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Doctor
of Doom
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6 |
Aztec
Mummy
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4 |
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 |
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8 |
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| Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
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Mexican
Wrestling Women!
What more joyous
three words are there in the English language? And what better
sub(sub)genre of movie can there be to separate the true cult
film fanatic from the pretender? We all love movies featuring
sci-fi, horror, action, women in skin tight outfits and beehive
hairdos... So how can you not love a film that combines all
these elements into one big entertainment package? In all honesty,
I feel that if you can embrace the Mexican Wrestling movies
made in the '60s with an open heart and fevered mind, you can
certainly be called a Cult Film Fan. Others may point to a Godzilla
shrine in their living room or the complete Andy Sidaris DVD
collection lining a shelf as proof of their bona fides but Wrestling
Women pictures separate the men from the boys! Already part
of a bizarre genre to begin with, the Luchadoras are
just a little more over the top than even the adventures of
El Santo or Blue Demon. Never less than fun, they add a little
bit of extra joy to an otherwise drab world. And now those wonderful
people at Something Weird Video offer up two of the best (ahem)
of these south of the border epics on one DVD, which promises
to be the first in a series called The K. Gordon Murray Collection.
As the DVD's brief enclosed booklet informs you, Mr. Murray
was a "film broker" who bought cheaply made foreign
films, dubbed them and distributed them in the States. The two
movies presented here are only two of the dozens of Mexican
films he brought north —
I can only hope they will be able to release more in the future.
Anyone with an interest in these films will be pleased to have
this disc.
First
up is Doctor of Doom, in which
a hooded mad scientist is kidnapping and killing beautiful young
girls. But he's not doing this just for the thrill of offing
voluptuous Mexican ladies. Oh, no. He has a plan! (A mad plan,
but a plan nevertheless.) He's attempting to transplant the
brain of a gorilla into the skull of a human female to create
an unstoppable slave to do his bidding. Unfortunately, all the
women he has operated on so far have died during or soon
after the surgery. Desperate to
find a woman of strong enough constitution to survive the ordeal,
he turns his eye to Gloria Venus (Lorena Velázquez), a champion
wrestler. Gloria and her new wrestling partner The Golden Rubi
(Elizabeth Campbell) are soon enlisted by their (fairly ineffectual)
police boyfriends to help catch this killer and his gang of
ruffians. Complicating things is the Doctor's one successful
surgical patient, a super-strong monstrosity named Gomar that
obeys his master's every deadly command. But even after he is
defeated and Gomar destroyed, the now acid-scarred Doctor escapes.
Bent on revenge against the luchadoras he creates his
own female wrestler called Vendetta and presents himself as
her masked ring manager. Of course, a lot of the movie's scant
running time is taken up by action in the wrestling ring but
these fights are a blast to watch if no other reason than to
spot when Gloria is being doubled by someone who is easily 50
lbs. heavier. And although the identity of the mad doctor is
obvious pretty quickly, it's great fun to see him go over the
top at the end.
The
second feature is Wrestling Women vs.
the Aztec Mummy and seems to be a sequel to the first
film. Both Velázquez and Campbell
return as the leads but for no good reason Gloria is now called
Loretta. They and their blundering boyfriends are drawn into
a battle against an evil Asian gang. The gang's faux Fu Manchu
leader The Black Dragon is trying to gain all the pieces of
an Aztec codex that will lead him to a great treasure. The archeologists
in possession of the codex are being bumped off and the ladies
step in to help. There is much criminal fumbling about and bad
comic relief but soon enough an amusingly arranged wrestling
match between the Wrestling Women and the Dragon's two judo-master
sisters takes place. Afterwards our heroes finally make their
way to the site of the treasure with the evil gang following
close behind. There are many reasons to complain about this
film that have nothing to do with an overabundance of time consuming
wrestling matches (many of which are repeated from the first
film)... First would be that the Aztec Mummy of the title doesn't
show up until the 70 minute mark; secondly, the battle between
the gang and the Mummy is underwhelming to say the least. Plus
we never know what happened to The Black Dragon after his gang
is "destroyed" by being tossed around. He just disappears
from the story and is forgotten. But maybe I'm falling into
the same trap others have when watching these movies. These
wacky films work best on their own level of logic and sometimes
it's best to just go along for the ride. I'm not saying my critical
faculties aren't in play, but I am saying that any film that
makes me smile this much can't be too bad.
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As
much as I enjoy the movies on this disc I do wish that Something
Weird had been able to get better prints. Sadly, both look little
better than a dupe of an old VHS tape. So even though there's
a warning on the back of the case that reads "Because
of technical limitations and film printing conditions of the time,
some irreparable imperfections and film related defects may exist",
I was a bit disappointed with the way the movies look. Still,
it's great to have these available though it would have been fun
to have the option of accessing the original Spanish dialog for
comparison. Both films are presented full frame, with no apparent
loss of image on either side, and the mono sound is decent.
Whatever
your thoughts are about the featured films on this DVD it's very
hard to argue with the wealth of extras. The Something Weird DVD
releases have become famous for their generous special features
and this one is no exception. Offered up are 10 TV spots and 6
theatrical trailers for other K. Gordon Murray productions, a
gallery of art from Murray movies accompanied by music from rock
band The Dead Elvi and the aforementioned booklet entitled "The
Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray". But by far the strangest
extra is a half-hour episode of the monster musical kiddie show
called Ghoul A-Go-Go. Produced in New York in just the
past couple of years, this show is a bizarre combination of American
Bandstand, monster movie silliness and short films that often
defy description. I can imagine many folks that pick this disc
up will not enjoy this little show but I find it wonderfully charming.
I can only wonder what it would have been like if I'd seen such
a show when I was a kid. I probably would have begged to go on
and dance the Watusi with other kids who thought this stuff was
cool.
Altogether
another very satisfying disc from Something Weird Video. Not for
all tastes... but you already knew that. 1/10/04 |
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