MonsterVision99 Reviews

Prehysteria! 3 (1995 Video)

Weirdo kid's flick.

[6/10 · 24 May 2024]

19th opus in queer director's David Decoteau's career. Cheap infra-production with stock footage, stock characters and stock sequences already presented and seen in the last two movies. Filled with reiterative narrative excuses to simply reset what was built in the last movie and create a similar story about the mini-dinos solving family conflicts but with less of a presence and not nearly as personal this time around.

Decoteau doesn't have much to grab onto this time, the script provides the characters with cartoon-like behaviors and adds a mocking tone of cynical children schlock, leaning on the over the top performances and decidedly absurd/cleverless jokes that giveaway it's careless and utterly self-conscious condition.

Having said that, David's touch is unquestionable, with the expected immersion-breaking kitchyness (perhaps not as potent as the one in his more radical searches for modern camp like A Talking Cat), the gender transgressions and unexpected stereotype-free female characters, but perhaps the biggest staple it's the unabashed quirkiness and the earnestly eccentric spirit.

Besides that, there's nothing here other than the shoddy children fiction tropes one can point out since it shares a screenwriter with Foodfight! (2012). Five writers got their hands on the project and it shows in its eclectic structure and messy concatenation of jokes.

The flaws turn into virtues for the warned spectator, enjoyable for those who like weird cinema, they will find what they seek for in this negligible little piece of infantile camp without remorse or reservations.

Prehysteria! (1993)

Depuring the children's movie, Charles Band style.

[5/10 · 23 May 2024]

Moonbeam is interesting because with it Band finally admits the childish nature of his comic booky stories and his trademark whimsical tone, now without the irruption of sex and violence present in the average Full Moon outing.

A nauseating sitcom family dynamic is at the center of the picture, injected with the derivative dilemmas of children's fiction, even with a trite and underdeveloped backstory of grief that sometimes comes up whenever the script requires it (this whole "missing parental figure" thing also troubled the child protagonist of The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), where the void was also filled by a showcase of special effects and stop motion). A charmingly naive fantasy tale done in a post-Spielberg/Dante era, with the rowdy spirit found in the tamest scenes from Gremlins (1984) but without the satirical perversion of childish iconography and subjects. Band's film maintains it's purity and childishness without allowing it to be contaminated by dreadful morbidness, grossness or violence of any kind, every punch and firearm shot is clean and harmless, every "adult" joke is safe and restrained, every conventionally attractive adult that's single falls in love with another one, and every piece falls into place without any problem or trouble. There's no place for verisimilitude in the childish fantasy.

The real stars are obviously the David Allen-made micro-beasts, who engage in the typical disastrous misadventures and cutesy little shenanigans these movies require. Dino-puppies extracted from the likes of Beethoven (1992) and its sequels. Perhaps one of the most interesting things is the way the Bands portray the dino-doggies, with a crushing ordinariness, their reveal occurs with the utmost cinematic casualness, from one shot to another, one cut it's all that's necessary to reveal them, as opposed to the typical Spielbergian procedures seen on Gremlins, where the search for a particular effect and emotion forced the direction to employ shots specifically constructed and timed to convey a certain feeling (the tilted and moody shots of the Gremlins hatching for example) but Band opts to dispose of all of that, never even accentuating an emotion. The reactions humans have to seeing the dinosaurs are no different. There's no true questioning of the little creatures aside from simply pointing out their strange appearance in the house. The small reptiles are shot and framed as simply another element of daily life, inhabiting the frame as naturally as any puppy or cat does. Never seen with strangeness or making them disturb the world created. There's no place for the questioning of the fantastical in the childish fantasy.

The old school model seems transported from the 50's and 60's, mostly untouched, perhaps out of the inability of father Band to adapt to the times, or perhaps the son's nostalgia is the one responsible for such backwardness. As with most of Band's catalog, the core is an old model that becomes slightly modified by the popular tropes of the time, but it's mostly undisturbed by modern sensibilities or worries.

