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Reviews
Night Fright (1967)
Space Gorilla Runs Amok In Texas
NIGHT FRIGHT shares an eerie half-world with a handful of similarly modest but entertaining teen horror/sci-fi entries like GIANT GILA MONSTER, HORROR OF PARTY BEACH and DEATH CURSE OF TARTU. These are an uneasy mix of happily gyrating teens and skulking horror that are a guilty weakness of mine.
The storyline is standard stuff: a spaceship sent into the icy depths of Out There by dedicated scientists runs into unchecked radiation, and the test animals aboard are mutated. The largest and nastiest promptly goes on an eating binge. The film appears for be a rehash of themes already used in the obscure DEMON FROM DEVIL'S LAKE.
Granted, Texas isn't known for astounding advances in cinema. Larry Buchannan, the fevered brow at the helm of THE EYE CREATURES, IT'S ALIVE! and ZONTAR, THE THING FROM VENUS, hailed from Texas. THE GIANT GILA MONSTER was filmed in and around Cielo. Still...
John Agar, in one of his last "earnest man with a job to do" roles is a somewhat peeved lawman charged with finding out what exactly is killing the locals. He does well in the limited role, providing the film's one strong performance. The other characters are broadly written and almost painfully bland. The bizarrely named Roger Ready woodenly plays a scientist who knows more than he admits (and who is largely qualified as being a researcher by way of smoking a pipe). There's also a nerdy newshound, police resenting kids, and an extremely lackluster love interest.
That said, the overall film is actually fairly enjoyable. The monster, a hulking gorilla with facial spines and a Klingon head ridge, is reasonably impressive for a regional production. The isolated locales and dim photography add a certain appeal, though the latter occasionally flashes almost starkly bright (particularly during the climax where half the hunters seem to be waiting in the dead of night and the rest in some distant land where it's high noon). The government cover-up angle is expected, and should neatly justify the suspicions of any borderline paranoids in the audience.
Not a great film but, taken as a simple "googly fiend run amok" picture, it's more than passable.
Las bestias del terror (1973)
Blue Demon and El Santo Investigate A Kidnapping and Grave Robberies
Filmed in Miami, this Santo/Blue Demon crossover is a mess, though not for trying. There's simply too much happening in the script, and much of it happens somewhat vaguely and lacks impact.
A wealthy heiress is kidnapped by a pair of small time thieves who are seeking a fast way to get out from under the thumb of gangster Lucky. A local detective (Cesar del Campo) takes the case and begins snooping around. One of his first stops is to see Lucky, who may have the contacts to help solve the mystery. Lucky suspects that a rival crook(screenwriter Fernando Oses) is somehow involved. He is, as he's working in cahoots with the.
In the meantime, a scientist and his minions (including Santo's real-life manager, Carlos Suarez, who also regularly appeared in the Man in the Silver Mask's films) are stealing the bodies of young women from a local graveyard. The researcher is reviving the corpses and selling them to overseas the white slave market.
After murdering a passing motorist and stealing his car, the kidnappers have the bad luck to intercept the body snatchers, who promptly take them captive. It seems the female criminal and the victim can provide blood for use in the reviving process. The mad researcher also falls under the former's spell.
El Santo and Blue Demon are called in, and -- working around Santo's overseas wrestling commitment -- set out to track down the kidnapped girl. There are the expected fights before wrestlers, detective and the inappropriately named Lucky all converge on the criminal scientist's lair.
In spite of the title, there are no actual terrifying beasts in the film. The zombie girls are passive and listless. That only leaves a trio of extremely frisky and visibly happy Irish setters -- which the script calls upon to "chew a man to death" -- to uphold the title. Happy puppies just don't inspire fear, and it's obvious that all that's attracting them to the victim is that he's endlessly shrieking as they fumble and blunder about the confines of the call.
I'm always a sucker for a film featuring the late Blue Demon (he passed away on 12/16/00 of a heart attack), but this is definitely lesser fare. Watch for bloopers, as one night scene where the Demon is driving and using a hand held radio to converse with the others. In one scene his striped shirt becomes a blazer, then reverts a moment later.
Lacks an interesting fantasy theme, mad scientist not withstanding, and not all that successful in its action sequences.
A 3 out of 10.
El tesoro de Moctezuma (1968)
Secret Agents Santo and Jorge
I didn't expect to like this Santo entry, but I was pleasantly surprised when I obtained a prereord of it.
Actually a sequel to OPERATION 67, the film again places Santo as a combination wrestler and agent for Interpol. In TREASURE, he continues his partnership with fellow agent Jorge Rubio (Jorge Rivero).
I'd always wanted to see a Santo film done with a reasonable budget and, of the 20-odd films I have in my collection, this comes closest to meeting that desire. With settings including Paris, Hong Kong, Mexico and San Francisco's famed Chinatown, the screenwriter at least tried to inject a global context. There is good use of local setting (in particular the pyramids in Mexico and some nice (if brief) night footage of a parade dragon in Chinatown.
The film possesses the expected mix of strong and weak points. On the negative side of the list, Santo looks bad in this one, spending the first portion of the film in a dishwater grey turtleneck which makes him look bloated. His mask also doesn't fit well, at times making it look as if he just tugged it on in time to dash in front of the cameras for his scene.
Equally disappointing is an otherwise well executed battle between a warship and Santo's swooping airplane. This sequence is spoiled as the aircraft -- riddled with shells, visibly hangs on wires for a few moments before exploding.
Then there's a nice trap in which thugs catch Jorge at a bullfight and plot to drop him into a pit containing several peevish bulls. After a short battle with Jorge and Santo, one of the criminals falls into the pit, but a _very_ obvious dummy is mauled for several minutes, as the heroes grimace above.
This, however, is comparatively minor when compared to the film's positive points. Santo and Jorge Rivero have a smooth, easygoing relationship. Santo unwinds enough to make a few amusing lines.
To be frank, Jorge seems to take this partnering a bit casually. In one scene, he stands and good naturedly watched two thugs beating and kicking the stuffings out of Santo. Still, there's a light and breezy friendship in there, between the contusions and bruises.
The storyline is also exciting, and includes some intriguing sequences, such as the museum robbery in which several guards are frozen in mid-step by gas -- allowing the protected thieves to abscond with a statue without interference.
Also adding to the action is a scene in which Santo is repeatedly struck by several cars which are chasing him through a car park. Another intriguing trick involves an ambush atop the Pyramid of the Sun. Santo goes there for a rendezvous, only to find the figure waiting for him is an explosive dummy.
The actual plotline brings back the Oriental crime gang from OPERATION 67, who are now searching for the lost treasure of Moctezuma. They know the secret of the trove's location is to be found on a statue in the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, but the snag is that a ring in Jorge's possession (he received it at the end of the prior film) contains the means of translating the map. The films goes from the gang's early attempt to recover the ring, into the duo's struggle to keep track of the gang and prevent their obtaining the treasure. In the end, the gang _do_ steal the treasure, but of course they go down in defeat.
Overall, a pleasing actioner with an "action theme" which pops up in several places and gets a bit grinding. However, the various dangers faced by the protagonists, the locals and a good sense of pacing make it an exciting watch.
8 out of 10.
Santo contra los zombies (1962)
Masked Hero Confronts A (Smallish) Army Of RevivedCriminals
El Santo, more than any other lucha film hero, seemed to encounter the supernatural at nearly every turn. Well, maybe not quite that regularly, but in a film career then spanned three decades, he confronted more than his share of werewolves, aliens, witches and other strange foes.
In this early fantasy themed entry (one of four films made in this year), three strangely silent thieves stage a midnight raid on a jewelry shop. During the course of the theft, the night watchman shoots one of the robbers in the forehead, with no apparent effect. The bandits fend off arriving detectives and make their escape -- delivering their loot to a man in a medical tunic and a hood. It seems they are zombies -- revived criminals controlled by this sinister mastermind.
