Count Frankenhausen Rulz!

I'll be getting to the two Count Frankenhausen films, El vampiro sangriento (The Bloody Vampire, 1961) and La invasion de los vampiros (Invasion of the Vampires, 1962), in a future blog entry, but I came across this clip on YouTube from La invasion de los vampiros, which I don't want to lose track of, so I'm placing it here. This wild scene is the battle between Frankenhausen, who turns into a giant bat, and the hero of the story, Ulises. Enjoy!



I could be persuaded that the two Count Frankenhausen films are, overall, more enjoyable than the Abel Salazar's two "El vampiro" films. They certainly are more transfixidly demented.

El Monje Loco

Creepy as all hell, EL MONJE LOCO premiered in Mexico in 1937 as a radio show, meeting with great success from the outset. Though I haven't heard any of the shows (the You Tube clip above gives a a snippet), I assume that "The Mad Monk" was the host of the horror series, rather than an active participant in them. So great was EL MONJE LOCO's success that in 1940 the character began appearing in the pages of CHAMACO as a horror host and on the screen in a film titled, what else, EL MONJE LOCO. In 1953, the Mexican Mad Monk got his own comic book that lasted until the early 1960s. Later that decade a new series of EL MONJE LOCO comics saw publication, and then another series that lasted 176 numbers.



EL MONJE LOCO is a Mexican institution, and the character turns up in films, TV shows and print media, but is rarely talked about or considered north of the border, even among those with an appreciation for Mexican horror films.

The Santo Photo Comic

The website KingdomComics.org has a section on the Santo photo comics that were popular in Mexico and throughout Latin America for a few decades, beginning in 1952 when the publication first appeared. The first series lasted from 1952 to 1958, with over 400 numbers. The above cover is from the fourth issue in this series.

The comic was produced by Jose Guadalupe Cruz. In the first issue Santo is mortally wounded in a fight and dies in his son's arms, passing on to him the crime-fighting heritage of The Man in the Silver Mask. In sixteen years, the son continues the tradition, first by hunting down his father's killers. In subsequent adventures, the new Santo battles both human and supernatural evildoers. These comics contributed greatly to crafting the legend of El Santo.

As seen by a few panels from issue number four (shown below), the artwork was of a collage-type: drawings mixed with photos.



The Kingdom Comics website offers a history of the Santo comics, as well as several downloads. Not certain that this will happen, but I may attempt to translate at least one comic for this blog.

La cabeza vivente (1961)

The world waits for the resurrection of the CasaNegra DVD company, and the freedom from confinement of its two shelved Mexican horror releases--El mundo de los vampiros (The World of the Vampires) and La cabeza viviente (The Living Head). The former film is one of the wildest and most fascinating excursions in the vampire genre--eagerly welcome to DVD--but I consider the latter film the nadir of Salazar's eight horror films, though it has its entertainment and DVD value to be sure. Here's a brief overview of the film and its background:

Taking a week break after shooting El baron del terror (The Brainiac) at Churubusco Studios, the efficient Abel Salazar and his production company ABSA were back at the studio on March 1st, 1961, to make another horror film. Having dealt with the vampire (the Count Lavud films, and El mundo de los vampiros/The World of the Vampires), a Jekyll & Hyde (El hombre y al monstruo/The Man and the Monster), a sinister warlord (El baron del terror/The Brainiac), Salazar must have felt it was about time to give the mummy genre a chance and the same screenwriting team that gave him El baron del terror—Frederico Curiel and Adolfo Lopez Portillo—provided a script. Chano Urueta was again at the directorial helm and in familiar pre-colonial Mexican territory, having mined this terrain way back in 1933 with Profanacion, and in 1939 with El signo de la muerte and La noche de los Mayas.