Prehysteria has no objective other than purifying the children's film, while Jurassic Park (1993), Gremlins (1984) and Goonies (1985) pushed the limits of the subgenre, maturing and occasionally pouring a few drops of meanness and intensity into their stories, Band brought back naivety to it, a deliberate and shameless naivety, always conscious of it's tone and with total conviction to it, self conscious but not self deprecating, proud of an obsolete cinematic infantilism.

The best and most fitting start for Moonbeam.

Maciste contro i mostri (1962)

Prehistoric peplum that delivers.

[7/10 · 20 March 2024]

The docile peplum. The brutalist peplum: simple, honest and functional. Self Conscious and detached yet ludic, rough and practical. Typical storyline, uninvolved camera that lets its subjects act and move within the frame but with a precise concatenation of shots that narrate fluidly, engaging simplicity in its mise-en-scène that's as primitive as its setting. Playful game of period dressup and monster-slaying action. Images in movement that set a wider world, one that rejects personal psychological motives and embraces the lower instincts, larger than life scenarios and ancient themes (those stolen from the epic stories peplum derives from).

Must every peplum have artifice of a highly pictorial Leone? The ecstatic spectral otherworldly images of Bava? The constant action of Corbucci? Why not a brutalist and raw piece of pure peplumness.

El triunfo de los campeones justicieros (1974)

Wonderful potpourri of popular entertainment. Great recontextualizationof the genre.

[8/10 · 12 December 2023]

Unlike the impetuous and frenetic direction by Curiel, Rafael Lanuza was much more traditionally static, more interested in the loony sets, kooky wardrobe and wacky effects. He delivered a film of extravagant framing and outlandish art direction, with comic-booky plots along the same lines (but approached differently) as the ones Curiel diffused with his touch.

While Superzan and the Space Child (1973) had a rather unorthodox execution, Lanuza adapted himself quite well to the wrestling subgenre with this outing, implementing the strange deviations, cartoony logic and artificial visuals the genre demands.

The clash between the styles of both filmmakers regarding the Campeones trilogy is quite evident. That which Curiel captured in a distant and alienated way, almost in an improvised manner, Lanuza instead directs it with a lot more shots thought a priori, more prominently using close ups and inserts. What Curiel saw from a distance Lanuza shoves it in your face and rejoices in it.

This third entry mixes some of the more prominent pillars of popular entertainment, not only the typical superhero comics or the sport and spectacle that's wrestling (both of them being already in the genre's DNA), but Lanuza in this picture adds the circus to it's combo, reimagining these battles involving masked heroes as a deranged circus act instead of a spectacle derived from the ring, making it's characters interact with circus scenery and having an audience present to be delighted by the battle antics. Perhaps because of this refreshing recontextualization, El triunfo de los campeones justicieros comes off as one of the most interesting cocktails of vulgar and common entertainment for the masses.

Incomprehensible science of unreal logic, jumping between dimensions and cheaply teleporting between spaces, taking advantage of its colorful paper mache backdrops and overall zany madness. The oddity of the genre unfolds with efficiency in this indescribable film that's one of its high points.

The Champions Five Supermen (1972)

Worthy sequel but slightly less majestic.

[7/10 · 6 December 2023]

Of similar confection as the first film, this one opts to show more rumbles in the actual ring rather than outside, which makes the fights less potent, the battles between the heroes and villains are significantly reduced, making the whole thing a bit lacking. The rhythm it's less fluid, stopping at several points to admire the static spectacle, from wrestling to filler songs.

Curiel directs with the same unpreoccupied spirit, now much more observing and wanderer than before, with even less interest in telling than in showing events, although always taking advantage of its free form to travel without restriction across the scenarios, capturing the events and subjects with a detached but contemplative view.

