Lucha Libre vs. Monsters

 

 (imdb)

SANTO & BLUE DEMON VS. THE MONSTERS-1970-After Santo (playing himself) watches a women's wrestling match, he watches his friend Blue Demon in tag team action. Later it's announced that a famous scientist Dr. Bruno Haulder (Carlos Ancira) who once brought a dead person back to life with a brain transplant has died. His brother refuses to answer questions about his experiments when his daughter Gloria (Hedy Blue) asks. Gloria also happens to be Santo's main squeeze. The dead doctor's body is taken from his tomb by some green faced ghouls. While driving in his snazzy sports car Blue Demon (also playing himself) sees the ghouls taking the corpse to a castle. He investigates and finds a hunchback dwarf  Waldo (Santanon) reviving the dead doctor. BD is captured and duplicated. An evil Blue Demon attacks Santo & Gloria with the green faced gang. Gloria is kidnapped and Santo is tossed down a mountain side. He survives and rescues Gloria but it's apparent Doc Haulder is alive and up to no good. With Bad Demon and Waldo's help Haulder resurrects an army of classic monsters. A vampire with big ears, a wolfman with huge fangs, the Frankenstein monster, a skinny mummy and a cartoon Cyclops. They are all kind of wimpy and Santo, Gloria and her father hold off their attack when the gang invade their house. After that fails, the vampire puts on a mask and challenges Santo to a wrestling match which he accepts. When that doesn't work out either the fake Blue Demon and the monsters storm the ring! Later the vampire makes some female vampires attack Santo, who beats up the monsters and escapes. Since they only come out at night he advises Gloria and her dad to sleep in the daytime and go to crowded places at night. At a restaurant the monsters finally overpower Santo and capture Gloria & dad. Frankenstein drives the getaway car! Santo tracks them down, frees the real Blue Demon and they destroy the lab while Haulder and Waldo cower. After freeing Gloria and dad, they put stakes in the vampires. 

What happened to the evil doc and Waldo isn't explained. 

Director Gilberto Martinez Solares much earlier had directed scenes with Lon Chaney in FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF. Little person Santanon was later in 2 of Boris Karloff's Mexican horror films ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE and FEAR CHAMBER.

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Wrestling Horror From Mexico

 

(IMDB)

SANTO AND THE BLUE DEMON VS. DRACULA AND THE WOLFMAN-1973-This Mexican luchador movie opens with El Santo (as himself) wrestling Angel Blanco in a seemingly empty arena with canned crowd reaction. After his match El Santo meets his girlfriend Lina (Nubia Marti) and they visit her uncle Dr. Christobal (Jorge Mondragon) and his widowed daughter Laura (Maria Eugenia San Martin) and granddaughter Rosita (Lissy Fields). The doc tells Santo that 400 years before his ancestor killed Dracula and the wolfman with a magic dagger which the doc still has in his possession. Now he's gotten a letter threatening terrible revenge on him and his family. The sainted one says he will help. Later, after the doc gives the dagger to Rosita he's kidnapped by the hunchback Eric (Wally Barron) and taken to the tomb where he hangs the doc over Dracula's remains and cuts his throat. 

The blood drips down and revives the count. Rufus the wolfman (Augustin Martinez Solares) is also revived (for some reason he's wearing a yellow silk shirt). Drac (Aldo Monti) plans to create an army of vampires and werewolves and suddenly in the next scene the cave is full of would be victims. Laura reports her dad missing to the police who seem reluctant to help so Santo enlists the aid of fellow luchador Blue Demon (first seen fighting "Renato El Hippie" in the noisy empty arena). After the wolfman in human form makes friends with Laura, Drac pays a visit to her house. When everyone is playing cards the creepy count sets his fangs on little Rosita but is forced away by the presence of the ancient dagger. Laura somehow quickly falls for the clean shaven wolf but Blue Demon has his suspicions and follows him after he leaves. 

BD spies on him and Eric talking but they spot his reflection in a mirror and lay a trap. In a warehouse the wrestlers are jumped but beat up their attackers. Lina who hid in the trunk of Santo's car calls the cops. Later Rufus tells the guys they can find Christobal someplace. Santo investigates and encounters pale zombie Christobal who tries to strangle him. Eric knocks Santo out and plans on stabbing him but Blue Demon scares him away. After Drac goes to the house to put the bite on Lina a short bald vampire bites the maid. Drac lures Lina out and BD follows her. The maid lures out Rosita. BD is captured and chained up. Santo grabs the sacred dagger and goes looking for his friends. Lina is taken to a room by two red cloaked vampire women. Drac almost bites her but Eric interrupts them. Santo breaks in but is gassed by Eric who finds the dagger and instead of killing Santo goes to Lina to ask her if she knows how to use the dagger to make Drac and wolf turn over their treasure (?). Lina can barely reply “no”when the dagger spins and stabs Eric to death. Lina finds Santo and revives him. Meanwhile Rosita meets her living dead Grandpa and now vampire Laura leads her to a cave.