Borrowing for its credits the main theme from El baron del terror, the film opens with stock shots of the Aztec world (possibly taken from one of Urueta’s earlier films) and then a sacrifice of a traitorous Aztec warrior whose heart is cut out of his body by Xiho, the high priest. (The heart, dripping with blood, is a novel sight for the time of the film's exhibition, though the gore intensity is muted by the film’s black and white palette.) Thereafter we learn that the traitor had caused the death and beheading of great warrior Acatl. Xiho (Guillermo Cramer) is entombed with the head, as is the high priestess Xochiquetzal (Ana Luisa Peluff0). Over four centuries later, in 1963, an archaeological expedition led by Professor Herman Meuller (German Robles) uncovers the sealed tomb. The change in air pressure causes Xochiquetzal's mummy to vaporize, leaving for the taking Acatl's head, the perfectly preserved body of Xiho (which doesn't vaporize), and a large ring that, unknown to the expedition, reveals in its jewel the person destined to die in connection with Acatl and the tomb's desecration. Anyone familiar with Mummy films can guess the rest of the plot.

La cabeza viviente was first exhibited in Mexico in 1963, which required the changing of the time-line from 1961, the year of the film's production. (You can spot the change: A different font is used for displaying the year 1963 in the time-line dissolves that proceed from Aztec times.) The film’s working title, El ojo de la muerte (The Eye of Death), refers to the ancient Aztec ring already mentioned.

Urueta’s direction is rather pedestrian for this outing, possibly reflecting the speedy shoot and the bareness of certain areas of the script. The climax is particularly poor, with Professor Meuller, as the father of the main female character (who is, of course, spiritually connected to the Aztec high priestess, Xochiquetzal) trying to rationalize with a bewitched character (Robert, the male romantic lead played by Mauricio Garces) into not killing his daughter, rather than stepping in to physically stop him. It's an absurd scene, making the father appear cringing and cowardly, and German Robles overacts throughout, as if never receiving any direction from Urueta during this crucial climax.

Furthermore, the K. Gordon Murray dub, The Living Head, which is most familiar to Americans, is filled with classic bad-film lines and a sonorous, portentous reading by dubber Paul Frees of Robles’ lines that gives the film extra humor value where none was originally intended.

La cabeza viviente is the most predictable of Salazar’s movies, nowhere near as outré as his other horrors, and revisiting territory recently covered in Mexican and world horror cinema. It offers almost nothing in the way of innovation.

One might have supposed that, with this film, it was time for Salazar to call it quits and end his mining of horror themes, but there was one more film destined to emerge from his ABSA production company, a masterpiece that ended the horror reign of Salazar with a bang--La maldicion de la Llorona (The Curse of the Crying Woman).

La bruja (1954)

Several Mexican films from the early 1950s anticipated Mexico's horror boom that started in 1957 with El vampiro, and several key figures during this time emerged to later take advantage of their creative accomplishments. One of the most important members of this select group was director and scriptwriter Chano Urueta. In the space of two years, Urueta directed and scripted three films that would foreshadow and influence Mexico's forthcoming horror and lucha libre films: Monstruo resucitado (1953), La bestia magnifica (1953), and La bruja (1954). The story of the latter film, incidentally, was thought up by Alfredo Salazar, a few years before his brother, Abel, produced El vampiro.

La bruja tells the rather simple, yet effective tale of a woman's life-sacrificing love for a man who, initially, is very much out of reach for her because of his handsome looks. This woman is "la bruja," the witch, a hideous being who inhabits an underground world of outcasts and is regarded with loathing and suspicion even there. Made beautiful by a maddened doctor to carry out his revenge against the heads of a company that desired his formula and accidentally killed his daughter, "la bruja" falls in love with the only innocent high-ranking member of that company, Fedor, played by the debonair Ramon Gay, sans his usual moustache.