Consisting of scenes of dilated duration that would only take two or three fragments in any other movie, the film delights itself without measure in the ambients and actions that conform it's elongated sequences, slowing the narrative development to an unusual degree, to the point where the main villain doesn't reveal her plans until the last ten minutes of the film. Once arriving at the similarly careless third act, the film takes its ending for granted and resolves its climax by skipping over the self-evident aspects of the story formula and going directly to the resolution.

Curiel typically offers a kind of erratic alternative to commercial cinema, often squeezing and extending the events of its barebones plot in joyfully artificial ways, delivering a story as abstract as its construction. Unfeasible regurgitation of superhero and wrestling hero comic book tropes. Potent yet loose and ludic addition to wrestling cinema.

Los campeones justicieros (1971)

Outlandish classic among classics.

[9/10 · 2 December 2023]

One of the high points in lucha libre cinema that exemplifies the bizarre conception of commercial cinema Mexican filmmakers had when creating one of these deranged and merely cinematic efforts.

A good balance between the roster of superhero wrestlers present, characters that are more iconic than psychological, with economic characterizations understood by audience members familiar with them. Villains and helpers that lack conventional introduction, alluding to previous unseen adventures regardless of whether they happened or not.

Curiel's direction has evolved from the classic construction of his americanized and serial-inspired direction of his early work, the meticulous action-based blocking of his early Santo trilogy, western movies and the Nostradamus films changes into more instinctive ways, he becomes more abstract and observant with time rather than planning, utilizing an unsettled camera that only selects the components necessary for the bare minimum narrative development. A mise en scène that nourishes because of its unconventional and oddly enriching details, at a first glance they seem superficial but due to the careful construction they fill the movie with life and rhythm, an example is the fragment of Mil Mascaras changing his mask in one swift movement without unveiling his face, in these small instants the film becomes distracted and prefers to dedicate it's focus to these tiny moments of interest, making it more vigorous.

Stunning colors and delirious psychedelic scenarios constitute the outrageous art direction employed in lucha libre cinema, constantly taking inspiration from its comic book roots. The obligatory exhibition wrestling events for the delight of the public are present (both for the theatrical audiences and the diegetic audience of the film) in this film they end up clashing with the fragile prettiness of the beauty pageant, covering both conventional spheres of mexican conservative views of men and women, as well as a way to serve the expected exploitation eye-candy to it's intended audience.

Explosive images of contrasting colors and sizes of its subjects, the uniformed dwarfs and the distinctive wrestlers unite to create an impressively fluid kinetic experience of primitive brawls to the rhythm of Gustavo Cesar Carrion's frenetic music. A harmony of psychotronic extravagance.

Finally, to declare it's intentions of adapting a comic into the big screen, the film's closing image alludes to the one that opens it, the glorified wrestling heroes riding their bikes (this time conveying a change in the status by adding their female partners) signaling the episodic nature of these movies, typical of the simple plots and joyful spirit of superhero stories. Something also present in Vuelven los campeones justicieros, also by Curiel.

The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1983)

Entertaining enough but its lower tier Mattei.

[5/10 · 26 November 2023]

Not all of them can be winners, even Buñuel and Fernando de Fuentes had their own lower tier films, while this isn't exactly on the same level as La hija del engaño (1951) or something like that it's still a very tepid entry for Mattei, devoid of life and stimulating ideas, it never rises above being a slightly above average peplum/Conan rehash/parody. Mattei and Fragasso only made one of these after all.

Bruno, predictably, has zero interest in this story and directs a lot of the action sequences with laziness and carelessness, which sort of works considering the style of his oeuvre as in that the parodic elements and complete degradation of the genres and subjects he touches can easily flourish even on auto-pilot but this outing lacks compelling images, expressive touches and a cohesive sense of direction that typically unites all of the elements of a good film, things we usually find on Mattei films but not here, making it one of his least interesting ones.