Then a werewolf is forced to walk a plank over a spiky pit. He doesn't make it. Then Demon is forced to walk the plank with hands tied. Santo shows up and the duo fight the wolf gang. Then Rufus confronts BD and turns hairy. Santo saves Rosita and she and Lina get away. Santo knocks both villains into the pit and they're impaled. 

This crazy and never dull wrestling horror story from Mexico was produced and written by Abel Salazar and directed by Miguel M. Delgado.

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The Last House of Universal

HOUSE OF DRACULA-1945-In his castle laboratory the kindly eminent Dr. Edleman (Onslow Stevens) conducts experiments with the assistance of two nurses Nina (Jane Addams) and Miliza (Martha O'Driscoll) a hunchback. One dark night Count Dracula using the alias "Baron Latos" (John Carradine) visits Edleman. The urbane count says he wants to be cured of his vampirism. He sounds sincere but almost immediately sets his hypnotic eyes on Nina. While doing blood tests on Drac, the doc also receives a visit from Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr., now with a mustache looking none the worse for wear especially since he was killed by a silver bullet in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) who wants a cure for his curse of lacanthropy. Edleman thinks he can help Larry but he must first  attend to the count who's getting way too flirty with his nurse. Larry makes a big point about his condition by having the local police chief (Lionel Atwill in his last finished movie) lock him up during a full moon. and he transforms right in front of their eyes.

During a blood transfusion Drac makes Edleman and Miliza go to sleep. He then reverses the transfusion and injects his blood sucking blood into the doc's! He plans to fly away with Nina. Edleman is revived in time to thwart the count's plan but he becomes a paranoid power crazed vampire type creature intent on reviving the Frankenstein monster (he and Talbot found it early with the skeleton of the monster's last would be savior Dr. Niemann; this is the only connection to HOF that makes any sense). The new blood seeking creature has a scary leer, watches his mirror image fade and (thanks to scenes from previous entries in the series) has a weird dream with the monster helping him attack the local town. He occasionally snaps out of his curse and plans on helping Miliza but she insists he operate on Talbot first. He does and the operation is a success! The full moon doesn't affect him! After vampire Edleman kills one of his workers (Ludwig Stossel) he begins tinkering again with the monster (Glen Strange). Miliza discovers this and Edleman promptly strangles her. Talbot enters just as the monster awakens. Meanwhile an angry mob lead by the dead worker's brother (Skelton Knaggs) storms the castle. In a rather sad (in more ways than one) ending the just cured Talbot shoots the crazed Edleman who seems to have a relieved look on his face when he dies. The monster gets mad, flails around a bit and tries to attack Talbot who starts a fire which it would appear kills the mistreated monster for good.

Not counting the next film to feature the three classic Universal monsters (ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN), HOUSE OF DRACULA brings to a close the horror series that really began with the original FRANKENSTEIN in 1931. It's not exactly a fond farewell despite having Earle C. Kenton as director. He'd done ok with the previous entries (HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN; FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN) but the story here is rushed and the monster is wasted with just a couple of brief cameos before being destroyed. The acting is good especially from Stevens and O'Driscoll but the story is kind of mean spirited with Miliza after all her dedication to Edleman and his work winds up being strangled and her corpse thrown haphazardly aside. 

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All Star Horror From Universal

HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN-1944-In prison for his medical experiments, Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff) shows his know how to his hunchback assistant Daniel (J.Carroll Nash) and promises to give him a new body. Lightning destroys the prison wall and the pair escape. They hook up with Prof. Lampini (George Zucco) and his horror exhibition which he claims includes the remains of the original Count Dracula. Niemann wants to go to his old lab in Visaria but Lampini has other plans. Too bad. Daniel kills him and Neimann takes over as Lampini. In town, Burgomaster Herr Hussman (Sig Ruman) questions Niemann about his identity while displaying Dracula's skeleton with a stake in it. He remembers it was the burgomaster who put him in prison for putting the brain of a dog into man. Overcome with vengeance Niemann pulls the stake out of the Count's skeleton planning to kill the burgomaster but an amazing thing happens. The skeleton transforms into Dracula who tries to hypnotize Neimann but his will is wrong and he resists. Niemann makes a deal: if Dracula will obey him he'll make sure there's always a coffin waiting for him. Dracula agrees. The count gets right down to work, integrating himself (under the guise of Count Lagos) into the burgomaster's small family unit: his son Karl (Peter Coe) and his American daughter in law Rita (Ann Gwynne). He does in the burgomaster just as the old guy figures out Lampini is Neimann but really has his sights set on Rita who he hypnotizes and plans to take away. Unfortunately  his plan runs into a stumbling block when the sun rises. Dracula makes a bee line for his coffin which Niemann has and dumps off his wagon while the police give chase. Dracula goes for his coffin but it's too late. The sun finds him and he turns to dust thus releasing Rita from his thrall.


This is like end of part one. Whew! The rest of the story begins with Daniel's rescue of a gypsy dancer Illonka (Elena Verdugo) after he sees her being whipped by her boss. Clearly infatuated with her Daniel begs his master to take her along. Niemann agrees and gives her the job of driving the horses. Though at first sight repulsed by Daniel's deformity, she feels sorry and they become friends. Later the troupe visit Castle Frankenstein where The Monster and the Wolf man had their battle in the previous entry FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN. Neimann and Daniel discover their frozen bodies. “The undying monster” Neimann exclaims. He and Danny un-freeze the monsters and this is when the trouble begins. Getting his hands on Dr. Frankenstein's “The Secrets of Life and Death”, Neimann agrees to help Talbot die by switching his brain with the monster's. Meanwhile Illonka falls for Larry which in turn makes Dan very jealous and in a rage spills the beans to gypsy about Larry's hairy curse. As usual Niemann becomes obsessed with reviving the monster and kind of forgets about his promise to fix friend Daniel's deformed body. Illonka figures the only way to help her beloved Larry is to shoot him with a silver bullet. She gets a gun but is fatally attacked by the wolf man who she kills before shortly dying herself. This doesn't sit with Daniel who attempts to strangle his former benefactor. This upsets the monster (who earlier had been whipped by Dan) and he breaks free and kills the hunchback. The angry villagers storm the castle (one of them is un-billed character actor Joe Kirk). The monster grabs the doc and hightails it out. Unfortunately despite the injured mad scientist's pleas, he takes them right into some quicksand where the are quickly swallowed up. The End.

It's nice to see all these monsters and classic actors together in one Universal horror movie but HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN could have been better. Dracula never appears with the wolf man or the monster. A lot of what Neimann does doesn't make sense. One scene where Niemann has kidnapped two men,  Strauss, his former assistant (Michael Mark) who betrayed him and a juror Ullman (Frank Reicher) who testified against him, he says he's going to put one of their brains into the wolf man and the other into the monster sort of contradicting his original plans. When this scene is over the two captives are never referred to again and he continues with his experiments. Also when he's ready to do an operation on Talbot, did he really have to do it on the night of a full moon? You'd think he'd know better. But then I guess he was a mad scientist! His was one of the last screenplays written by Edward T. Lowe who career started in 1912! He wrote HOUSE OF DRACULA the next year. Director Earle Kenton manages to pull off all the right moves to make this a very entertaining horror story despite it's small flaws. 

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The Big Showdown!

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN-1943-Two grave robbers attempt to rob the grave of the deceased Lawrence Talbot. When they open the grave they find Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is alive and he grabs one of the robbers. Later Talbot is found on the streets of a town with a head wound. He's taken to a hospital run by Dr. Mannering (Patrick Knowles) but he's suspected of being an impostor when the police inspector (Dennis Hoey) discovers Lawrence Talbot died years ago. At night with the rise of the full moon, Larry becomes a werewolf and kills a policeman. Next day when he confesses to the crime, no one believes him. They think he's deluded. 

Later Larry escapes the hospital and finds the gypsy Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) also the mother of Bela, the wolfman who bite Larry originally. They go to Vasaria to find Dr. Frankenstein but he's dead. After the wolfman kills a woman, the town's people (including Dwight Frye) go after him/it. Seeking refugee in some old ruins he stumbles upon the frozen body of the infamous Frankenstein monster (Bela Lugosi). Larry thaws him out and the monster shows him where his creator kept his diary but alas it's not there. Desperate, Larry contacts Ilsa, The Baroness Frankenstein but she says she doesn't have the diary either. Never the less, the burgomaster (Lionel Atwill) invites the Baroness and Larry to “The Festival of the New Wine”. Larry freaks out when he hears a singer do a song about life being short. Dr. Mannering finds him and says he needs psychiatric care. Just then the monster invades the square but Larry helps him escape and they hide out at the ruined castle. 