Framed by a window, "la bruja" (Lilia de Valle) looks into bourgeoisie society,
as her manipulator, Dr. Boerner (Julio Villarreal), stands behind her.
----------------------------------------

Chano Urueta deliciously crafts a sinister underworld of the poor, wretched and handicapped, a society lorded over by Paulesco, a sort of early and non-supernatural version of Coffin Joe. (Paulesco is played by the future "Dr. Krupp" of the Aztec Mummy films--Juan Aceves Castaneda, while the actor who played the Aztec Mummy, Angel Di Stefani, turns up as a beggar.) Along with the scenes featuring "la bruja" (whose look on the big screen must have been both shocking and riveting), it is these moments in the underground lair that resonate with atmosphere, artful camera positioning, and directorial flourishes. A black-robed trial of the "Tribunal of the Night" that takes place within leads one to surmise that Urueta is setting up a socialistic court date against the ruling class where the judges and jury are from the lower class, but we eventually realize that this society of outcasts is as to be feared, with its cruelty and baser passions, as the opulent and "respected" society above ground.

While one feels that Urueta is at home in this bizarre environment, the rendering of the apparent locale of the story--some unidentified Balkan country--is practically non-existent. The Churubusco studio where the film was helmed fails to duplicate any Balkan locale, and, it seems, there's little attempt to do so, despite the employment of Gunther Gerzso, with his Hungarian/German background, as production designer.

The connections with the European continent come, probably by choice, from some of the actors, however. Lilia del Valle, who assays the titular role, was born Lilián Welker Gundlach, which suggest a Germanic heritage, while the two villains in suits-- Jan and Gunther--are played by German-born Fernando Wagner and Austrian-born Charles Rooner. Even the non-Spanish speaker can recognize their careful Spanish diction.

A melodramatic horror film, a tragedy of beauty and beast where the beast is a woman and the beauty a man, La bruja is not as splendidly outré in its horrors as Urueta's earlier El monstruo resucitado; its aims are simpler and its rewards more straightforward, but welcome nevertheless.

Hasta el viento tiene miedo (2007)

Based on the 1968 Carlos Enrique Taboada film of the same title, Hasta el viento tiene miedo (Even the Wind is Scared) was one of Mexico's big hits last year, seen by over one million audience members and coming in #5 in the top ten Mexican films seen in that country.

Here's a trailer of the film:



And here's a blog, in Spanish, which devotes itself to this remake:

hastaelvientotienemiedo.blogspot.com

No word yet on if this film will be seen in American theaters or on American DVD.

2nd Volume of Demois' South of the Border Set

Streeting on March 4, 2008 will be the second volume of Deimos' "South of the Border" collection. This one will contain the following films:

Night of the Bloody Apes
Curse of the Doll People
Spiritism
Masterworks of Terror
Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy
Doctor of Doom
New Invisible Man

Monsters from the Vault #24

The newest issue of the highly regarded "classic horror" magazine, Monsters from the Vault, will feature a special section on Mexican horror--Bryan Senn's extensive review of the Mexican horror films released on DVD by CasaNegra, and a rare interview with German Robles, the star of the two seminal El Vampiro films and the Nostradamus series.

The stunning cover by Joe Schovitz features German Robles against a backdrop from a scene in Santo contra las mujeres vampiro (Santo vs. the Vampire Women).

The issue, number 24, is now at press and should be available near the end of January. Copies can be ordered directly from the publisher, Jim Clatterbaugh, at the Monsters from the Vault website:

Monsters from the Vault

Christmas and New Year Cheers

Hope all readers of this blog are having a wonderful Christmas and holiday time, and that all will have a bountiful and happy New Year!

The coming year looks like a good one for Mexican horror. CasaNegra should be back with the two DVD releases (WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES and THE LIVING HEAD) that were held back due to financial problems, BCI/Deimos is continuing with their Mexican horror packages (we may even see the "lost" Santo film, El vampiro y el sexo, from the company), and, yes, finally the book Vampiros and Monstruos should see publication!

So stay tuned for an informative and entertaining journey into Mexican horror and fantasy!

Wrestling Women vs. The Brainiac Trailer

Not looking so good.

Mil Mascaras vs. The Aztec Mummy Trailer

Looks good.

The Return of Mil Mascaras

Folks who have been aware of Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy, which was made what seems like two years ago, have been wondering what has happened to the film. It hasn't turned up in any theater (not that it necessarily would), and there's been no DVD release yet or update info on the official website of the film. For those who don't know, Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy was produced in the United States by University of Missouri professors Jeffrey Uhlmann and Kannappan Palaniappan, using college talent and the services of Mexico's legendary lucha libre star, Mil Mascaras.