The first person sequence with Sybil Danning and a couple of the delirious scenes kind of bring this one up a notch but the poor budget restricts much of it. With the classically mostly static camera, the kitschy outfits and the abundant wide shots that capture the fights, one can understand that it's totally a peplum send up, after all, it's on Italy's DNA regardless of whether or not they try to rip-off Conan. As its own peplum tribute/parody it works just fine even in its poor condition.

Demonic Toys: Jack-Attack (2023)

The evolution of the Full Moon style.

[7/10 · 21 November 2023]

Falls in line with the style cemented in the first entry of this new series by Butler, almost aiding the search for modern camp that defines the recent works of David DeCoteau while at the same time structuring the film after the same threadbare plots from 90's Full Moon.

Butler ran out of characters he cared about and wisely constructed a shallow and skeletal storyline falling into an effective and recognizable formula. A crude sketch of a story with plain drama of little to no importance to the director but it's all sufficient when all that matters is what's grotesque and of course the unhinged imagery these movies excel at, gaining strength when put in an unremarkable and mundane location.

Deliriously schizophrenic. False to the core and transparent about it. Shoestring story and careless construction that oddly enough never let's go. Engaging contrast of American dullness cut by an array of beautifully swift kills of fine B-movie craftsmanship. Abstract approximation to officialist horror cinema that gets to be majestic while disposing the formal basics. Typical modern Full Moon.

The Conqueror of Atlantis (1965)

Familiar but fun and well done peplum.

[7/10 · 2 September 2023]

Brescia's third film is yet another peplum film that touches somewhat familiar territory but manages to pull off very well the same spirit of fun and light adventure present in some of the greater examples of the genre. His own take on the myth of Hercules seems rather derivative, kind of what we have seen in Hercules at the Conquest of Atlantis (1961) but done in a much less polished and notably cheaper way, leaving behind almost all mythic lore and opting for a rather self contained new sci-fi/fantasy background for the lost civilization. Because of this, Heracles feels less mighty than Hercules but his struggles and journey are almost as effective.

Incredibly well-paced, action driven, colorful and magnificently psychotronic. This is an interesting piece of peplum cinema that serves as a curious addition even if it's not new territory at all. You can tell this is early Brescia as there are some seeds but he hasn't fully gotten to the highpoint of pulpy cinematic sublimity he reached during his space movie cycle.

The Beast from the Beginning of Time (1965)

Great cheap monster movie.

[8/10 · 2 September 2023]

Talky but engaging oddity with a caveman going on a killing spree. Good make up for the deformed beast. The chiaroscuro lighting, the dark backgrounds and hard lighting on the subjects gives them a special highlight within the shot and becomes borderline expressionistic at times. The framing and composition becomes particularly expressive during key moments and adds to the strange atmosphere the film creates, especially during the last 20 minutes. The directing is mostly the typical static master shots with a few inserts but sometimes the director focuses on objects and even zooms in and out of them at certain moments for accentuation (not with the same end and narrative focus as, let's say, Jess Franco but still very good direction), unorthodox techniques that were rather underused in movies at the time it was made. This type of outsider art is why low budget regional movies are always far more interesting than the mass produced corporate productions from big studios, even to this day.

The ironic thing about this is that this movie about a strange being from a bygone era becoming unearthed and destroyed by the modern man suffered the same fate as its monster, being uncovered and taken from 1965 to 1981, only to be eviscerated by critics and audiences, who judged it negatively as soon as it was discovered. With the addition of gore and the fact that it seems like a throwback to the type of movie being produced just a few years earlier, perhaps it was a cute homage to 50's creature features. Either way, an unexpected but welcomed addition to the monster movie genre.

Caligula et Messaline (1981)

Very good Mattei joint but not his ultimate work.

