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Una familia de diez (2007)
Only the first season is worth watching
I dare say that the first season of "Una Familia de Diez" manages to stand out from the rest of the programs created and/or produced by Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo. It is worth mentioning that during its second broadcast on the channel "Galavisión" (Channel 9 in Mexico) around 2008, the show managed to reach success with quite decent rating points.
In general, the first season had quite enjoyable and funny situations; perhaps the only problems I find is that sometimes it abuses the use of jokes referring to the situations that occurred in Mexico in those years (especially regarding the country's politics), which may not be fully understood by younger audiences, plus some things used to be somewhat repetitive, but without reaching exaggerations.
Of all the characters in the series, the best (without fear of being wrong), is the grandfather Don Arnoldo, played by comedian Eduardo Manzano, who during the 60's and 70's together with actor and comedian Enrique Cuenca formed the famous comedy duo called "Los Polivoces". Manzano is the one who provides the memorable situations and jokes for the entire program.
Such was the success and popularity of the show that a second season was made around 2008 and 2009, which never saw the light of day, allegedly due to budget problems. However, some time later, a play of the program was produced, which continued with the events of the first season of the program; it is worth mentioning that the play enjoyed some success.
In 2019, a new season was announced and premiered some time later. However, the new season did not live up to what the first one was, as I was expecting to see some more interesting progress in the lives of all the characters (but obviously without losing their essence).
And what did the audience get?...
Well, the exaggeration of the characters' traits (which is quite annoying), the introduction to the show of 2 kids that I don't find funny enough (and who also act in an exaggerated way), the forced jokes and the practically obligatory, forced and predictable references to certain internet phenomena and memes (this situation has already been seen in the new seasons of Televisa's comedy shows, as is the case of "Vecinos"), the latter is intended to bring the younger generations a little closer to the program, which only provokes cringy moments. In addition, the situations that occur between the main characters are repetitive, predictable and boring, such as the recurring arguments between the characters of "Martina" and "La Nena"; although these arguments occur since the first season, they are now more exaggerated and annoying.
Likewise, some secondary and irrelevant characters (which increase with each new season) without grace or charisma become important in the plot of the episodes. Manzano's character has less and less participation and in more recent seasons, he only appears occasionally in video calls (since Don Arnoldo is supposed to be in Hollywood acting in different movies).
As of the time of writing this review (October 2022), 6 seasons have been made; each new season has fewer episodes than the previous one, and also less and less entertainment and less good ideas.
After all this, I am surprised that it is supposedly one of the most watched programs on Sundays (because the episodes of the first season are not even broadcast and I also doubt that the rating points that the television station gives are true), and also that they continue to premiere new seasons (something that also happens with "Vecinos", because in just 5 years 10 seasons have been released and they also have fewer episodes and less fun).
Now, I regret that the audience (including me) have asked for a new season of the show.
Due to all of the above, I give "Una Familia de Diez" a rating of 6 out of 10 possible stars. Maybe I should give it less, but at least for me the first season is really entertaining and the rest barely manages to cause a slight laugh.
Arañas infernales (1968)
Bizarre and cheesy but entertaining: Hellish Spiders (1968)
The aliens from the Arácnea galaxy arrive on Earth (specifically in Mexico) to feed their Queen with brains, (after they killed all the beings in that galaxy to use their brains as food).
Upon landing in Mexico, the arachnids hid in an abandoned ranch to fulfill their objective, since if the Queen dies of hunger, this would mean the death of all the aliens of Arácnea.
During their journey to said ranch (traveling in their flying saucers), these beings disintegrated a man who was traveling in his car with their death ray, leaving only his charred skeleton. Coincidentally, Blue Demon and his friend José (Sergio Virel) were traveling on the same road where the man was disintegrated and they also managed to see the ships, so they approached to see the man's car, only to find his skeleton. Demon tries to explain this event and talks about the supposed phenomenon of "self-ignition" and its relationship with neutrinos and antimatter (in the most illogical way).
Once installed in the ranch, the spiders talk about their transformation from arachnids to humans (and supposedly the only thing they have left of arachnids is a kind of spider-shaped tattoo under their ears). However, the Queen kept her spider form. Arianec (Maria Elena Cervantes), the Queen's closest subordinate, sends her assistants Moloc (Nathanael León "Frankenstein") and Brotik (René Barrera) to bring people to the queen and feed her with their brains. Likewise, Moloc and Brotik must stop Blue Demon, since Arianec detected that he, along with Lieutenant Robles (Ramón Bugarini), José and Hilda (José's girlfriend; played by Blanca Sánchez), are investigating the origin of the radiation that caused the disintegration of the man on the road.
After trying (unsuccessfully) to eliminate the Blue-Masked Man and Company, Moloc and Brotik kidnap a wrestler and a woman and offer them as food to the Queen. However, these 2 brains are not enough and Arianec decides that Blue Demon will be the new victim.
A short time later, from Arácnea arrives Prince Arac (Fernando Osés), who will be in charge of catching Demon. Arac appears in the wrestling arena as "Ocram" and directly challenges Blue Demon to a match and the masked man accepts. The day of the match arrives and Arac has a great advantage over Demon due to his surprising agility, but Blue Demon discovers that Arac has a weak point: his right arm, and after hitting him on that point several times, Arac's hand turns into a spider, with which he tries to attack Demon without success, but in the attempt he manages to kill Lieutenant Robles by biting him and inoculating his wrist with his venom. Arac escapes from the wrestling arena with Moloc and Brotik, who managed to kidnap José and Hilda.