Three detectives (Armando Silvestre, Irma Serrano and Jaime Fernandez)are dispatched to investigate the disappearance of a noted professor who had recently returned from a research trip to Haiti. When the man's daughter (Lorena Velazquez, who appeared in a number of lucha films -- including a two-film stint as half of the femme wrestling duo, Las Luchadoras) appeals to the authorities for assistance, Silvestre wisely calls on Santo for help.
Santo almost instantly runs afoul of the zombie master. He thwarts the kidnapping of the female of the trio and, later, prevents the zombies from abducting children chosen as experimental subjects, from an orphanage. One particularly bizarre element to the film being that both the madman and Santo can tune each other in on closed circuit television. Santo literally watches as the fiend lays his plans.
In an attempt to put an end to this unwanted meddling (is there ever _wanted_ meddling?), the hooded fiend abducts Santo's next ring opponent (co-scripter Fernando Oses) and turns him into a killer zombie. The plan unravels when Santo managed to short circuit his control belt.
The daughter and the detectives of course end up in the madman's hands, and it's El Santo to the rescue.
Some nice, gloomy photography is the highlight of an otherwise rather basic film. There's a particularly nice sequence at the end, when Santo (who generally just rushes off once he's triumphed) slowly exits up a long and interesting metal staircase set into the madman's cave. There are some clinker shots, though. There's a poorly done use of rear projection in an exterior scene, and there's a downright goofy shot of a partly unmasked Santo goggling in shock at the zombies who had attacked him vanishing in a puff of flame.
Still, it's a fun early Santo flick, and it is available dubbed in English for those who're timid about boldly launching into original-language lucha.
7 out of 10.
Diabolik (1968)
A Master Thief After A Nation's Gold Reserve
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** In casting John Phillip Law as the arch criminal Diabolik, motion picture casting approached status as an art form. Spending much of his on-screen time wearing the character's mask, which only leaves his eyes exposed, Law radiates cynical power with a particularly effective, piercing glare.
DANGER: DIABOLIK is yet another European attempt at adapting a popular comic strip into a film property. Lensed by director Mario Bava and producer Dino DeLaurentiis, during the "pop" '60s, the film is a shade lighter than the long running comic book. This is, however, more than compensated for by the deadpan acting of Law and statuesque Marisa Mell.
For the unschooled, Diabolik is an amoral genius who, with his associate Eva Kant, travels the world pulling off risky capers through various schemes and tricks. Haunting the thief's trail is Inspector Ginko (Michel Piccoli), a determined and competent police official who is still clearly no match for the ruthless and inventive Diabolik.
In this feature, DIABOLIK harries the government by first stealing a shipment of funds being transported under disguised police guard. The government, desperate to prevent further pilferings, makes a tentative deal with gangster Ralph Valmont (THUNDERBALL alumni Adolfo Celi). Ginko is loathe to cut a deal with the underworld, but his superiors feel that they can gain the considerable assistance of the underworld in catching Diabolik, by putting pressure on Valmont's various illegal ventures.
When Diabolik absconds with a fabulous emerald necklace, Valmont uses a captive Eva to lure Diabolik aboard his private 'plane/death trap. Diabolik anticipates trouble and destroys the aircraft, while parachuting to safety with Valmont. In a skirmish with the police, Diabolik evidently kills himself.
Returning from the "dead," Diabolik recovers the emeralds nd, as revenge against the authorities, blows up the national revenue records building. In response, fallen minister Terry-Thomas (who endures a humiliating change of position with each of Diabolik's new crimes) pleads with the citizens to pay what they _feel_ they actually owe.
Needless to say, this is not a well received request. In order to stabilise the economy, the government makes plans to transport their remaining gold store by train. Diabolik, however, is waiting.
Sparsely aired since its initial release, and only recently available on video (in an extended play print), DIABOLIK plays as an entertaining crime thriller. It's not strictly true to the source -- Diabolik does kill two guards, as well as the gangsters aboard Valmont's 'plane, the gangster, and the officers pursuing him after the jewel heist. Still, some of Diabolik's personality is sterilised in the process.
While some of the scenes visibly detract from the pacing of the action sequences, the film still manages a nice pace. My own complaint is the insertion of several comical characters who seem out of place in what could otherwise pass as an action film. Again, the casting of the lead roles is a very definite plus.
Morricone's score is filled with electric guitars and is executed at a frequently frenetic pace. As were many of his scores prior to the '70s, it's arranged by his usual collaborator, composer Bruno Nicolai.
El pantano de las ánimas (1957)
A Haunted Swamp, Bland Heroics and Ol' Squirreleyes
The merging of the horror and western genres has been a sort of warped grail for various enterprising producers. After all, the blending of a supernatural menace and a few hapless victims in an endless and vastly isolating prairie _should_ generate a certain amount of easy suspense value. You'd think.
The fact remains that no studio, no matter what resources it brings into play, or how determined the cast and crew may be, has succeeded in making a viable horror western. Not that they haven't tried. CURSE OF THE UNDEAD succeeded in injecting a certain unreal quality to a couple of exterior scenes, but for the most part, the product of these tamperings played on the artistic level of TEENAGE MONSTER, BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA or JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN.
This said, I have to confess a certain unfathomable affection for this mid-'50s color offering from Mexico. Initially released as SWAMP OF THE SOULS, the film was subsequently dubbed for release to American TV by K. Gordon Murray, and given the archly deceptive title SWAMP OF THE LOST MONSTER (or, if you check the title card on a wide screen, the film hints at more than one terrifying creature -- it has none).
In watching SWAMP, certain concessions must be made. This is not CITIZEN KANE. It's actually a modest little, rural-set mystery film with a few token "horror" trappings added to make it intriguing to the unsuspecting. The plotting is strictly "Point A To Point B" in execution, and it features the bland (almost languid in places) heroics of Gaston Santos and a thoroughly infuriating comedy relief in the character "Squirreleyes." Santos had evidently been somewhat in demand at around this time, appearing in a handful of films -- several with fantasy themes.
SWAMP works best if you accept it as a lightweight watch for a rainy day. Interestingly, the public domain prerecord contains several lines which slightly clarify character's stances which seem to be missing from the TV print which was circulating erratically as late as the middle-1980s.
The action revolves around the mysterious disappearance of the corpse of a man, killed in a hut in the swamp, by "the beast" -- a rather lumpy orange sea creature with a wide nasty streak. Clearly seen in his coffin at both the jetty and at the graveyard, the corpse is missing when the coffin is opened a third time, so the deceased's son can have a final look. The local doctor and the dead man's brother instantly swear the peons to secrecy and send them out to locate the body, which may or may not carry a virulent disease.
Local rancher and detective Gaston is brought in by the son, who is ambushed en route to his estate, but still manages to gasp out a few details before he expires.
Gaston goes to the widow's estate and divides his attention between trying to renew his relationship with the woman's niece and seeking the solution of the puzzle of the missing body. A gang of local toughs are somehow involved, as is a dread secret the widow is struggling to keep.
The whole affair eventually boils down to a plot to collect on several massive insurance policies held by the dead man's brother, and defraud the widow of the last of her savings.
The film has a few holes. First and foremost, the "monster" is revealed as a cheat within 20 minutes of the opening credits, when it takes a potshot at Gaston with a speargun. Though it's played fairly "straight" as a monster for most of the ensuing action sequences, the audience already realizes that it's been gulled. An odd decision on the part of the writer.
Then there is Gaston's comedy sidekick, Squirreleyes. This worthy has been called in by Gaston to assist him (evidently by making Gaston seem brighter by simply being on hand to invite comparison). Squirreleyes is superstitious, sings (badly) and begins to grate within the first few seconds of his introduction.
A 5 out of 10, simply because it's mild fun with no real demands made on the viewer.
Les vampires (1915)
A Dark Criminal Society Hold Paris In A Grip Of Terror
Lensed in an eerily abandoned Paris in 1915, Louis Feuillade's stark chapterplay LES VAMPIRES is a grim and powerful work which is worlds apart from the later glitz and polish of the golden age serials produced by the American studios.
It should be noted that serials were nothing new at this point in time. Formative efforts such as THE PERILS OF PAULINE had already established the appeal of these generally inexpensive actioners, with their bizarre twists and inventive death traps.