[7/10 · 1 September 2023]

Mattei's sardonic riff on Brass' Caligula picks up the symbols and exploitation elements that expressed the themes of political perversion and lunacy of the 1979 masterwork but manages to add an even more evident Sadean influence both in it's redundant and disjointed plot and casual or vulgar use of deviant sex and brutal violence, devoid of the poetic bloodshed and tasteful nudity present before Guccione intervened in that other production. Here, Mattei displays his usual masterful skills at making dynamic and memorable images of apparently vulgar material but charges them with his usual iconoclast ideas about power, this time using ostentatious roman scenery as a setting instead of his usual nazi military installations, catholic churches or prisons. He also elevates the female figure of these roman stories by having the main female lead engage in typically male schemes (like the ones that killed emperors such as Julius Cesar and Caligula himself) and confrontations, both physically (the gladiatrix battle that functions as a metaphor for her struggle in the male dominated field of being a powerful ruler) and politically, of course.

The film's credits are displayed over a toy-like and clearly artificial miniature rome, as if the heavy hitters in the story inhabit a blatantly false and fictitious world, maybe rome is a playground not only for Mattei as the real narrator of this story or even the emperors that take part in it but for the manipulative and nymphomaniac Messalina, perhaps the whole system or the idea of government is in itself fake and absurd. Not only that, but the introductory image is that of a statue of Caligula's white horse (common symbol of extravagance and political ineptitude) but there are two more along with it, making it an animalistic three way: Caligula, Messalina and perhaps Claudius? The horse motif runs wild in this film and it's even mocked by human reenactments of horse actions or with the use of both horses and donkeys in sexual scenes that typically employ humans, while someone like D'Amato would gleefully rejoice in such sordidness, Mattei looks at it with stoic detachment for dramatic and thematic purposes.

It's an overall solid but not hugely potent work by the great Mattei.

Los jóvenes (1961)

Almost a gem but a very worthy directing debut by Alcoriza.

[6/10 · 29 August 2023]

Luis Alcoriza, Buñuel's most frequent collaborator during his Mexican period, debuts as a director in this refreshing and transgressive work about Mexican youth. Modernity in Mexico is represented by the youth in this picture, exploring the new generation of Mexicans, their radical ideas, vices, rebellious attitude, sexual liberation and overall americanization of Mexican culture that's still prevalent to this day.

The idea of sixties western materialism was just starting to take hold in Mexico and Alcoriza was the first one to portray this metropolitan scene, quite honestly and efficiently might I add. As such, the cinematic techniques are also modernized, Alcoriza directs with a notable influence of Nicholas Ray, something clear in it's text, mise en scène, composition and tone, some others have noted a French New Wave influence but it's not iconoclast enough in it's form to be such a thing, perhaps it's closer to a Jean Renoir or Fellini film and their way of criticizing the bourgeoisie (long, self-indulging parties conveying their boredom and escapism from life's real threats) more than the frenchmen of the sixties. Also, the film was shot before Breathless took over the world.

In some ways it resembles Los Olvidados a lot. It features a young generation lost in an adult world that they are not ready for. In Los Olvidados they were forgotten by their parents but in Los Jóvenes they were spoiled and badly prepared by parents who were also faulty and can't adapt or evolve with the times to begin with.

It drags a bit and its melodramatic touches are too artificial for me, unlike the raw and realistic Los Olvidados, but I suppose that's just a different approach altogether. This is more in line with the swinging sixties moralistic teenage dramas with one foot in the counter cultural territory rather than the cruel and raw portrait of human misery from Buñuel's film, but even the other Buñuel-Alcoriza collabs were commercial pictures that worked and managed to be paced better than this. Either way, this is an essential but somehow forgotten piece of Mexican cinema.

The Touch of Satan (1971)

Beautiful folk horror.

[7/10 · 29 August 2023]

Haunting and rough rural/gothic/witch horror movie. Fatalistic but romantic, grim but idealistic and perhaps even ethereal.

