Maria Cardenal (Matador)

Maria Cardenal (Assumpta Serna) is a villainess from the 1986 Spanish movie Matador.
Maria is a lawyer by profession, but also a sadist who gets turned on by killing people and by death in general. A big part of the story focuses on her relationship with a former matador called Diego, who like her is also a sadistic killer fascinated by death.
Maria is responsible for the deaths of two men, and the police are investigating them. Her method of killing them is during sex, she removes a sharp hair pin from her hair and then stabs it into the necks of the men.
There are various points through the movie where she shows that she enjoys death. One where she walks into a cinema because she thinks she's being followed, only to end up stopping and watching the movie being shown because people are getting shot in it. Another is when she's standing on a bridge with Diego, she tells him she comes here often ever since she saw someone commit suicide there. Lastly where she is listening to a client describe murders he committed to her (he actually didn't commit them but is some kind of psychic and pictured them so well that he thought he had killed them, he was seeing both Maria and Diego's kills). He describes strangling a girl, and Maria really enjoys hearing it and asks about another victim.
Ultimately she and Diego become obsessed with each other after finding out about the other's love of killing. The police eventually discover that Maria and Diego are responsible for the murders and try to track them down. During this Maria and Diego are having sex and have decided to kill each other for one last pleasure. Maria stabs Diego in his neck and then as he's dying tells him to watch her face as she dies as well. She grabs a pistol, puts it in her mouth and shoots herself. The police arrive and find the two lovers dead.
==Gallery==
MariaCardenal02.png|Maria stabs a man in his neck with her hairpin during sex
MariaCardenal03.png|Maria enjoys looking at the dying man's face
MariaCardenal04.png|Maria enjoys hearing Angel describe a kill by strangulation
MariaCardenal05.png|Maria shoots herself for Diego
Category:1980s
Category:Bloodsport
Category:Brunette
Category:Business Suit
Category:Callous
Category:Chaotic Evil
Category:Corpse
Category:Femme Fatale
Category:Freud Buster
Category:Lawyer
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Makeshift Weapon
Category:Murderer
Category:Murder: Stabbing
Category:Offscreen Death
Category:Sadist
Category:Serial Killer
Category:Sex
Category:Sexual Sadist
Category:Suicide
Category:Topless
Category:Villain's Lover
Category:Demise: Shot
Category:Fate: Deceased