The emphasis was generally on a resourceful protagonist pitted against an equally inventive and determined fiend -- frequently an unsuspected heir or lawyer out to obtain an undeserved inheritance.
LES VAMPIRES did this formula one better, making the menace a vast and largely unsuspected criminal empire which is devouring Paris from inside. With members taken from all classes, the dark society is able to plunder, blackmail and murder without dear of action from the authorities. This continues until their removal of a government investigator brings ambitious reporter Philippe Guerande (Edouard Mathe) into things.
Sent to the country to search for details on the official's murder, Philippe plans to combine business and pleasure by meeting Dr. Lox, an old family friend who has a chateau in the area.
Arriving at Lox's estate at the same time as an American heiress who means to purchase the property, the reporter is promptly framed for theft by the hooded agents of the gang, who are secreted in the ancient building.
Locating the dead investigator's head, Philippe manages to turn suspicion on Lox. Murdering the heiress and making his escape across the rooftops, the "doctor" is revealed as the Grand Vampire the (evident) leader of the criminal society.
Philippe falls into the Vampires' hands but is rescued by Oscar Cloud Mazamette (Marcel Levesque) -- a clerk and minor member of the gang whom he had helped earlier. Philippe and Mazamette combine to try to expose the society's operations and bring the gang to a deserved end.
A series of adventures follow, with the Grand Vampire (Fernand Herrmann) and exotic dancer/criminal Irma Vep (Musidora) providing much of the opposition. In a surprise development, it is revealed that the Grand Vampire is not the gang's ultimate leader. When it is convenient, his superior eliminates him. He, in turn, commits suicide when he is imprisoned by the police.
Satanas, the criminal mastermind behind the group's poisons and explosives steps in and assumes co-command with Irma Vep. This occurs too late, however, as Philippe is closing in on the gang's chief meeting place.
After a series of close calls, the reporter and the reformed Mazamette succeed in destroying the Vampires' leadership and bringing the rank and file members to justice.
Not enough emphasis can be placed on the serial's grim and stark look, which almost functions as a characters of its own. This is a Paris where the gang's activities have seemingly terrified the people to the degree that they refuse to venture out unless it is absolutely unavoidable.
Production took place during WW I, when the streets were largely abandoned, and this strange desolation combines with the scurrying of the few characters to present a powerful emphasis that goes beyond the actual turns and twists of the plotline. The result is compelling, entertaining, and more than a bit weird in spots. Tinted scenes add to the welcome air of unreality.
Definitely a 9 out of 10 possible points.
Chanoc y el hijo del Santo contra los vampiros asesinos (1983)
The Changing of the (Masked) Guard
By 1981, El Santo, the legendary Man In The Silver Mask, had dominated the lucha libre (wrestling hero) genre for over 20 years. In his 60s, he had two additional features in his future, but by now he was beginning to slow down.
This film was intended as his masked son's entry into films, and El Santo appears on briefly in a rather unusual prelude. Standing in a cave in which a silver mask is on display in a glass case, he briefly quizzes a young man (the character's son) in dark glasses as to whether or not he is up to the challenge of upholding the family tradition for upholding justice and fighting for the people.
When the youngster agrees, Santo tosses a capsule which swathes him in smoke. Seconds later, he emerges, in full costume, to embrace his father. At this point, Santo himself is out of the film.
The actual film which follows is rather minor fare, and is a bit jarring to fans who were raised on Santo's more traditional wrestling style. El Hijo del Santo (The Son of Santo) plays his role more with an eye to the martial arts craze -- which had begun to steal the lucha film's audience in recent years.
He only appears in costume in three brief sequences, including the introduction, and when he does appear, he relies on a series of high kicks and karate whoops to get the job done. The result is...interesting. It's certainly athletic, but it's less visually entertaining than the various lucha moves that Santo traditionally relied upon.
A criminal band is smuggling jewels and contraband. Chanoc (Nelson Velazquez) and his comedic sidekick Tzekub (played with infinite annoyance value by Arturo "Cobitos" Cobo) are on the gang's trail but are almost instantly attacked and dumped into the sea.
El Hijo del Santo (in his civilian identity -- he goes unmasked for 95% of the film, relying upon sunglasses to rather ineffectively conceal his identity) and HIS sidekick Carlitos (Carlos Suarez, possibly a reprise of his sidekick to the elder Santo in RA's earlier SANTO CONTRA EL ASESINO DE LA TV) are deep sea fishing nearby and save the hapless duo.
Chanoc and his rescuer (he's switched back out of his mask by the time Chanoc comes to) spend the rest of the film obliquely closing in on the gang. Chanoc is attacked a good half dozen times before Carlitos and Tzekub stumble across a clue in a graveyard.
Spotting two green-faced vampires out for a midnight stroll, they call in Hijo and Chanoc, who discover these are gang members in disguise.
Substituting for a courier seems a logical idea and, pausing only for a (presumably intentionally) ludicrous wrestling match, during which Chanoc dons a blue mask, the duo smash the criminal band.
A definite cheat for those of us who, steeped in the supernatural tradition of many of the lucha films, assumed that the film might well involve a) vampires and/or b) killers. It contains neither. Still, I suppose the title CHANOC AND THE SON OF SANTO AGAINST THE BULLYING THUGS wasn't deemed marketable enough.
Minor fun, not overly imaginative, but at least a head above PIPPI LONGSTOCKING for killing a dull evening.
Huracán Ramírez (1953)
Lounge Singer Leads A Colorful Double Life In The Ring
One of the first of the lucha libre (Mexican wrestling hero) films, HURACAN RAMIREZ plays essentially as a straight drama with the added gimmick of the lead occasionally -- and I stress 'occasionally' -- appearing in a mask and tights. The character is seen sans mask for roughly 90% of his screen time, and is ultimately unmasked in the ring at the film's conclusion.
This is contrary to the more developed lucha genre that thrived from the late 1950s through the early 1980s, where the heroes never unmasked and generally possessed little to no visible, structured personal life beyond that required to keep the plotline rolling.
Fernando Jackson sings in a night club. His overweight father is a fairly successful local wrestler who is vastly unimpressed with his son's choice of a career. Not that the older man's home life is much better -- for all his rough and tough exterior and macho vocation, Pops is dominated by his younger daughter, a frustratingly precocious 8 year-old.
Even worse, the older wrestler heartily dislikes the mysterious masked luchadore Huracan Ramirez. Ramirez is successful but (for secret personal reasons) refuses to consider a match with the portly wrestler. It develops that Huracan Ramirez is actually Fernando, moonlighting, and he doesn't want to go up against his disapproving father.
The only one who knows the wrestler's dual identity is his annoyingly Jimmy Olsonish sidekick, who doubles as his trainer and his stand-in for any situation in which Fernando and Huracan might have to be seen at the same time.
Things become somewhat confused when the assistant is mistaken for Huracan Ramirez during a match, and he is pressed into competing in the luchadore's place. He wins by default, but is then mistakenly identified as the real Huracan by the older wrestler's two daughters. After this plot thread rambles on for several scenes, he turns around and deliberately tips the older daughter off that her brother is Huracan Ramirez. It's a real mess, folks!
After the father finally forces a match, he's impressed by Huracan's skill and they're set up to wrestle as a tag-team against a paid of rudos (which includes El Medico Asesino, who starred in the first lucha film, ENMASCARADO DEL PLATA).
Before the match can take place, criminals kidnap the elder wrestler. Fernando comes to the rescue as Huracan Ramirez, but his leg is injured by a slash with a broken bottle. The wrestlers battle the thugs and escape.
Not drawing the logical conclusion, the father scoffs at Fernando's injury when he arrives home to find him under a doctor's care. He then proceeds to the ring, where a last minute replacement is found to take the place of the missing Huracan.
Huracan Ramirez rallies and arrives late for the match, literally throwing his stand-in out of the ring. However, the rudos are tipped off to his injury by a girl who works at the club and whose tainted affections Fernando has scorned. The leg takes a beating, and Fernando is finally subdues enough for Medico Asesino to unmask him in public. Realizing the truth, the elder wrestler wades in and they win the match in a last minute rush.