Its crude but atmospheric cinematography works especially well during the brightly lit murder sequences in the middle of the day and its understated horror scenes are moody and more effective than the typical loud scare-filled shocker. Borderline sublime.

The director of photography, Jordan Cronenweth, would eventually shoot the similarly dense and otherworldly Altered States and even lesser work like Blade Runner (sorry, cinebros). Meanwhile, the director stopped making movies and the writer also retired from the creative world. They were working towards this masterpiece, and as soon as they released it, the game was over. Total geniuses.

Werewolves on Wheels (1971)

"We all know how we're going to die, baby. We're gonna crash and burn"

[7/10 · 27 August 2023]

Counter cultural loose Drive-In exploitation fare (perhaps a redundant description) that employs the typical metaphor of the werewolf, that is, man's inner beast manifesting in physical form to cause havoc, while taking a page from Easy Rider's fatalistic worldview and exploration of the biker life, manifesting the characters psychological and spiritual disorientation to this vast and dirty desert they are "lost" in, serving as the backdrop for this deranged horror experience (done better in the sleazier Satan's Sadists but that's a high bar). Even in its free and experimental form that sometimes closely resembles what a "vérité" genre movie would look like, it's far more stimulating, playful and captivating than some "refined," mind-numbing, pseudo-artistic exercise like Woman in Dunes for example (as much as I liked that one).

While it does imply that the biker's free lifestyle is prone to corruption, degradation, vice, sin and misery, it also states that perhaps turning into a beast will get rid of the pain of being a man.

El hijo de Santo en frontera sin ley (1983)

Horrendous wrestling flick during the last days of the lucha libre movie boom.

[3/10 · 8 June 2023]

During the early and mid eighties, the lucha libre genre was painfully tired and this awful movie seems to be scraping the bottom of the barrel, making Son of Santo stand around with little or nothing to do as his irritating companions annoy the audience with their terrible acting and insipid jokes. Mil Máscaras comes in halfway through the picture and makes a minor attempt at salvaging it but the film quickly slips into the same pitfalls.

There's little to no effort put into the writing as most of it simply skips the meat of the story and goes straight for the key scenes and plot points that advance the "narrative" but lacking any development, sense of rhythm or actual dramatic weight, that kind of describes most of Pérez Grovas' directorial output. Usually, wrestling cinema achieves the impossible while ignoring the traditional "basics" if a talented director handles the picture and makes it purely cinematic, but here we have nothing to hang onto.

The direction is predictably dull, consisting of the static and carelessly composed long shots, medium shots and two shots that Pérez Grovas just loved to employ without thought or artistic instinct.

While it does feature some slightly charismatic performances, a derivative plot but with some potential and the occasionally amusing chase or fight scene, it's mostly a rather generic and uninteresting potboiler.

A far cry from Grovas' two best movies: Santo and the TV Killer (1981) and Chanoc in the Island of the Dead (1977), they worked in their cheapness and awkwardness but were also relatively fun, unlike this hack job. It is, however, more entertaining than Chanoc and Son of Santo vs the Killer Vampires (1983) which was utterly uneventful and the lowest point in the series.

ONLY recommended for wrestling movie completists and no one else.

Pérez Grovas went on to direct some small crime and comedy movies before retiring around 1994, he passed away in 2009. Some of his better productions were the Miguel Morayta vampire movies (The Bloody Vampire and Invasion of the Vampires), the great Chano Urueta Blue Demon films and The Volcano Monster (1963). Those are definitely recommended.

Capulina vs. The Mummies (The Terror of Guanajuato) (1973)

Decent Capulina movie, uninteresting mummy flick.

[5/10 · 20 May 2023]

Kind of in the upper ranking of the Capulina movies due to the bigger and more elaborate production values but somewhat underwhelming if you are looking for a straight monster movie even if its quick pace and the performance by the main actor make it entertaining. It's really more of a commercial for Guatemala.

