herbiehancock

Original Titl e: Las luchadoras contra el médico asesino Year : 1963 Director : René Cardona Writer : Alfredo Salazar IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056201 / Genre : Lucha/Horror synopsis: A mad scientist terrorizes a city by kidnapping young women with his ape-man Gomar and then using them as subjects in sadistic brain transplant experiments. A female wrestler whose sister was one of the victims swears vengeance against the Mad Doctor. I'm choosing to wrap up my lucha reviews with a more classic example of the genre. From director Rene Cardona once again, this earlier entry has a very similar feel to many of the other luchador films from the early-60s... that of an almost Gothic horror film. From the worn stock and filming style of this, you could mistake it for a film from the 40s. If it weren't for the hairstyles, outfits, and music at times, it really feels pulled from that era entirely. The version I watched is an English dubbed version brought to the US thanks to K....

Original Title : La mujer murciélago Year : 1968 Director : René Cardona Writer : Alfredo Salazar IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235608/ Genre : Lucha synopsis: A mad scientist is wanting to create a race of super gill men. He uses the glands of wrestlers because they are "perfect". Wrestlers are winding up dead all over Acapulco so the call goes out for that mysterious crime fighter BATWOMAN! We're staying in the lucha genre a bit longer, but now we'll cover the fairer sex. And this chick is most definitely fairer. RRAAWWWRRR! Say hola to La Mujer Murcielago... The Batwoman! Played by the lovely Maura Monti , Batwoman is essentially an El Santo here but with all kinds of hot thrown in there. This lady doesn't like to do much without her bombs hanging out... and as an adult with the mind of a 12-year-old... that's A-OK with me! As I was watching, I knew she seemed familiar. Well, Ms. Monti also played one of the sexy Martians in Santo el enmascardo de pl...

Original Title : La Leyenda de Una Máscara (The Legend of a Mask) Year : 1991 Director : José Buil Writer : José Buil IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097738/ Genre : Crime/Drama/Lucha synopsis: A sports journalist is assigned to discover the truth behind the mask of "El Angel Enmascarado" (The Masked Angel), a very popular and recently deceased wrestler. OK, that poster or DVD cover or whatever it is has nothing to do with this movie despite the character's name. What this movie is is a cool little drama that is both an homage to film-noir and the lucha film genre. La Leyenda de Una Mascara not fit perfectly with the other films I am reviewing this month, but I thought it has some very interesting themes presented and showed a side to the whole Santo-mystique that just casual film goers might not even consider. I am fairly sure El Angel is supposed to represent the life of the famous El Santo, down to images of his funeral that seemed similar to El Santo's funeral...

Original Title : El Enmascarado de Plata (The Silver Masked Man) Year : 1953 Director : René Cardona Writer : René Cardona , José G. Cruz , Ramón Obón IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044589/ Genre : Lucha/Action synopsis: A silver-masked hero steps in to attempt to thwart the plans of a crime syndicate, led by the sinister El Tigre, to steal from a local rich man. Hmm, I guess that will suffice. Here is my second review today for another piece of lucha history. It has been hard for me to determine whether or not this film or Huracan Ramirez came first, (it seems as though this came just a bit later) this film is significant for a couple reasons. First, it really sets the theme for luchador films to follow. We have masked heroes and villains, secret hideouts, etc. and the luchador hero fights crime as well has holds down a professional wrestling gig. Secondly, this film was written for and pitched to someone you may just be already familiar with... El Santo , hence the name El Enmas...

Original Title : Huracán Ramírez Year : 1952 Director : Joselito Rodríguez Writer : Joselito Rodríguez , Juan Rodríguez Mas , Jesús Saucedo IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044728/ Genre : Lucha/Drama synopsis: Lounge Singer Leads A Colorful Double Life In The Ring As I said in my intro, I'm not entirely sure of the plot of this film as I had no subtitles. I was watching it more for the structure and elements and to really see where the lucha genre came from. From a review on IMDB, it seems that Fernando ( David Silva ) is the son of an older wrestler, Tonina Jackson , and a night club singer. His father does not want him to follow in his footsteps and become a luchador as well, but apparently it is Fernando's true passion so he moonlights as Huracan Ramirez. Huracan refuses to fight Tonina, which constantly frustrates Tonina and the audience evidently as Huracan is constantly pelted with garbage after and sometimes before his matches. When they finally do meet, Tonina is i...

Goddamn I love this poster! Original Title : Operacion 67 Director : René Cardona Jr., René Cardona Writers : Rafael García Travesi, Gregorio Walerstein IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208334/ Genre : Lucha/Spy synopsis: Operacion 67 features a pair of heroes, Santo and his hunky partner who attempt to stop Asian villains who are attempting to throw Latin America into chaos by flooding the area with counterfeit money. The two must engage in a number of dangerous altercations when the villains come for them as well. Released the same year as my previous review, Santo Contra La Invasion de los Marcianos, this film goes almost in a completely different direction. Operacion 67 has a hero Santo, villains trying to kill him, and good ol' wrasslin, but this film finds our silver-masked friend portraying a Bond-borrowed spy with human enemies, he's a ladies man, and we even get some bare tit action! Tits in a Santo movie! This ain't your mama's luchador flick! Boobiiiies! C...