Very crude in comparison to the sets and costumes of the later lucha films, which grew even wilder during the 1960s, when they were deliberately pitched to compete with the more expensive and polished action films being imported from other countries.
Particularly distracting is that the initial bout is speeded up. Huracan Ramirez pulls off a chain of good, "flying" moves, but they become a bit jaw dropping when they occur at double normal speed and in rapid succession. The action approaches the smooth chaos of a cartoon at this point.
Equally annoying is the teenaged sidekick, who is clearly girl crazy and completely unable to keep the wrestler's most sacred secret. He's after the older sister and will clearly do anything required to attract her interest.
Viewable as a curiosity, and the "personal" plotine grows on you with repeated viewing, but it's distinctly minor fare.
Attack of the Mayan Mummy (1964)
How Not To (Re)Make A Horror Movie
If you've been a movie fan for any great length of time. you'll have heard about "that" film.
No, this isn't any one, particular film. It's more a glaring example of what's basically wrong with the film making/releasing process as a whole, and it can wear many faces.
It can be a MADMEN OF MANDORAS, any of Coleman Francis's universally depressing little ventures, or a piece of mauled footage such as this wretched version of the initial AZTEC MUMMY.
Wherever the film was made, whoever distributed it, and whoever took it into their empty little head to inflict a very, very painfully flawed personal vision on us all, there's always ONE film you can dredge up to sum up what is, for you, everything negative about the movie industry.
My personal pick, after sitting through it this evening, is the dismal Jerry Warren ATTACK OF THE MAYAN MUMMY. I ordered this title from the American distributor, simply on the grounds of a fondness for the later AZTEC MUMMY films, and out of curiosity. I'd heard the title years ago, and when I stumbled across it in an on-line catalog, I figured "what the heck."
In retrospect, we all know what curiosity kills, right?
Warren has long enjoyed something of a reputation as an arch schlockmeister, having purchased several foreign productions and recut them for domestic release. He's known for particularly vapid plots, added footage which is negligently directed, and for gutting plotlines and consequently making things needlessly more complicated than they really needed to be.
Mind you, he wasn't the only one to adapt foreign horror films for the U.S. market. Producers such as K. Gordon Murray picked up the domestic release rights to Mexican horror titles and dubbed them for sale to television. The Murray films are at least structured around a plotline and follow the writers' dictum of "show us, rather than tell us about it." Moreover, they introduced American audiences to the likes of Santo and Las Luchadoras, and exactly how the Mexican audiences liked their horror. While never art, these were always entertaining productions.
Warren, however, went wild with this project. First, he retitled the film, possibly to distance it from any other AZTEC MUMMY films which might also be circulating at the time. Moving the (heavily discussed but little seen) locale of the action down the Central American peninsula, he placed the mummy and his pyramid home in Yucatan. A suspiciously well groomed Yucatan, I might mention (and I did actually do a field trip there in college, when I was earning my degree in archaeology),
Having made this first decision, Warren now went a painful step beyond -- and it's an inexplicable step beyond. Rather arbitrarily, he excised possibly 20 minutes of original footage from THE AZTEC MUMMY, including roughly four minutes of monster footage. Count 'em -- four.
He then shot lengthy, heavily overlit and numbingly static connecting scenes, in which several American actors endlessly talked the plot of the film. The original footage he had "saved" from AZTEC MUMMY was inserted in snippets into this wider, framing footage.
Putting it mildly, the new footage is awful, not moving quickly and displaying an evident pace which would have made Roger Corman giddy if he's tried to approach it. The height of this footage is a scene in which a scientist who is narrating much of the story meets with two girls at a local malt shop. We're treated to his "hilarious" discomfort at being surrounded by gyrating teenagers, all a-flame with the tepid tunes of the early, pre-metal '60s.
This one scene goes on for several minutes, with not thing to show except a string of medium-close shots of portions of the dancers. No dialog, no wide shots to break the monotony, and the whole thing stretches on forever before the two girls grimly galump up the stairs to sulk and demand Cokes for their trouble. Seems they had had to come all the way across town.
The logic to this footage being to tie Our Hero in with the original movie's actors, via a boy who (though clearly years younger than the girls in the added footage) is supposedly a teen-aged pal for whom they're ferrying information.
Equally baffling was his decision to, unless it was absolutely impossible to do so, completely remove the sound from the original scene he did retain, and have one of the added players contribute even more narration as a voice-over. We're treated to ten minutes of animatedly talking actors from the original film, while we're told a short form version of what is being said.
I had heard this was a heavily talky edit, but when I checked my timer, I was 20 minutes into the film and nothing of the original footage had yet appeared.
If there is a greater display of contempt for an audience, tempered with a desire to slap something up on the screen as quickly and cheaply as possible, I have yet to see it. Strip away the narration, and you see a very brief look at an experiment in hypnotic regression.
A woman is regressed back to Aztec/Mayan times, during which she was sacrificed. The love interest sub-plot which also dooms Popoca (the original AZTEC MUMMY, now a nameless, unexplained warrior in the scene) is totally abandoned.
Given a drink and then tucked under a blanket of hide, it looks more like Popoca's simply conking out at a particularly dull frat party, and is being put to bed before the coach finds out.
From then on, it's the familiar story. The researchers enter the tomb and remove a breastplate which reveals where a treasure is found (this plate pops up again throughout the AZTEC MUMMY series, and the gimmick is to be found in the unrelated LAS LUCHADORAS CONTRA LA MOMIA). Popoca, who guards the tombs, comes to life and stalks them.
He finally obtains both the breastplate and the reincarnated maiden he'd loved. In the last of the original footage Warren makes use of, he heads back to his tomb, carrying the unconscious woman.
In order to resolve things quickly (presumably he felt he had already overspent with lensing new footage), Warren fakes a car running down the mummy, as it carries the girl off. Note: at no time do the car and the mummy occupy the same frame.
Still, it does its work. Both die, but the newspapers refuse to print the story unaltered -- perhaps ascribing to the Jerry Warren school of journalism.
Not even worth setting the VCR for. You want, cheap, Mexican action fun, rent either of the black-and-white Las Luchadoras films. Let this dog rest in peace.
Las luchadoras contra la momia (1964)
Female Tag-Team Fights A Musty Mummy
By 1962, the lucha libre genre -- chiefly made up of low budged actioners pitting masked wrestler heroes against spies, gangsters, monsters and other assorted lowlifes -- was beginning to attract a wide and loyal following. In the next decade, numerous films starring the likes of Santo, Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras would rake in considerable profits for enterprising producers.
Looking to capitalize on this new trend, the first pair of four films featuring Las Luchadoras were lensed (in 1962 and 1964). As were their male counterparts, the Luchadoras were depicted as successful wrestlers suddenly thrust into mysterious and dangerous circumstances. Unlike the more established lucha heroes, the girls did not wear distinctive masks. Equally significantly, the team was specifically created for the movies. In the first two films, Lorena and The Golden Rubi were played by actresses Lorena Valezquez and Elizabeth Campbell. Much of their in-ring footage was achieved through the use of stuntwomen (likely actual wrestlers).
The second of the early Luchadoras films, MOMIA is a fun if minor outing which benefits from generally gloomy photography and a sometimes frenetic pace. Initially released to American television by import auteur K. Gordon Murry, the title is currently available on prerecord, with a newly-added rock "score" added in the 1980s. In this form, it's an ideal "party tape," in spite of a notorious non-ending on this print.
Deep in the heart of Mexico, archaeologists are being abducted and killed by the wicked Black Dragon and his all-oriental gang. The missing men were all members of a scientific party which had earlier entered an ancient tomb, and the Dragon is after something they had found there.
Briefly evading his pursuers, one of the two remaining survivors of the party takes refuge in the Luchadoras' dressing room. When they discover him, he reveals he's looking for Mike, Lorena's secret service agent boyfriend (in the American dubs he's identified as being with the police). He explains the Dragon and his men are after the sections of an Aztec codex which offers a clue as to where their legendary treasure is concealed. One of the Dragon's men eliminates him before he can reveal more.