Later Mannering, the baroness and Maleva go to the ruins and the baroness shows Larry where the diary is hidden. Unfortunately Mannering forgets all about helping Talbot and becomes obsessed with reviving the monster and wants to see it at “it's full power”. He botches things up completely when Ilsa tries to stop him. Talbot changes into the wolfman and the monster escapes and menaces Ilsa for a bit then the two monsters fight. During the tussle (in which Mannering and Ilsa escape) rotund bartender Vazec (Ray Evans) blows up the dam, flooding the castle and interrupting thefight. The end. Maleva is forgotten about.

The story behind FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN is that originally Universal wanted Chaney to play both monster roles. When that was scrapped Lugosi was hired to play the monster. His portrayal is often criticized heavily but once again there's a more to it. In the original story the monster had the ability to talk. However when the movie was finished nobody liked the dialogue. Some said it was laughable. It was re-cut with all of the monster's speaking parts taken out. Also the monster was blind but in the re-editing this was also taken out. They didn't shoot any additional scenes to explain any of it which left Lugosi's monster kind of looking like an arm waving buffoon at times. Although Franky's evil grin as he's being revived is the highlight scene. There's also stories of several stuntmen subbing for Lugosi. One scene of the monster in ice is definitely Eddie Parker. 

Of course back in the day, the studio wanted Lugosi to play the monster in the original FRANKENSTEIN. He fought against it and Boris Karloff got the role.  

FMTW is a sequel to both TTHE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE WOLFMAN. It was directed by Roy William Neil who was already into the work he would arguably best known for: the Universal Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Since it's edited down it's hard to judge. The direction and acting are good but there's really not that much of the monster and when he does finally clash with the wolfman it's a brief duel ended prematurely. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak has said that he originally came up with the title as a joke. 

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ABBOTT and COSTELLO

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN-1948-This Universal production is one of the best horror comedies ever made. It's arguably Abbott and Costello's best film but unfortunately it also ushered out the era of the studios classic horror monster movies. Bud and Lou play baggage handlers Chick (Abbott) and Wilbur (Costello) who get into trouble almost immediately when they deliver two crates to "MacDougal's House of Horrors", a wax museum. The crates contain "the remains" of Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange). Meanwhile, Larry Talbott (Lon Chaney) tries to convince "the boys"  he's the wolf-man. It turns out Wilbur's girlfriend Sandra (Lenore Aubert who's also in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER BORIS KARLOFF) is in league with the count to put Wilbur's brain inside the head of the monster! Jane Randolph (CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE) plays an insurance investigator who pretends to be sweet on Wilbur. There's lots of great bits and one liners and director Charles Barton does a great job of combining the comedy and horror. Frank Ferguson plays the owner of the museum and there are appearances by A & C "regulars" Joe Kirk and Bobby Barber. Vincent Price is the voice of the invisible man.

This is one of eight Abbott & Costello comedies directed by Charles Barton who had been assistant director on the Marx Bros. movies MONKEY BUSINESS and HORSE FEATHERS.

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Just In Time For Halloween

THE MAD MONSTER-1942-Dr. Lorenzo Cameron (the great George Zucco) talks to a caged wolf in his lab then turns a cheerful, dimwitted farm hand named Pedro (Glenn Strange) into a scary snarling wolf-man (in overalls). He then addresses an imaginary panel of doctors who ridiculed him and banished his ass from his chair at a university. They didn't like his idea of creating an army of wolf-men to fight wars. Cameron vows revenges.  Pedro is very friendly especially toward the mad doctor's daughter Lenora (Ann Nagel). "It must be great to be educated", Pedro says to the doc. Cameron later lets Pedro the wolf wander the foggy swamp. Although Cameron wants to use the monster to get revenge on his former colleagues the wolf monster's first victim is a little girl. Cameron gets ready to visit and execute his first victim Prof. Blaine (Robert Strange). Meanwhile Lenora's reporter boyfriend Tom (top billed Johnny Downs) talks to Blaine about the possibility of a giant lizard being the murderer. Later after a long scene leading up to the killing of Blaine, Pedro transforms without the aid of the doctor's formula. Tom comes by looking for a story but the doctor turns him away. Later he tricks another doctor into taking a drive with Pedro just as Tom has organized a small hunting party, Then Lenora snoops around her dad's lab she runs smack into the wolf man. Amid a fire, creation turns against creator and a fire destroys everything.

