60's Mexican Horror Part Ten - (Federico Curiel Edition)

NEUTRON VS. THE DEATH ROBOTS

(1962)
Overall: MEH

An immediate sequel to 1960's Neutron, el Enmascarado Negro that was shot in conjunction with it, Neutron vs. the Death Robots, (Los autómatas de la muerte), ignores the previous film's ending and simply sets up a whole new cockamamie scheme for luchador super villain Dr. Caronte to embark on.  This time, the masked bad guy raises an army of zombie slaves that he bakes in stone ovens, (or something), plus he also needs gallons of blood to harvest the brains of scientists in order to learn bomb secrets, (or something).  He also still has his trusty, baby-voiced pipsqueak, dwarf-sized sidekick Nick who he treats more like a pet monkey than a human and because of the whole blood thing, authorities refer to his exploits as being vampiric in nature.  It certainly ups the weirdness and horror elements from its predecessor film and even with some dragging musical interludes, director Federico Curiel comparatively keeps the pace up at least by cutting right to the chase and loading it with more action than chatty set pieces.

 

NEUTRÓN CONTRA EL DR. CARONTE

(1963)

Overall: WOOF

 

The luchador extravaganza Neutrón contra el Dr. Caronte, (Neurtron vs. the Amazing Dr. Caronte), continues the saga of its title characters, pitting the two wrestlers against each other in ridiculous and boring "mad scientist doing mad scientist shit" fashion.  A less wacky, equally stupid, yet more sluggish follow-up to the previous year's Neutron vs. the Death Robots, the plot line is as moronic as the dialog, with the crazy masked doctor controlling an army of useless stumbling monsters in cheap Halloween masks as Wolf Ruvinskis' hero, (also in lucha libre attire), tries and stops him by mostly standing in rooms while talking.  Both men are in love with the same woman, (Rosita Arenas from The Aztec Mummy "fame"), which complicates things along with idiotic police officers and the dwarf-sized assistant Nick who sounds like Yoda for some reason.  At one point, Jack Taylor's professor proclaims that there is no hope of escaping their captors, only for the very next sentence out of his mouth to be "There is still hope...".  Federico Curiel's direction is lackluster due to the likely rushed shooting schedule and no money that he had to work with, so it is the usual deal of character's regurgitating information between themselves instead of doing anything remotely exciting. 

 

THE EMPIRE OF DRACULA

(1967)

Overall: MEH

 

Above average in some respects, The Empire of Dracula, (El imperio de Drácula), was one of a small number of Mexican vampire films from the 1960s.  Director Federico Curiel was no stranger to the horror genre, having done a handful of Santo vs "fill in the monster" movies as well as the Nostradamus ones, plus he would continue to churn out more macabreness throughout the 70s.  Speaking of macabre, the atmosphere here is well-maintained for something that was clearly made with minimal funds.  Gustavo César Carrión's musical score could not be better, utilizing off-key organ, minimal percussion reverberations, and moans that are mixed with wind noises, all of which is conservatively sprinkled around instead of becoming distractedly bombastic.  There is plenty of fog, an ominous horse-drawn carriage with no driver, and a wonderful underground dungeon lair for the main baddie to resurrect himself by the Hammer method of letting some poor girl's blood get poured onto his ashes.  On that note, Eric del Castillo's Baron Draculstein is one of the most laughably inept vampires in cinema history as he only manages to acquire a single undead bride and gets his ass kicked by every unarmed schlubby man who he attempts to bite.  The plotting is ridiculously lazy and Curiel does his best with the pacing, but it still feels sluggish at regular intervals.  Still, the music and scenery go a long way.

 

HELLISH SPIDERS

(1968)

Overall: WOOF

 

Another ridiculous luchador mash-up featuring the Blue Demon, Hellish Spiders, (Arañas infernales), finds the lucha libre beefcake squaring-off against a planet of spider aliens who are on an Earth-conquering quest to harvest human brains.  Said extraterrestrial race's leader is a furry puppet arachnid with an adorable old lady voice and they control their spacecraft from their pitch-black lair with over-sized Christmas ornaments hanging from strings.  The movie frequently detours into tortuously boring wrestling matches and training sequences, yet the last of them is a hoot as the Blue Demon faces the planet Arácnea's own shirtless, mildly muscular prize fighter whose hand turns into a spider stuffed animal near the end of the match.  Such absurdity sounds more fun on paper than it is to actually watch though, as director Federico Curiel once again is unable to maintain a sense of acceptable pacing, even outside of the numerous minutes dedicated to men tossing each other around the ring; minutes that advance the plot in no way whatsoever.  Overly talky and laughably cheep, (including Ed Wood-worthy flying saucer shots, barren sets, "standing around and repeating the same dialog over and over again" scenes, and recycled musical cues), there are at least frequent moments to make fun of, if one is in the right "bad movie night" spirit.

LA SOMBRA DEL MURCIÉLAGO

(1968)

Overall: MEH

More Blue Demon-stared silliness with La sombr del Murciélago, (The Shadow of the Bat), which is more or less a luchador version of Phantom of the Opera except cheaper and catastrophically more boring.  The usual handicaps are in place; Blue Demon and other characters with zero personality stand in rooms while discussing details of crimes being committed in stagnant medium shots, several wrestling matches slow everything down, several musical numbers slow everything down further, everyone repeats the same dialog whenever they are given the chance, and the camera lingers on scenes far longer than is necessary.  That said, the whole wrestling angle is actually integral to the plot where Fernando Osés' megalomaniacal, organ-playing former lucha libre champion kidnaps both women and fellow fighting athletes in order to humor himself and reclaim his former glory.  Still, the production is so lackluster and the film so poorly shot that even its would-be exciting bash-em-up scenes are rendered anticlimactic.  As a genre hybrid, some of it is goofy enough to endure, plus it is no better or worse than the gallons of other movies featuring either the Blue Demon or any other lucha libre hero battling some kind of alien, supernatural, or criminal force.