Charlotte, the daughter of one of the dead researchers, is staying with the lone surviving scientist. Kidnapped and brainwashed by the Dragon, she's placed back with the heroic group to act as his spy.
A key delivered in the lining of a sombrero puts the girls and their boyfriends (passably heroic Mike and comic relief Tommy) on the trail to a part of the codex. Escaping a trap at a nearby hotel, they locate the missing paper in a locker. The dragon's men, however, possess inside information. They arrive in time to start a second fight (which they again lose, when Mike threatens to burn the codex). The Dragon proposes a deal: the girls will compete against his two judo girls and the winners of the match will take all of the segments of the codex. The Luchadoras naturally win, but the Dragon doublecrosses them when Mike tries to arrest him.
The group manage to translate the codex and learn that the secret to the treasure is to be fond on a golden breastplate in a hidden tomb beneath one of the pyramids. Also buried in the chamber is Tezamoc, a warrior with supernatural powers who had been cursed to be the piece's eternal guardian.
Going after the breastplate, they break into the tomb. The Dragon gang is on hand, but wait outside, where they assume it's safe (later events prove them to be literally dead wrong in this assumption).
Tezamoc revives and the party barely escape with the breastplate. The next morning, a newspaper announces that the Dragon's thugs were found dead at the site. Charlotte and Tommy decide to end the curse by returning the breastplate. This only gets Charlotte captures by Tezamoc, who plans on sacrificing her.
Reluctantly guided by Tommy, the others return. The mummy transforms into a bat and a spider, trying to stop them, but they finally cover his eyes and manage to chain him to a stone pillar while they escape. Tezamoc brings down the roof.
He's not stopped, though. That night, the remaining gang members arrive to steal the relic. Tezamoc also arrives and kills them all.
He then flies into the professor's apartment in bat form. According to the clock in the apartment, this all happens at 10:15 at night, but a cock crows as Tezamoc approaches the sleeping Charlotte (it must have been a very long fight). Turning back into a bat he flies away (the footage of the arriving prop bat is reversed so it flies backwards out of the room).
This effectively ends his participation in the film -- at least the US print. The film abruptly ends with another wrestling match.
Cutting may have been somewhat confused in making the domestic print. In the scene before the gangster/mummy battle, we see the Dragon briefing everyone. They are all dirty, though there is not explanation offered. There's also that bewildering ending. Did Tezamoc go up in smoke en route back to his tomb, or did he just decide to let the breastplate go?
Give it a 5 out of 10.
Shatter (1974)
Professional killer set up hides out in Hong Kong
Part of a three film deal (only two pictures were actually made -- the other being LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES), SHATTER was intended as a copy of the hip actioners being made in the U.S. Unfortunately, much of the film involves the title character hiding out from pursuers, as he tries to sort out a killing he'd been contracted to provide, but which he'd been undercut on and set up as the fall guy for. In the meantime, the guilty parties and others are on the hunt for Shatter, and he can't be certain of his few allies.
Peter Cushing's final Hammer role, as a cynical intelligence operative who refuses to help Shatter and may have an undisclosed agenda of his own.
Very minor material and only for Cushing completists.
At the Earth's Core (1976)
Explorers bore into an underground world
During the early 1970s, the non-Tarzan works of Edgar Rice Burroughs were unexpectedly optioned by producers seeking to create several new fantasy films.
Three of these were released in a comparatively short time -- THE AND THAT TIME FORGOT, THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT and AT THE EARTH'S CORE. All three starred the late Doug McClure and fell into the category of light entertainment. They were typified by simplistic effects, and a general feeling that production was rushed, in order to simply get something into the theater ASAP.
Being essentially adventure films with science-fiction touches, the requisite special effects work was far beneath that the ad campaigns suggested (even the dreary WHERE TIME BEGAN had somewhat better effects than CORE, and much of LAND was built around a floppy rubber pterodactyl.
Of these three titles, CORE possesses the most "atmosphere" in that it is presented as a "period" piece, evidently set at the close of the 1800s. This lends the film a certain charm, particularly in the design of the bizarre Mole, poised ready to bury itself in the bowels of the Earth.
The film also shines as a showcase for Peter Cushing who was clearly slumming in a role which was far beneath his usual from the Hammer era. As he frequently did in lesser films, Cushing played about with the role and emerged with something far better than might have been expected from a less talented and inventive actor.
Would-be adventurer David Innes (McClure) has financed eccentric inventor Professor Abner Perry's (Peter Cushing in another of his amusingly conceived character roles) manned excavator, the Iron Mole. Innes hopes that, aside from getting away from it for a while, he can find untapped resources beneath the surface of the Earth. After a little preparation, the duo blast off for inner space.
They arrive at the by-now familiar primordial cavern-world, filled with dinosaurs, primitive savages, and the delicious Carolyn Monroe as a local princess. The trio face off against winged creatures who dominate the underworld, eventually winning through by a mixture of bravado and genuine courage.
Though not remotely an effective adventure film, and suffering badly in the face of the computer generated effects which were just beginning to spring into the movies at this time, CORE works best when accepted simply as a fun romp. Cushing, in particular, steals the show as Perry -- using props (something he became noted for in his work to flesh out occasionally one-note characters) and exhibiting an unexpected fighting spirit.
An 8 out of 10 for sheer fun value
The Blood Beast Terror (1968)
Genetic experiment creates a vampire creature
A somewhat peculiar period piece, involving Darwinian experiments with insects, an unseen, blood drinking horror, and a dedicated police officer seeking to track down a vampire killer.
The action opens as an expedition into deepest Africa yields several rare cocoons of the Deathshead moth. Not that this is a particularly rare species, but presumably the African version is. Better, it will be something which researcher Robert Dr. Mallinger (Robert Flemyng) can test some radical new theories upon.
Some years later, Mallinger is living in seclusion in England, still conducting his researches. Living with him is his young daughter Clare (Wanda Ventham), who attracts the interests of several young men in the locale. These are students assisting the doctor, as well as amateur dramatists, and they produce a rather bizarre play of Frankenstein, complete with deliberately quaint special effects, during a lull in the overall action.
Clare is drawn to one of these students, and goes off with him. However, they're briefly separated, and something kills him.
This brings in the local police, and Inspector Quennell (Peter Cushing). Quennell arrives with his own daughter, Meg (Vanessa Howard), in tow.
The investigation goes nowhere, as the scientist is unwilling to assist. In the meantime, Meg is becoming friendly with the seductive Clare.
It is revealed that Mallinger has been somehow crossing the moth larvae with human beings. His "daughter" (who drinks blood when excited) is the first to hatch. Two more are awaiting hatching in the cellar, which has been kept to a specific temperature.
In the final minutes of the film, the unhatched creatures are destroyed, as is Clare. The experiment is ended.
Not all that bad for an imitation of the Hammer period and atmosphere. The unborn creatures are an interesting design, as is the angle of the pseudo-daughter actually being a hideous, blood thirsting creature with the intellect to master speech and whatever else it needed in order to pass unnoticed as a human being. It's also always nice to see a new role for Peter Cushing.
A few scenes, such as the play-within-the-movie are slow and distract from the plotline, but overall, it's a decent minor film.
The Night Caller (1965)
An alien from a moon of Jupiter arrives on Earth, seeking women
In a way, in spite of John Saxon turning up in the cast, this is a very British sort of sci-fi picture. That is to say there are no slavering, overly thyroid insects googling about, in search of prey, and there's no widescale destruction by oozing aliens. Instead, the title creature is content to work behind the scenes to restore his devastated planet. Being shot in black and white, and making carefully planned use of light and shadow, the film possesses a unique feeling and a distinct touch of menace in the proceedings.
The film opens to a long shot of London at twilight. As the title song is sung (yes, it's a vocal piece with a rather heavy orchestration and a '60s Pop feel), a small, bright light crosses the sky above the unsuspecting city.