Despite being made by PRC, the lowest of the low budget studios, THE MAD MONSTER has it's moments. The highlight is George Zucco's performance as the totally rational, totally mad Dr. Cameron. He really loses it at times. Zucco made appearances in many bigger budgeted Hollywood films but spend a lot of time at places like PRC and would go on to make a few more for the company like the vampire tinged DEAD MEN WALK the next year. Glenn Strange is ok as the unwitting pawn in his employer's cruel experiments and as the wolf-man he's downright terrifying! Especially when he's wandering through the foggy swamp. Ann Nagel had previously been a successful contract player at Warner Bros. but her career took a nosedive after her marriage to actor Ross Alexander. She later had un-credited roles in MIGHTY JOE JOE and the excellent low budget film noir ARMORED CAR ROBBERY. Johnny Downs was once a member of "Our Gang". Henry Hall & Mae Busch also have  small roles.

This is by far one of the best made movies by super speedy Sam Newfield who made a staggering 20 movies in 1942 (some times using pseudonyms)!

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Wolf Monsters! Beach Monsters! Teenage Monsters! Oh My!

Although it's been reviewed a lot, I still wasn't prepared when I first saw FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF (1964). Those reviews just don't do it justice to this, another Jerry Warren reworked Mexican horror opus. I've seen a lot of re-edited movies that make no sense but this one pushes it to the limit! To explain the storyline with a few sentences would be nearly impossible. Ok, I'll try.....

The great Lon Chaney (Jr.) is a mummy-werewolf (?) being experimented on by some doctors (?) in a laboratory inside a wax museum (?). There's a whole intro having to do with another mummy and a woman named Ann Taylor who seems to be a reincarnated princess (and all these scenes come from another movie!). Chaney spends a good deal of time in a cage with a bandage on his head. When he does escape, he carries off a woman in a park. He climbs up the side of a building (and a scientist follows him up like a human fly!). Once he gets to the top he takes the stairs down! All the while with his female victim in tow!

He chases another woman around her apartment and is startled when he sees his own funny reflection in a mirror. Eventually Lon-Wolfman is beaten into submission by the scientist as 2 American FBI agents look on. They are actually added American scenes. Most of the actors in these scenes seem like they're drunk!

I've read this was actually a "real" comedy starring Mexican funnyman Tin Tan (who can still be seen in a couple of scenes!). The original movie made in 1959 was called LA CASA DEL TERROR.

As one of the FBI agents says at the end: "It's great what the imagination can do, huh?".

So say we all!!




THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER (1965) is a pathetic production mixing horror with the topical beach movies of the time. It's a bad mix. In fact, it sucks! Retired '40's actor Jon Hall directs and stars as a fish expert. The doofy monster makes some token appearances but most of this is people talking, drinking and dancing in the sand. The groovy sounds of Frank Sinatra Jr. highlight this reverse epic!



METEOR MONSTER (1957) is also known as TEENAGE MONSTER. It's a weird western that kind of looks like it was made for early TV!

A young boy named Charles lives with his Ma and Pa near a mine. A meteor falls from the sky and kills Pa. Charles however gets hit and 7 years later he's become a big hairy wimpering giant killer (who sort of looks like Glenn Strange in MAD MONSTER). Mom (played by former '40's siren Anne Gwynne) and monster son mine for gold while Charles kills locals. The noisy speech the monster uses when talking to mom is very funny. He kidnaps Kathy the maid (Gloria Castillo from INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN) but mom bribes her not to tell anyone. Kathy uses Charlie Monster to kill her boyfriend then tries to convince him mommy doesn't love him but Monster-Son comes to his senses (?) before being destroyed.

Anne Gwynne had been a B-movie star in the '40's starring with Karloff & Lugosi in BLACK FRIDAY, RIDE 'EM COWBOY with Abbott & Costello, the all star horror line-up HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME (also with Karloff) and others. MM was her last movie except for something in 1970 called ADAM AT 6 AM.

Monster portrayer Gil Perkins was a stuntman originally from Australia who made over a hundred movie and TV appearances.

METEOR MONSTER is the only movie Jacques Marquette directed. He was actually a busy cinematographer with many TV credits and movies including THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN and BUCKET OF BLOOD.

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