is crazy, sexy, outrageous, and at times very much shocking. The storyline, which includes the wonderfully mad and sexy Antonio Banderas, having visions of these murders, makes so little sense, but in the long run doesn't really matter. Beyond the overtly sensationalistic pleasures that go on - there is a sharply perceptive insight about how people enjoy looking at and even causing the violence.

I would point out that the focus on bullfighting is not a critique of the sport per se, as much as an opportunity to have a conversation of the darker side of human nature.

Matador is an early Almodovar work that explores the relationship between sex and violence through the medium of bullfighting. It follows a love quadrangle between a retired matador, his repressed student, the matador's lover, and the student's lawyer, as a series of murders takes place in Madrid. Dark comedy ensues in the midst of murder investigations and extremely loud eighties fashions.

The performances make this decidedly odd film work. Assumpta Serna is great as the lawyer, while Antonio Banderas makes an early appearance as her client. Carmen Maura also has a small role, even though her character is somewhat lacking in development. The characters remain convincing even as the plot spins into the out right bizarre.

Some viewers might complain that the film's explicit sex and violence make it little different from an exploitation film, and indeed it opens with a character masturbating to a slasher movie. Furthermore, its commentary on sex and violence at times seems pretentious. However, the film is far more creative and well made than any exploitation film, and is well worth your time.

Diego Montez is a former bullfighter obsessed with videos of violence. Ángel (Antonio Banderas) is one of his students and vows to prove that he's no fag. He tries to rape his neighbor and Diego's girlfriend Eva Soler. With his religious mother's prodding, Ángel confesses the rape to the priest and then to the police. Eva refuses to press charges and then Ángel confesses to murders. He leads the police to the bodies buried near Diego's home. They don't believe him with his fear of blood and an apparent alibi for one of the murders. María Cardenal takes the case as his defense attorney although she is the one who is seen doing one of the killings earlier in the movie. It's a tale of perverse sexual obsessions and murders.

The story telling can be confusing with this Pedro Almodóvar film from his earlier days. It's a young fresh-faced Antonio Banderas and he's quite magnetic. It would have been great to have Banderas as the only main lead and dive into his confused maddening mind. Almodóvar is doing some sexually twisted things. It's pushing the edges of the envelop. It simply needs to be clearer and the more Banderas the better.