This speck is tracked by a research establishment, and by the military, who send out patrols to locate whatever may have fallen in the countryside.
The center sends Jack Costain (John Saxon). Costain encounters the military force seeking the object and, after a brief exchange of notes, the mysterious object is located, It is a while ball, about the size of a basketball, and supercool. This intrigues Costain, as a fallen bit of space debris should logically take hours to cool to the point where it could be safely handled.
Relocated to the center, the object is left in an abandoned room while the personnel attend to other duties. It begins to emit an intense light, and this gives Ann Barlow (Patricia Haines), who's stayed on at night to transcribe notes, a massive headache.
While she watches, a far door in the room opens slightly, and a grotesque claw tries to force through the crack. She manages to sound an alarm and the hand is quickly withdrawn. The unseen intruder is seemingly trapped in the room here the space object is being stored.
A security investigation turns up nothing pointing to an intruder, aside from a few generic footprints outside. However, the researchers formulate a few quick conclusions on the mystery sphere -- speculating that it might be capable of transporting matter from one place to another. Doctor Morley (Maurice Denham) decides to spend time alone with the object, in a darkened room.
Something does appear but, with his glasses broken, Morley doesn't see it before he dies (evidently of a stroke or heart attack).
Shortly thereafter, ads begin appearing in newspapers for girls to work as models. The contact is Medra (Robert Crewdson), who is either masked or stays just out of the light. The only clear lead is that replies are sent to a postal box which can be traced, and the authorities begin work on that project at once.
The parents of a girl who had answered one of these ads and had then visited Medra speak of his coming to their house. They had gotten an odd feeling during his brief visitation (the flashback sequence is very unnerving through Medra's soft, even voice and the way he keeps in the shadow). They also mention an almost 3D picture he had produced of their daughter, which had later vanished (Medra evidently uses these photos to call his victims to him, and he makes sure they bring the photos with them).
Working with the authorities, Costain and Ann learn that Medra also can be reached through a questionable bookshop, and Ann goes there, posing as a would-be model. By now, they've realized Medra must be an alien, and they want to establish contact.
Medra arrives and, realizing that Ann knows too much, kills her (another disquieting and offbeat touch -- heroines generally don't die in these sorts of films). There's an attempt to chase him down (the latest victim -- the girl whose parents had spoken to Costain -- is now with Medra), but he escapes with fresh a batch of kidnapped girls -- briefly showing a scarred, androgynous face as he explains he's trying to repair the damaged gene pools of his world -- a moon on Jupiter.
One of the few sci-fi films in which the "monster" wins. Very careful in its use of light and its handling of the elusive Medra. There are also some odd camera angles used in the scenes featuring the alien, which strongly add to the air of menace his appearances evoke. Worth at least a single screening.
A 7 out of 10.
Santa Claus (1959)
Santo vs. a wicked but ineffectual demon
Every once and again, a producer takes a simple, appealing little idea and runs amok with it. The middle-1970s were largely the official stumbling block for "childrens movies" designed to offer gentle, non-hip entertainment. Now, even Disney-produced films can have touches of low humor and things that parents of the 1950s would take exception to.
However, in 1959, there was still time for an unsophisticated storyline. The best years of Rankin-Bass lay ahead, and -- down in Mexico -- work was being completed on a slightly outre' Christmas film.
SANTA CLAUS emerges in the 1990s as a "party film," simply on the merits of some of the more bizarre elements, which include the fabled Jolly Old Elf spying on unaware children with a sophisticated, wiggly telescope eye, a minor demon tormenting Santa with a toy missile launcher, and far more elfin magic than is good for you.
In his castle (literally) in the clouds, Santa and a gaggle of "typical" children (a Mexican boy, a somewhat Germanic girl and an all-American cowboy Norte Americano) are busily getting the good on the unwary children of the world. In spite of a minor flaw with his mobile spy eye, Santo deftly homes in on a little girl who has no means to get that doll she's been wanting.
You realize, of course, that she'll get it...
In the meantime, down in suburban Heck, the devil sends wicked, somewhat able Pitch to Earth to stonewall Santa's Christmas dealings. Pitch is essentially warned that he'd better not screw this job up. At this point, I think we all see where all this is heading.
Santo arrives on Earth in a vaguely sci-fi sleigh. He bedevils a couple of nasty boys who heckle the waif, and we see her tormented with guilt as Pitch tries to engineer her stealing of a doll.
Of course, she instinctively does the right thing, which leaves Pitch at loose ends. Having been a wee bit short of the task of corrupting a 5 year-old child, he turns on Santa. There follow a few extremely humiliating scenes of the demon trying to do something significant.
Santa wins, Pitch loses.
How do you analyze a film like this? It plays exclusively on a "feel good" emotional level, with no sophistication in plot or execution. For the very young, it will probably play well (a public domain video version was market in the U.S. some years ago). For the older viewers, I'd suggest the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, which mercilessly homes in on each and every bizarre or particularly weak point.
La furia de los karatecas (1982)
Santo fights an evil woman and her karate killers
Granted that El Santo was pushing middle-age when he began his film work (sources generally state his birth year was 1917), by 1982 his film wrestling style was beginning to visibly suffer.
While some of the moves he displayed in earlier films were downright amazing to the viewer who was inexperienced in the lucha libre form of wrestling (and a few to those of us who knew of this version of the sport), by 1980, age was beginning to take its toll.
Not all that long after this film was completed, El Santo retired from the ring, realizing that his best days were behind him. He subsequently unmasked on television, and embarked on a brief career as an escape artist before passing away as the result of a heart attack, on 2/05/84.
Considering the impact that Santo had had in his earlier films, fans could have hoped for a better end to his career than his last two features.
FURY OF THE KARATE EXPERTS and its companion piece, FIST OF DEATH, were filmed in 1981-1982, with footage shot in Florida, of all places. Both share characters, primarily a dual performance by the amazingly endowed Grace Renat. Renat plays a good sister and an evil one, competing for a powerful crystal which can give the owner unstoppable power.
Added into the cast of FURY is Tinieblas (Darkness), a stuntman-turned-wrestler who had appeared in a number of previous genre films (esp. MUMMIES OF GUANAJUATO, generally playing monsters due to his strength, agility and superior height. In the ring, Tinieblas was startlingly quick on his feet, and became a popular entertainer.
Originally offered the role of SUPERZAN (a character created for use in feature films and not an actual wrestler), stuntman Manuel Leal opted for the Tinieblas persona and both wrestled professionally in this masked identity and made several films. Most notably, he was one of the members of the Champions of Justice -- a grouping of masked wrestlers who fought evil in a trio of entertaining films. In FURY, he is the evil sister's strongarm assistant.
This was also to be the last appearance of Carlos Suarez in a Santo feature, and it's fitting that he was along for the ride for the Man In The Silver Mask's last outing. Saurez was actually Santo's manager for some years, and frequently appeared in his films through the 1960s and 1970s. He was generally cast as a spy (SANTO CONTRA LA MAGIA NEGRA), a thug/henchman (SANTO CONTRA LA MAFIA DEL VICIO) or as a friend or assistant to the wrestler. In FURY, he returns as Cliff, Santo's pal from the previous film.
Set in some eastern country, the film is distressingly slow for a Santo feature. Martial artist Steve Chang and Tinieblas don't stir up much action, and Santo's visibly slow and uncertain in some of the fight sequences. Understandable, as he was 64 years old at the time, given the 1917 birth date. Still, even for die-hard Santo fans, his performance is a distressing swan song.
There is also a monster in both films which is a throwback to the cheesy make-up o some of the earliest Santo features. A bit of ugly makeup and some fun fur applied haphazardly fall a bit short of inspiring terror. After years of sci-fi glitz props and better beasts, this serves as another marked weakness in the final films.
In the end analysis, Grace Renat's form is the key reason to watch these last entries in the Santo series. While it's good to again see Santo carrying on against evil, he's just not up to it this late in the game.
A communal 4 out of 10.
La isla de la muerte (1967)
A vampire tree menaces visitors to a lonely island
In spite of one of the alternate release titles making this obscure little film sound as if it concerns the hungry amblings of a tiger, it's actually a taut little horror entry concerning a blood-drinking tree which preys on the unwary visitors to an isolated island.
