(1953)
Dir - Chano Urueta
Overall: MEH
A mad scientist who lives in a mansion behind a cemetery, likes to dress up like the Phantom of the Opera, play the piano like the Phantom of the Opera, and have a liking towards wax statures, El Monstruo resucitado, (The Revived Monster), throws as many ingredients as it can muster into its main bad guy, played in an expressionless monster mask by José María Linares-Rivas. One of the earliest Mexican horror films to usher in a boom of them that took direct inspiration from Universal's classic output, director Chano Urueta handles the material with a heavy atmospheric hand. The sets are appropriately dreary, especially the Gothic abode of Linares-Rivas whose main mannequin-decorated chamber room, expansive laboratory, graveyard front lawn, and dungeon area where he keeps a caged up brute all manage to exceed the low-budget. Unfortunately, the pacing is disastrously slack as the movie bounces between about three locations and follows just as many characters who say little to advance the plot, though say a lot they certainly do. Talky and bland despite its silly premise, it merely stands as a historically important genre film from its era and country.
(1958)
Dir - Julián Soler
Overall: MEH
Another dopey Mexican horror comedy from an era that had a particular penchant for them, El castillo de los monstruos, (The Castle of the Monsters), stems from director Julián Soler and throws every classic monster available on the screen for a small handful of minutes while padding ninety percent of the running time with the unfunny antics of Antonio "Clavillazo" Espino. To be fair, Espino is less grating than your Germán "Tin-Tan" Valdéses and Manuel "Loco" Valdéses, but while likeable, he still ends up doing nothing remotely funny besides wearing clothes that are too big for him and falling down a set of stairs to cartoon sound effects. As far as the ghoulish personnel, we have a mad scientist, a Neanderthal-esque brute, a gill man, a Frankenstein monster butler, a deformed lab assistant henchman, a mummy, a werewolf, and Mexico's favorite on-screen vampire Germán Robles reprising his undead foe in a non-speaking part that is only a notch above a cameo. The burgeoning romance story is nothing worth paying attention to, which is a problem since we are stuck with it until the last act which is finally when the movie remembers that it was supposed to have monsters in it.
(1958)
Dir - Rafael Baledón
Overall: MEH
Fusing the Faust legend in with a little Phantom of the Opera and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, (and all with a monster that looks like a werewolf), The Man and the Monster, (El hombre y el monstruo), was the first of several horror films from director Rafael Baledón. Arriving at the cusp of the genre's boom in Mexico, it throws back to Universal's 1930s and 40s output with some well-established tropes at its disposal, plus Raúl Martínez Solares' shadow-heavy cinematography creates the right macabre mood. Besides the story itself which is borderline ridiculous, there are a few unintentionally funny moments like when a journalist arrives at a house that all of the villagers are afraid of and tries to use the phone, only for the cold woman at the door to merely "Nnnnnope" her head back 'n forth before nonchalantly closing it. Enrique Rambal narrating his own backstory to absolutely no one just so the viewers can be brought up to speed is silly, plus he looks more goofy than menacing in his Mr. Hyde bestial form that only comes out when either he plays the piano or someone else does, depending on what the plot needs to happen. Far from a classic, but not without some charm.
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