My suspicion as to the movie's absence has to do with the Aztec Mummy character, and the possible legal weight put upon the new film because it wasn't squared away with the Calderon film company, which claims rights to the character. And, sure enough, the film has re-emerged under a different title: Mil Mascaras: Resurrection--which isn't that great of a title. According to a poster on the Classic Horror Film Board (possibly Mexican film authority David Wilt under a different screen name), the film, or portions of it, had to be reshot to make it suitable for theatrical play. Another reason may be to rework the "Aztec Mummy" aspects of the film, if not elimiate them completely. (The mummy could now be called something else, for instance.)

At the heels of this production emerged another (!) Mil Mascaras film produced by the same duo--Wrestling Women vs. the Brainiac--which now has also been retitled to: Academy of Doom. One wonders again if the title change is indicative of a rights problem.

Despite these setbacks, I'm looking forward to seeing these films. I've read the script of Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot and dialog remind me of the tongue-in-cheek, but sincere spirit of the old Batman TV show. Photos from the film present a well-put-together effort. The poster on the CHFB endorses both films: "I have seen the mummy film and it is spectacular. The other film is also excellent but it is much less mainstream and will find its greatest appeal among the die-hard lucha film connoisseurs - which I am!"

Alterfilms

A Mexican DVD company, Alterfilms, has been releasing Mexican horror and lucha libre films for a few years now under the "Vive Mexico" banner. Subtitled "Cine en 35mm," the prints are in far better quality than we've seen before, although, judging by a sampling, these are not sourced from pristine negatives, but rather from prints that show occassional nicks and lines. Besides their fine quality, the initial releases in this series had English subtitles, a policy that, unfortunately, seems not to have been in effect for too long. Below is a list of horror, fantasy, horror-comedy, lucha libre films that Alterfilms has released so far, from the most recent to the earliest:

Las Lobas del Ring
El Castillo de los Monstruos
Santo Vs. el Espectro del Estrangulador
Santo y el Aguila Real
El profeta Mimí
Santo vs Los Asesinos de otros mundos
Asesinos de la Lucha Libre
La casa de los espantos
Santo contra Blue Demon en la Atlántida
Anónimo mortal
Santo y Blue Demon en el mundo de los muertos
Santo vs las lobas
Doña Macabra (English subtitles)
Dos fantasmas y una muchacha (English subtitles)
Macario (English subtitles)
Santo en el Museo de Cera(English subtitles)
Santo y Blue Demon contra los Monstruos (English subtitles)

Where does one purchase these DVDs? Ebay is one place, and also the Alterfilms website, though I have no idea what the shipping cost from Mexico will be.

Here's a nice image of the Frankenstein Monster from Santo en el Museo de Cera:

The Return of CasaNegra

Possibly. Not a done deal yet, but according to posts by Mike Liuzza, honcho of CasaNegra and Panik House, the two names and their acquisitions are in the process of being sold to yet unnamed company, individual or group of individuals. This info appeared at the Cinehound forum, where Liuzza, as "brains99," revealed to posters who he is and a bit of his background. (Work for the Mr. Skin website, formation of Panik House and CasaNegra, etc.) As far as CasaNegra and its on-hold Mexican horror titles, World of the Vampires and The Living Head, are concerned and any future Mexican horror releases, the money quotes are: "I intend to keep helping the new owners locate and acquire films though. That's all I can reveal about it at this time. What I can tell you is Chained Heat, Red Heat and Jungle Warriors WILL be released at some point in 2008, as well as World of the Vampires and The Living Head. Any future titles for both labels beyond that will be up to the new owners, if in fact everything goes as planned. We should know soon."

Thanks to David Wilt for the alert, which initially appeared on the DVD Maniacs forum.