I caught this one on late night television in the early 1970s, and bits of it still stick with me, due to a certain nastiness in the effects work. Cameron Mitchell seems to be a researcher who is studying a bizarre tree which literally drains the life from anyone unwise enough to sleep within groping distance of its slim, mobile branches.
Constructed like a willow, the creature is capable of extending whiplike branches and fastening a cuplike sucking "mouth" to a victim. From there on, things are strictly downhill.
Not strictly a carbon copy of other "plants gone bad" films, such as THE WOMAN EATER or NAVY VS. THE NIGHT MONSTERS, ISLA reflects the stronger attempts many European producers were attempting in order to draw in the jaded horror film crowd. Over the years, this desire to punch up the graphic content resulted in such unique entries as the Blind Dead series and the deja-producing BLOOD AND BLACK LACE.
Needless to say, though creepiness was evoked, the inclusion of stronger content or wilder plot tricks didn't necessarily ensure boxoffice success.
Not Mitchell's worse, but miles below the early promise he showed in his film career.
Santo en la venganza de la momia (1971)
A mummy stalks Santo and an expedition into ancient ruins
Bouyed by interesting pink and green advertising art which shows a close-up f the mummy's distorted face and a color insert of Santo fending off the monster with a blazing torch, this promises to be an exciting lucha title. While mummies had been heavily used in Mexican cinema (and, in fact, Santo faced them in another outing), the ad art on this film suggested a decent budget and an ambitious presentation. The mummy mask/make-up was also worlds above the job done on the Aztec mummy, being both unsettling and actually a bit alarming.
While the film is good, it's inexplicably one of the few Santo features which pulls its punch. Considering the wild excesses of the lucha film genre, the twist ending, which does anything but satisfy, makes little or no sense.
Santo is enlisted for Professor Romero's (Caesar del Campo) expedition to the lost tomb of Nonoc, an Aztec warrior. As usual, this is a cursed tomb and the dead warrior had been entombed and cursed for loving a maiden designated for the gods' use. This aspect is scarcely new, having already been covered in the Aztec Mummy series and other genre films.
The expedition also includes an old native guide (Amada Zumaya)and his grandson, two girls, and hunter Sergio (Eric del Castillo).
Arriving at the tomb, they find a scroll which explains that, by entering, they are now officially cursed. Nobody attaches much importance to this announcement, which is a mistake. Shortly thereafter, the party is being stalked and killed off by the avenging mummy -- or so it seems.
A decent adventure flick. Worth the watching.
Santo contra la magia negra (1973)
Santo takes on zombies in Haiti
When I picked up this title on prerecord, I received several surprises. First, the film was largely filmed in Haiti, so the "heart of voodoo country" motif was authentic. Secondly, it was lensed in color -- something the packaging hadn't suggested on first glance.
In the island nation, Prof. Jordan (Guillermo Gálvez) has perfected a new explosive which rivals the H-bomb in its power. Among the parties interested in this new discovery is Bellamira (Sasha Montenegro), a voodoo priestess who hopes to sell the formula to a foreign power. Unfortunately for her plans, the film starts with the discovery (via visions seen in a mystic pool of water) that Interpol is calling in Santo to safeguard the scientist and his invention.
Santo arrives and is picked up by the local agent he's to work with (Jorge -- played by Caesar del Campo). While driving from the airport, their car has a flat and -- as they prepare to replace the damaged tire -- they're attacked by several unconvincing zombies. After a token grappling, these are repelled when Santo holds up a gross-shaped tire iron.
The duo go on to the professor's house, where we meet the scientist and his daughter Lorna (Elsa Cardenas). Jorge is involved with the girl, and has a vested interest in keeping her father safe. The researcher is not interest in being protected, and feels he can handle things on his own. Never a good attitude to adopt in this kind of film.
Moving quickly, Bellamira turns the researcher into a zombie. Santo, who has recently arrived on the island, is unable to prevent this. Buried, the professor returns to acquire the formula kept in his safe. There is a nice scare scene here, as His daughter is confronted by the walking corpse.
After winning a wrestling match (during which he was to die), Santo oversees the opening of the professor's coffin. It is empty.
Gaining the last of the professor's secrets at her headquarters (where uranium is being quarried for use in the explosive), the voodoo priestess send the zombie home, where it collapses in front of a horrified Lorna.
Lorna moves out, unerringly choosing to spend some time with her friend -- Bellamira. When she follows the priestess into the jungle, she learns too much. Lorna prevents a voodoo assault on the sleeping Santo and is earmarked as a sacrifice for her trouble.
With a little help of a friendly magic practitioner, Michelle (Gerty Jones), Santo winds up at the cult's headquarters. The priestess agrees to a mystic dual with him. Both place an arm in a bag containing a number of deadly snakes.
Though both are bitten, Santo's nobility prevails and the priestess dies. End of story.
Interesting for a huge amount of footage of parades and happy, celebrating vacationers, though this is also one of the film's weaknesses, in that there's too much of this colorful filler. There're a few nice sequences, but the result is an "average" Santo thriller. Not bad, but certainly not his best.
Santo contra cerebro del mal (1961)
Masked police agents take on crime
Several years after turning down his first film offer, El Santo reconsidered. His first work consisted of two features shot back-to-back in Cuba -- CEREBRO DEL MAL and SANTO CONTRA HOMBRES INFERNALES.
The genre was still creeping tentatively along. The flashy features starring MIL MASCARAS, BLUE DEMON and a fully unleashed SANTO were still years away. In these first efforts, Santo appeared as a gimmick -- a police agent who wore a mask to protect his identity.
What's intriguing about this film is that Fernando Oses plays El Incognito, a second, masked agent who works with the unspecified Santo (he's simply called Enmascarado in the film). Forced by an injury to sideline a career in wrestling, Oses was a formative influence in the lucha film genre which stretched from the late 1950s through the early 1970s. Oses appeared in countless wrestler hero films (generally as a crook or a henchman) and wrote the stories and/or scripts for many more.
Gangsters capture police agent Enmascarado and carry him to a mad scientist's lair. Here, he's placed under hypnotic control and assists in a kidnapping. The researcher is also brainwashing others in the city, including a bank officer who robs his own bank while under hypnotic control.
El Incognito discovers where the evil scientist is conducting his business. He restores Enmascarado to his proper mind, but the silver-masked agent pretends to still be under control. At the right time, he attacks the thugs, as does El Incognito, who's already tipped the police off on the lab's location.
During the fight, El Incognito is shot, but he survives. The police kill the renegade scientist.
Their work done (evidently they assist various police agencies around the world), Enmascarado and El Incognito fly away for parts unknown.
A little better than its companion feature, HOMBRES INFERNALES, this features the first of numerous bouts between Oses and Santo, and some interesting tricks. It's still not up to the quality of the later films that Santo made -- particularly after the advent of color photography in the series. Still, it's an enjoyable if somewhat lightweight watch.
Santo contra ''Hombres infernales'' (1961)
Santo appears in one of two Cuban-made titles -- his first film work
Having turned down down an offer in 1952 to appear in the aptly named ENMASCARADO DE PLATA (he doubted the film would click with audiences, and thus Huracan Ramirez appeared in the first true lucha libre film), El Santo finally tested the cinematic waters in the late 1950s in two Cuban lensed features.
Shot at the same time and on a shoestring, CEREBRO DE MAL and HOMBRES INFERNALES featured Santo as an agent assisting the police in tough investigations (in these films, he plays an actual police agent -- he was later generally cast as either a wrestler who also fought crime or as an Interpol agent who also wrestled as well).
While this was a theme which would appear in many of his later films, these two films were unique in one distinction -- in neither is he referred to as El Santo.
The plot involves an attempt to put a police agent into a drug smuggling ring. hen the man is placed in danger, it's up to the masked Santo to go in to extricate him alive.
