60's Mexican Horror Part Three - (Chano Urueta Edition)

THE BRAINIAC
(1962)
Overall: MEH

Another absurdly flawed Mexican export, (made more so by its American dubbed version), The Brainiac, (El Baron del Terror), has a typical amount of strangeness common to many of the horror outings from south of the border.  The main bad guy is a resurrected sorcerer who came to be from emerging from a comet that crashed into earth, at which points he turns into a harry demon with a long rubber tongue and lobster claws who eats the brains of his victims.  Worry not though, none of this is explained. How asinine the script is and how lame the effects are would be a hoot if not for director Chano Urueta having no clue how to structure anything here.  There is one scene where Abel Salazar is hosting a party, watches several couples walk into his mansion, and stares at them while the faces of their dead ancestors are superimposed over theirs as they remain still. This then goes on, over and over again for several minutes.  The kill scenes follow a similarly monotonous pattern as he politely converses with them for no reason, immobilizes the male while he makes out with the female, turns into a monster, then burns them.  This also happens more than once.

THE WITCH'S MIRROR
(1962)
Overall: MEH

Falling a tad below average due to tedious second and third acts, The Witch's Mirror, (El espejo de la bruja), is another cliche-ridden and strange Mexican, Gothic horror export.  Directed by Chano Urueta, (who made well over a hundred movies going all the way back to the silent era), this one has severed hands acting on their own accord and a piano playing by itself, (ala The Beast with Five Fingers), a mad surgeon trying to restore a loved ones beauty, (ala Eyes Without a Face), plus grave robbery, infidelity, a haunted castle, and of course witchcraft.   Having the sympathetic "hero" for your movie being an old, Satanic witch is a no-brainer and the movie wastes no time in showcasing her diabolical ways.  The opening scene has two women staring into the mirror of the title where we see a hooded figure in a weird devil, (or something), mask, plus monstrous hands, skulls, and enough fog for a 70s prog band's live show.  Unfortunately, it gets the good evil stuff out of the way quickly and before too long, it goes through the motions with the witch lady talking to Satan, resurrecting her goddaughter only to tell her she can rest in peace, (again), and the surgeon guy telling his wife to have patience with all of the wicked tomfoolery going on.

 

THE LIVING HEAD

(1963)

Overall: MEH

Following in Mexico's tradition of staggeringly boring mummy movies, The Living Head, (La cabeza viviente), is not as laughably redundant as the latter two Aztec Mummy films, but it is definitely in line with that series in its familiar story and comatose-inducing structure.  One of many works from prolific director Chano Urueta, any sense of excitement that he and his crew can drudge up is rendered hopeless against the hugely unimaginative script.  The majority of the minuscule budget seems to have been blown on the opening Aztec ceremony which is appropriately grabbing, yet unfortunately, the dialog then uttered by the High Priest gets recycled ad nauseam throughout the rest of the film once things switch to the contemporary age.  It cannot be understated how wretchedly monotonous the plotting is here as the same three people have virtually identical dialog exchanges one after the other and each fail to do the bad guy's hypnotic bidding during a single scene that feels eight hours long.  Anti-climactic from front to back with actors practically sleepwalking through their performances, (even when they are not under a psychic spell), the best thing that can be said about the movie is that it is inept enough to be instantly forgettable as to not ruin the rest of your day once you finish watching it.