The mummies themselves have very sporadic appearances but the filmmakers realize the gold mine they are sitting in by the end of the film and the climax actually features some neat comedic monster action, otherwise, we are left with a routinary and witless vehicle for Capulina. Not as consistent with its jokes as the Viruta/Gómez Bolaños era was and it's not as action driven as the typical mexican B-movie featuring monsters, so it just pales in comparison to some other flicks of its kind, although, it is a rather watchable outing with a few memorable sequences that redeem it. About as well done as a Capulina movie can be.

Overall, mostly stale and carried by its few mummy scenes. Recommended for mexican horror movie completists or if you wanna see a very peculiar version of this type of creature.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Easy to watch but hard to remember.

[5/10 · 23 April 2023]

Like the 2013 remake, it's too artificial to be creepy and too unimaginative to be fun.

The horror sequences are mostly predictable and while the pace is fast you never actually get immersed or care about anything that's going on. A wuthering heights component would have elevated the story if its quotes were actually relevant to the film in any way, especially since it's a book about a group people who love each other but also have deep hatred for others among them, perhaps it would have been interesting to have the subtext of the family be similar but instead we have rather generic interactions.

A compilation of "wouldn't this be a cool gore set-piece?" type of sequences that regurgitate everything from the original trilogy to other famous and often imitated horror movies. The witty parody element is almost gone as well, replaced by senseless gore. The performances are quite serviceable and the core characters had great potential but are mostly wasted for shock sake. A routinary Hollywood horror flick that is often elevated by the fact that it's imitating the real Evil Dead.

While it is a superlative splatterfest without charm and nothing to say, I kind of liked it.

La casa embrujada (1949)

Watchable David T. Bamberg vehicle.

[5/10 · 10 April 2023]

Kind of a stilted but ultimately enjoyable (if irrelevant) cheap horror mystery. David Bamberg has a bigger role and more time to shine in this one than in "La mujer sin cabeza" as in that he actually shows some comedic charm and plays off of the supporting actors quite decently. While this is a potboiler of limited resources, it takes advantage of its inventive concept and gothic scenery. The idea of having a magician escape a group of criminals and kidnappers in a haunted house by using his tricks is a rather intriguing idea. The dynamic direction and relatively satisfying production values certainly help the film.

La mafia amarilla (1975)

Unexceptional wrestling film but mostly enjoyable.

[6/10 · 13 February 2023]

Mafia Amarilla is a rather obscure low budget wrestling movie featuring the great Blue Demon, sort of a semi-sequel or companion piece to Noche de Muerte since both share the same director and some of the same actors playing the same characters.

It falls in line with films such as Destructor de Espías and Pasaporte a la muerte, it presents a rather routinary spy/crime plot and injects the luchador hero into a group of main characters looking to foil the plans of an evil mastermind, in this case, a group of stereotyped asian criminals belonging to a gang.

As it is expected from a film of its kind, Mafia Amarilla is a very cartoony film, not only in its logic or because of the kitschy aesthetic one would expect from it, but also because of the greatly offensive "yellow peril" characterization of its asian characters, the leftovers of a bygone era of comic books and pulpy books that inspired the adventures of Santo and friends, so one cannot fault it for picking this specific aspect from those archaic pieces of media.

While it is a mostly unremarkable (yet functional and entertaining) film, I find amusing the fact that it brings back Blue Demon's detective facet, as it had been neglected for the past few films, and even later movies would as well. It is quite captivating witnessing Blue investigating the case and finding information on the villains through various action packed sequences that make the film even more worthwhile.

It's a satisfying spy flick with well-defined supporting characters that are actually likable if a little underdeveloped and two dimensional, however, they are well interpreted by talented performers. The plot is intriguing and not very complex but the battle sequences and the unreal twists the plot takes quite make up for it. It lacks the surreal images and rhythmic montage that usually elevates wrestling cinema, so its overall not very exceptional.

La mano que aprieta (1966)

Fun 60's wrestling movie.

