Years ago, Fenix spends his time performing as a "child magician" in a circus run by his father Orgo, the knife-thrower, and his mother Concha, a trapeze artist and aerialist.

Concha is also the leader of a religious cult that considers as its patron saint a girl who was raped and had her arms cut off by two brothers.

A Roman Catholic Monsignor arrives to attempt to resolve the conflict, but after he enters the temple to inspect it he deems it sacrilege and angrily leaves in disgust, so the demolition is carried out.

Back in the asylum, Fenix's armless mother Concha calls out for him from the street and he escapes by climbing down a rope from his cell window.

But Concha soon starts to use her son's hands to kill women whom Fenix is interested in, including a young performer and a transexual wrestler.

Through a quick series of flashbacks, it is revealed that Concha in fact died after being maimed by Orgo, and that Fenix has kept a mannequin of his armless mother for performing on stage and at home, which also now appears in reality to be a thoroughly dilapidated house.

Argento appreciated the story and added to it, and with Leoni, they decided to present it to the director who seemed to them the most suited to the material, Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Roberto Leoni stated that an episode with a patient in the psychiatric hospital was probably the origin of Santa Sangre because over time he conceived "a story in which even the worst demon actually can't forget he is an angel."

[7] On Halloween 2019, Mórbido Fest held a celebratory 30th anniversary screening of Santa Sangre remastered in 4K by Severin Films from a scan of the original camera negative.

[8] In Italy, from 25 to 27 November 2019,[9] the Videa film society celebrated the 30th anniversary by screening the 4K restored version at select theatres.

"[12] Roger Ebert said that he believed it carried the moral message of genuinely opposing evil, rather than celebrating it like most contemporary horror films.

The site's consensus stated: "Those unfamiliar with Alejandro Jodorowsky's style may find it overwhelming, but Santa Sangre is a provocative psychedelic journey featuring the director's signature touches of violence, vulgarity, and an oddly personal moral center.

[21] It was also screened during Locarno Film Festival 2016 Histoire(s) du cinéma: Pardo d'onore Swisscom Alejandro Jodorowsky.

[22] In 2001 filmmaker David Gregory released a "making-of" documentary film titled Forget Everything You Have Ever Seen: The World of Santa Sangre.