The film is a curiosity, lacking the polish of the later films (even the early, cut-rate Vergara features, which says something). Santo is also played as a curiosity -- more of a fixture with a mask than a developed personality. Then again, this is nearly true of the later three films he made with Fernando Casanova and Ana Bertha Lepe. In those he was someone brought in fairly late in the films, to wrap up the loose ends. He'd then wheel away in his flashy sportscar.
Interesting as a bit of film history, but it should have been much more. I like lucha films, but I'd give this one a 2 for curiosity and entertainment value.
El enmascarado de plata (1954)
The Santo film that never quite happened
A historical perspective.
This fairly obscure Mexican feature enjoys a rare distinction, in that it was initially offered as a starring vehicle for El Santo, the Man In The Silver Mask. Given the tile, he was a natural for the role.
Santo had been wrestling in Mexico for years under names like The Bat II, Rudy Guzman and Red Man. Cast in the image of a fair-minded champion of the masses (a gimmick concocted by a savvy promoter), the wrestler finally found his niche when he adopted a pure silver mask.
In the early 1950s, enterprising producers were searching for some new gimmick to draw in jaded audiences to the theaters. As lucha libre ("free fighting") wrestling attracted a broad audience from across all social lines, with its lively, flashy style and sometimes wild morality plays, the idea of placing the popular wrestler in a feature film seemed like a good idea.
Santo, however, had his doubts, reportedly suspecting the film would fail. He turned down the role, and the first luchadore to appear in a luche title was Haracan Ramirez, who made his first feature appearance in 1952.
Not that Santo maintained his distance from film work. Beginning with two Cuban produced features made around 1958, he increasingly divided his time between ring work and movies -- making over 50 films before the lucha film boom died out in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
The Vulture (1966)
A grim Cornish legend comes to life in the 1960s
Set in Cornwall but actually produced in Canada, THE VULTURE is a somewhat offbeat sci-fi thriller filmed in the mid-1960s. The cat is a surprising mix of genre regulars and newcomers to the field, but the film has an odd feel to it. It's got more of a feeling of depth and many of the lower-budget sci-fi films hammered out by second string producers during the big '50s Sci-Fi Boom, but it falls short of the better know genre efforts.
American atomic researcher Eric Lutens (Robert Hutton) arrives in Cornwall for a rest. He plans to visit several members of his wife Trudy's (Diane Clair) family and just get away from it all. However, strange things have been happening in the area. A school teacher taking a shortcut through a graveyard during a night-time storm has had a shock that has turned her hair white. Livestock has also been vanishing without a trace.
The discovery of a gold coin, and of an opened grave, brings to light a peculiar local legend. Centuries before, one Francis Real had been suspected of witchcraft. He had been seized and buried alive with his pet -- a strange vulture-like bird -- and a casket of gold coins. Legend had it that he had sworn to destroy the descendents of the local squire who had overseen the burial. This disturbs Eric, as the cursed man had been an ancestor of Trudy's.
A gamekeeper hears "a very large bird" over the estate owned by Trudy's older surviving relative, Brian Stroud (Broderick Crawford) and, investigating, a large black feature is found on the grounds. Eric send it to a noted expert on local birds, hoping he can identify what kind of bird to which it might have belonged.
We now meet the other central characters. Prof. Koniglich (Akim Tamiroff in a wonderful little performance) is a local antiquarian with whom Brian has had a number of dealings over the years. We also meet Brian's brother Edward (Gordon Sterne), who lives in a nearby town.
Koniglich takes the tale seriously when Eric visits him. The professor gets about with difficulty, using canes -- the result of an accident. He also makes a telltale comment about always having been fascinated by science, though he never really developed the interest.
Eric, taking advantage of his scientific background (evidently they do a lot of strange atomic mutation research at the plant where he works), decides someone has conducted a scientific experiment, creating this creature. He reasons this would involve a lot of electricity, and contacts the local utilities to find out who's used a lot of power lately.
Evidence mounts that there may indeed be some terrible creature lurking nearby. A missing sheep is found torn to bits, in a cliffside cave. Shortly thereafter, both Stroud brothers are carried off and killed by something.
Eric, in London, is contacted by the power company. The only odd thing they can find in their probe is that the Professor has stopped using electricity from their lines entirely. He'd installed his own generators some time prior. Eric realizes that Trudy is the final victim. He races back to the Cornish town, even as she's snatched from an isolated road near the Professor's home, by something with claws that swoops down from above.
Eric arrives as the Professor's home, where he finds a nuclear-powered laboratory in the basement. A skeleton sits at a control panel, and a small broken casket of gold coins lies on a nearby counter. It seems the Professor, speculating on whether or not he might have been related to the entombed man, and looking for the gold, had used his equipment to momentarily exchange himself for the contents of the buried coffin.
Not such a good idea. The swap hadn't reversed itself, and his atoms had mixed with the remains of the bird. The composite creature had then broken out of the grave.
Going to the cave in the cliffside, Eric confronts and shoots the Professor, who is revealed to have had a gigantic bird's body underneath the cloaked coat he'd always worn. Stumbling at Eric, the creature falls to its death on the beach below. Eric and Trudy bury the body at sea and decide it's best that nobody knows what had happened.
An interesting cast. Robert Hutton had started playing juvenile leads, then went on to a string of largely minor genre flicks (MAN WITHOUT A BODY, INVISIBLE INVADERS, THE SLIME PEOPLE, COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK, TROG).
Broderick Crawford had visibly slummed following his role in BORN YESTERDAY, making a few genre TV movies, and was best remembered for the television series HIGHWAY PATROL.
A veteran of over 120 feature films, Akim Tamiroff had also appeared in Godard's ALPHAVILLE.
Diane Clair appeared in THE HAUNTING and Hammer's PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES.
Not a bad watch, though more for Tamiroff's eccentric performance than for Hutton's rather bland heroics.
The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945)
An errant angel with a lethal horn nearly blows his chance
In spite of a long standing reputation for being an awful film (in no little part due to Jack Benny, himself, making it an ongoing joke in the years to follow its release). HORN is no worse than the great majority of the lightweight comedies fashioned in the 1930s-1950s.
The action begins at the rehearsal of a radio station band. One particular musician, Benny, is particularly inept, blowing wrong notes and eventually allowing himself to be soothed into a daze by the announcer's cooing plaudits of the show's sponsor's coffee.
The action shifts to Heaven, where the harried Chief (Guy Kibbee) receives the assignment to demolish the Earth, which has been particularly troublesome of late. The task involves sending an angel armed with Gabriel's horn to Earth, where, at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, he'll play a simple melody which will end everything. At least for the locals on the small, irksome world.
When his secretary Elizabeth (Alexis Smith) suggests novice angel junior class Athanael (Benny) for the task, the Chief is horrified. Athanael, it seems, routinely fumbles any task he's given. Still, a little angelic coaxing works wonders. Athanael is assigned the chore and sent to Earth.
He arrives in one of the elevators of a major New York hotel (much to the confusion of the hotel manager (Paul Harvey), who will be unable to understand this cage's ongoing disappearances throughout the film.
In the lobby, Athanael runs into trouble almost instantly. He's been warned of Fallen Angels -- angels who were sent to Earth on similar tasks, but who got swept up in the nightlife and failed to return to Heaven. Two such reprobates (twins fro two musicians who had given Benny woe in the prologue), Osidro (Allyn Joslyn) and Doremus (John Alexander) spot him and realize why he's there. They decided to coax him away from his assignment by enlisting the assistance of a vamp (Dolores Moran) and offering him some small nook in their Earthly business concerns.
When it seems that Athanael is wavering, Elizabeth gains permission to go to Earth and try to guide him through completing his assignment. She arrives and is instantly recognized by the Fallen Angels.
Athanael promptly loses the horn as collateral against a huge meal he can't actually pay for, and the rest of the film concerns his trying to trace it to its new locale and recover it before the stroke of midnight.
The ending is a madhouse, with everyone on the hotel's roof, alternately trying to stop Athanael and save their own lives as they sway out over the distant streets below.
Benny then awakens in the studio, when his chair tips back and he falls from the bandstand. It was all a dream.