East West's Mexican Horror and Fantasy Line

Are they legit? Who knows, but East West DVD has been releasing a bunch of Mexican films, including a few in the horror/fantasy/lucha libra genres. These are poverty-row budget DVDs that, if you can find them in your neighborhood ethnic DVD store, sell from $1 to $2. Covers are exploitatively interesting, making these DVDs collectable items despite their rather middling pictorial quality. Pictured above is the cover of Carlos Enrique Taboada's sublime masterpiece, El libro de piedra. Below is the cover to the second Kaliman film, which is subtitled in English! (The transfer must have been taken from a previous, more expensive release of this title on DVD from another company, Vanguard International Cinema. The source for El libro de piedra is probably a Tekila Films DVD issued in 2005.)



Blazed at the bottom of each cover is the website of East West, but, of course, when one goes to the website one finds that it is "under construction." Good luck in finding out anything about this company and the extent of their holdings--as well as the legitimacy of their ownership of these holdings.

Anyway, one way or another, old-time Mexican horror and fantasy lives on!

Deimos' South of the Border Horror Collection

Deimos is introducing a new Mexican horror series in its Crypt of Terror line. All films will be in Spanish audio with English subtitles, except Don't Panic, which will be offered up in an English version and a Spanish, with English subtitles, version. Streeting in December is Volume 1 of HORROR FROM SOUTH OF THE BORDER. Here are the contents of this set:

Vacation of Terror (Vacaciones de terror) A family buys a summer house in the Mexican countryside. but this dream home is not what it seems. The youngest daughter finds a diabolical doll, possessed by a witch, who takes control of her and supernaturally attempts to kill the rest of the family. Not Rated - 90 minutes - 1989

Vacation of Terror 2 (Vacaciones de Terror 2) The diabolical doll and Pedro Fernández return for this sequel to the original film. Julio is invited to a birthday party for a little girl on Halloween in a closed movie studio. At the party, he notices she has a doll that resembles the one that his little sister had. This is one party you'll be dying to leave! Not Rated - 90 minutes - 1989

Hell's Trap (Trampa Infernal) A group of hunters are searching for a bear. But what they find is a maniacal Vietnam vet defending his land by planting deadly booby traps for the group. The hunters become the hunted. NR - 90 minutes - 1990

Cemetery of Terror (Cementerio Del Terror) A group of medical students steal the deceased boy of Satanic serial killer Devlon from the morgue to play a Halloween prank. The students perform a Black Mass in an attempt to raise Devlon from the dead with the help of his Satanic book. When nothing happens, but a bad rainstorm, the students flee to a nearby empty house to party. Little do they know the mass worked and Devlon is looking to crash their party. A group of young trick-or-treaters also arrive at the house, but there are no treats at this house. Not Rated. 88 Min - 1985

Grave Robbers (Ladrones de Tumbas) Four teenagers on a camping trip decide to rob a nearby graveyard. They stumble across an ornate grave and tomb housing the corpse of an executed Satanist from the days of the Inquisition. The tomb was used for Satanic rituals and inquisition torture and it's full of gold and jewelry. Our teens believe they have struck it rich or so they think. Soon the deceased Satanist zombie, armed with a massive battle-axe, rises from the grave to claim his treasure. Not Rated - 87 Minutes - 1990

The Demon Rat (La Rata Malidita) In the near future, environmental pollution has increased to the point that people must wear dark glasses and breathing masks just to walk the streets. However, science teacher Axel and his colleague Irina discover an even darker side of the crisis: toxic chemicals dumped by Irina's estranged husband Roberto have resulted in the creation of monstruously mutated animals and insects. And one of these, a man-sized mutant rat, has taken up residence in Irina's house! A tense, four-way showdown between Roberto, Axel, Irina, and the man-rat concludes with only two survivors. Not Rated - 90 Minutes - 1991 Produced by Raúl Galindo - Directed by Rubén Galindo Jr. - Screenplay by Raúl Galindo Jr., José Mobellán - Story by Rubén Galindo Jr. In Spanish with English Subtitles

Don't Panic (Dimensiones Ocultas) (ENGLISH VERSION) On his 17th birthday, Michael is given a Ouija board as a gift from his best friend Tony. During their first attempt to use the board, they unlock an evil force within the board, an evil spirit named Virgil. Soon, there is a wave of violent deaths around town and Michael appears to be the suspect having been a witness to the killings via premonitions. Not Rated - 90 Minutes - 1989 - Color Disc 4 Side B Don't Panic (Dimensiones Ocultas) (SPANISH VERSION)

Silence from Your Host

I've been terribly busy doing work-for-a-living chores this past month, in another city, which has prevented me from updating this blog, but soon these overtime duties will come to an end and regular updates on Mexican horror will continue.