Our hero goes after them in his car, but Arianec manages to make the car useless using his death beam, but Demon still reaches the lair and defeats Arac, Moloch and Arianec. He also rescues José and Hilda from being eaten. Brotik and the Queen escape on the ship, but Blue Demon manages to destroy the ship with the beam, thus ending the threat of the Hellish Spiders.
As you saw, the story of this movie is quite strange. Spiders do not come from hell as the title suggests, but rather they come from another galaxy.
Due to its low budget, this movie uses footage from "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Teenagers From Outer Space" (for the flying saucer and death ray scenes).
There are also several bizarre things that this film contains, such as the capes with spiderweb decorations worn by Moloc and Brotik (which would make the presence of space arachnids on Earth more obvious); also the explanation about neutrinos is not even real (which in this movie are considered antimatter particles that cause the self-ignition phenomenon) and without a doubt the most cheesy and bizarre thing is the transformation of Arac's hand into a spider.
To make the Queen, a plush in the form of a spider was used, which was quite damaged. As a curious fact, that same plush was used in another Sci-Fi and horror movie that was made in Mexico, I am referring to the film "Aventura al Centro de la Tierra" from 1965.
This is one of the first luchador movies I saw in my life (I saw it approximately when I was 4 years old). At first, me and my mom thought that the name of this movie was "Arácnido" (Arachnid in Spanish) and with that name I was looking for it on the internet for several years, but a couple of years ago I found its real name and I was able to see it for the second time.
To conclude this review, I give "Hellish Spiders" a rating of 6.5/10.
El mundo del los muertos (1970)
A gem within the filmography of Santo and Blue Demon: El Mundo de los Muertos (The World Of The Dead, 1970)
This film takes place in two different times: 1676 and 1970 and is based on the events of the films "Santo contra El Hacha Diabólica" (The Diabolical Axe) and "El Barón Brákola" (both films from 1965), because in this movie appears an ancestor of Santo, known as "El Caballero Enmascarado de Plata" (The Silver Masked Knight).
In 1676, the inquisition of New Spain burns four men at the stake, as they were members of a satanic sect, so the leader of that cult, Doña Damiana Velázquez (played by acclaimed actress Pilar Pellicer) summons Astaroth to help her finish off the Silver Masked Knight (Santo), because he was responsible for capturing the executed men. Then an envoy of darkness appears to help her: the specter of "El Caballero Azul" (The Blue Knight, performed by Blue Demon), who at just like the Silver Knight, he fought against the forces of evil, but his soul was trapped by Satan.
The suspicions that Damiana was the leader of the sect were confirmed by the bishop (Guillermo Álvarez Bianchi) and some inquisitors, so she, along with Blue Demon, invoke the spirits of the men burned at the stake to finish off the Knight as soon as possible. After two battles (with quite good pipe organ music in the background by the composer Gustavo C. Carrión) in which the Silver Knight fought hand-to-hand against these beings from beyond the grave, our hero manages to free the Blue Knight from his curse and catches Damiana after she stabbed to death the Silver Knight's fiancée, Aurora (Betty Nelson), with a dagger.
Velázquez is condemned to the stake, but before dying she promises that she will return in 300 years to finish off the descendants of her captors (especially to the future descendant of the Silver Masked Knight).
In the year 1970, in Mexico, the spirit of Damiana possesses Alicia (also performed by Pellicer), who is the reincarnation of Damiana and is also Santo's girlfriend, so she will summon her undead minions again to finish with the Silver Masked Man.
However, Doña Damiana's plans do not end as she completely wants, thanks to the intervention of both the priest Francisco (Guillermo Álvarez Bianchi) and Alicia's father (Antonio Raxel, who also has a dual role playing this character and also one of the inquisitors).
Because of the possession of Alicia, she is dying, so Santo must go to the world of the dead to rescue her from Damiana's clutches. After defeating Velázquez's subordinates with the help of Blue Demon (in exchange for the release of his curse), Santo and Alicia manage to get out of the world of the dead just in time and Doña Damiana disappears completely, thus ending this bizarre and entertaining story.
I must admit that the first time I saw this movie (or at least the first 10 minutes) I was young, so I was terrified by the sequences of those executed at the stake and by the gloomy background music of these scenes, but some years later I dared to see it in its entirety and I liked the film, it is quite entertaining and personally, I consider that it stands out among others in the luchador films genre for its plot, although Demon has very small participation as a villain (at least in the first half of the movie), like the other two Santo and Blue Demon films produced by Jesús Sotomayor (the "Sotomayor trilogy" of these two luchadores).
It has some continuity errors (because several scenes that were supposed to take place at night were recorded during the day); It also has few anachronisms, among which I can mention the presence of light bulbs inside the lanterns that can be seen in some of the 1676 sequences and the masks of both knights in that same year seems out of place, but you have to consider that this story is based a bit on the events of "El hacha diabólica", where a wizard named Abraca gives the mask, cape and boots to an ancestor of El Santo in the year 1603.
Considering that these types of movies were made on a low budget, several of the special effects are well done, including an open-heart operation scene and the red coloring used to simulate the world of the dead (although it is also worth mentioning which used a small part of the footage from the movie "Hercules In The Haunted World"), In addition, this film generates an atmosphere that is very close to the events that occurred in the Colonial era.
To end this comment, I give "The World of the Dead" a rating of 8.5/10.