[7/10 · 8 November 2022]

Good lucha libre entry. Second film featuring Angel and Satan, two forgotten characters in wrestling cinema but who had solid projects, this being one of then, perhaps their best. The previous entry being "Los endemoniados del ring" which was rather tepid compared to this one.

A very typical crime/sci-fi plot thats well executed and with unforgettable kitsch imagery. Fun ride with some of the usual padding and crazy ideas but it all comes together nicely. A good example of the genre even if it doesnt do anything too different.

Recommended mostly for wrestling movie fans and those who enjoy vintage low budget sci-fi.

Una rosa sobre el ring (1973)

An mostly cheesy melodrama involving wrestling.

[4/10 · 22 August 2022]

This isnt a horrible film but it really fails at creating a compelling narrative with its characters, storyline and wrestling setting.

The acting is quite competent but.the actual narrative is weak and the direction is unspired and uneffective.

Overall, its a bland melodrama without any real emotional impact. It has a couple of scenes that actually work but the whole film is rather dull and slow.

Los endemoniados del ring (1966)

Well made but generic.

[5/10 · 8 August 2022]

A rather tame but decently written crime/lucha libre flick. No monsters or supernatural beings of any kind to be seen, just gangsters involved with wrestling. Two good masked leads with a bit more characterization to them than the usual film of this kind. A perfectly fine entry in the sub-genre but nothing truly outstanding.

Superzan y el niño del espacio (1973)

Campy, cheap and fun sci-fi flick from Latin America.

[7/10 · 29 May 2022]

At this point in lucha libre cinema several Agrasanchez pictures were shot in Guatemala to lower production costs and some of them were held by a director from said country: Rafael Lanuza. Lanuza was a Guatemalan director who began his career in 1952 with Una corona para mi madre and would continue to direct other films that include some well-known luchador movies from the era. Although most of his independent Guatemalan filmography seems to be lost or straight up neglected.

Superzan and the Space Boy is a cheesy low budget joint in the same vein as some of the previous Agrasanchez films but with cool visuals, cheap but nice looking special effects and an intriguing plot involving a benevolent alien that is used by an evil scientist to fufill his plans of world domination. A fun and colorful ride with very little action but the kooky story and characters make up for it. Oddly enough, the Superzan movies seem to be slightly more thoughtful and less action driven than other flicks of the genre, almost subversive even, since most of the alien beings presented are often well-intentioned and humans are always the bad guys.

Quite a silly piece of Latin American sci-fi from the seventies. Recommended for cult film fans and those who enjoy Santo movies as well, but make sure you know spanish or have subtitles.

Santo vs. Doctor Death (1973)

Spain does a Santo movie.

[7/10 · 28 May 2022]

A refreshing Santo picture since it was mostly produced in Spain, and it shows, the execution its mostly the generic action crime film from the time with a few slightly horror-like elements that arent too dissimilar from a Mexican Santo film.

Going from a third world country with barely any money or resources to a first world country with a far bigger film industry really did a lot to change the overall feel and production value of the series with this one (even if this is still low budget). Its not as great as some of the best Santo entries done in the wrestler´s home country, but it is a welcome addition, specially since some of the last few movies were nothing spectacular or new.

A very serviceable european action spy movie that just so happens to have Santo in a leading role. Not amazing but entertaining enough.

Mostly recommended for Santo and wrestling movie fans.

Santo vs. the Kidnappers (1973)

Underwhelming Santo entry with lots of filler and unfunny comedic scenes.

[4/10 · 18 May 2022]

Subpar Santo flick. The fights are well shot and exciting enough but the filler and the comedic shenanigans by Evaristo (Ecuatorian comedian) really hurt the movie. A lot of plot elements are also derivative as we saw them in other Santo entries so theres nothing new here.

An overall flawed movie with decent moments here and there.

Mostly recommended for Santo and wrestling movie completists.