A bit of good news was announced by Fangoria recently. BCI will be releasing a "South of the Border" collection (Volume 1!!!) containing the following films: VACATION OF TERROR (VACACIONES DE TERROR), VACATION OF TERROR 2 (VACACIONES DE TERROR 2), HELL’S TRAP (TRAMPA INFERNAL), CEMETERY OF TERROR (CEMENTERIO DEL TERROR), GRAVE ROBBERS (LADRONES DE TUMBAS), THE DEMON RAT (LA RATA MALDITA) and DON’T PANIC (DIMENSIONES OCULTAS). More on this set soon.

Silence from Mexican Horror DVD Land

Nada (that's Spanish for "nothing") from my request three weeks ago to Rebel Crew Films for an interview with someone, anyone, who can shed light on the company's past and current Mexican horror offerings. Neither has anyone heard anything recent from CasaNegra, despite a claim from Michael Liuzza that the company is not kaput. With rumors rampant that CasaNegra is no more and a request by Liuzza to spread the word that the company is alive, wouldn't it be wise for someone at CasaNegra to update its website or My Space presence? But mystery is good for the soul. It keeps us on our toes and keeps us guessing.

Backstreet DVD Companies of Mexican Horror

What do I mean by "backstreet"? Well, these are small companies and distributors of "urban," latino, children, animation and other lower budget films whose websites (if they have them) frequently do not give up-to-date information about all their product. Their Mexican holdings have been apparently acquired through package deals with other companies, and it's dubious that the original rights holders in Mexico, if they exist, are aware of the DVD production of their films in the United States. Still, as far as is known, everything is perfectly legal, despite the fact that it's hard, if not impossible, to contact a higher up in such a company who will answer questions about the company's Mexican releases. It's almost as if these companies wish to remain underground, being content to distribute their product to several online retailers and big city neighborhood stores that cater to Hispanic customers.

Today, I came across in a DVD store on West 14th Street in Manhattan two Mexican horror DVDs from a company called Phoenix Entertainment Group, distributed by Allumination FilmWorks. Each was priced at $4.99. (That's another thing about these mysterious releases--they tend to be cheaply priced.) The films were La bruja (1954) and La Llorona (1959), two classics from Mexico's golden age of horror. The front and back covers look almost identical to the previous releases of these films from Ground Zero, which had made a deal with the Agrasanchez Group over two years ago for a sizable group of Mexican horror and lucha-libre films. (Phoenix's CEO is Anthony Perez, who used to run--surprise, surprise--Ground Zero. From the ashes of Ground Zero comes Phoenix rising?)

According to a press release on their site, Allumination will be distributing Phoenix product, though so far, in the Mexican horror department, only La bruja and La Llorona are mentioned.

While we wait for an American DVD company to release Mexican horror with English subtitles, we have to do with these non-subtitled releases, which generally have a pleasing picture quality. If you can't find them at your big city neighborhood store, you can probably get them for a cheap price on eBay. Just make sure they are the original DVDs, and not DVD-R copies.

CasaNegra--The Comeback?

As reported by David Wilt on the Latarnia forums, CasaNegra appears to still be in business and hopeful of releasing new titles in the near future!

Wilt posted an e-mail received by Darryl Mayeski of Screem magazine from Michael Liuzza that stated:

"Thanks very much for your interest. PLEASE spread the word, CasaNegra is still around and we are hoping the future looks bright. We just need a bit more time to work out some details. If your fans are wondering... please tell them to hang tight a little while longer. We are hoping to be back with new releases very soon."

So spread the good word!