Rene Cardona directed the original version of this film before it was retitled as The Living Idol and had scenes added by Albert Lewin, who was once a producer at Paramount. It’s a very Val Lewton-esque film and could very easily convince you that it’s an all-American movie outside of the casting.

There is one American star and that’s Steve Forrest, who was Hondo on S.W.A.T. but you and I know him much better as Greg Savitt in Mommie Dearest. Paris-born Liliane Montevecchi is also on hand and her career — particularly a 1982 Tony Award for Best Actress in Nine — only went up from here.

James Robert Justice is also in this. His IMDB bio claims that he was a “Ph.D., a journalist, a naturalist, an expert falconer, a racing car driver, JRJ was certainly a man of many talents.” You could say that. He’s also Lord Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a movie based on an Ian Fleming book, which is interesting as he and Justice worked together as reporters for the UK branch of Reuters.

You’ll also see the “granny of Mexican cinema,” Sara Carcia, and Eduardo Noriega, who was in Zorro the Gay Blade.

This isn’t the best Mexican horror I’ve seen, but it’s still entertaining.

In the book Customs and Cultures of Mexico by Peter Standish and Steven M. Bell, the authors refer to the films of director Arturo Ripstein’s films as ones that “highlighted characters beset by futile compulsions to escape (their) destinies.” As such, many of his films feature bleak colors and pathetic characters who struggle to retain any scrap of dignity. The Harvard Film Archive referred to him as the link between “Mexico’s studio-era and the new generation of auteur directors.”

The title of this film was given to Ripstein by Mexican surrealist Octavio Paz by way of a seminal essay on Marcel Duchamp. In it, Gabriel Lima (Claudio Brook, Simon of the Desert, Licence to Kill) imprisons his family from the temptations of the rest of the world, dominating them and subjugating them in the same way that a totalitarian government would hold them against their will. Meanwhile, the family struggles to subsist with their homemade rat poison business. It was based on a real life story.

The father is the ultimate in evil, as despite him abusing his sons for not memorizing passages about how a man should be, he does not follow them. In the outside world that he has forbidden them from ever seeing, he is a continual debaser of virgins while in his own domain, he continually attacks his wife for knowing any man before him.

The film was nominated for ten Arial Awards, winning Best Picture (in a tie with Mecanica Nacional and Reed, Mexico Insurgente), as well as awards for Arturo Beristain for Best Suppoting Actor, Diana Bracho for Best Supporting Actress, Ripstein and José Emilio Pacheco for Best Original Screenplay and Manuel Fontanals for Best Scenography.

In 2009, the film Dogtooth was a critical and commercial success for Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos, but to many, it seemed that it outright stole the story and several key moments from Ripstein’s film. The director’s response? He considered sending him a message that said, “I hope we win” when the film was nominated for an Oscar. Such is life, as many Mexican films are truly lost on the world stage and unacknowledged at best.

It’s hard to call this a horror film. It exists in its own strange universe, beyond the world of normal man while at the same time it struggles to inform us in a parable-like way of what happens when pride comes before the fall.

The Sheriff’s Strange Son is the translation of this film’s title and it lives up to those words.

On the night that Sheriff Frederick Jackson’s wife goes into labor, the doctor is nowhere to be found, as he’s tending to the numerous victims of the plague that is decimating the denizens of the small town of Santa Rosa. The wife — not so coincidentally named Mary — dies as she gives birth to a set of conjoined twins named Fred and Erick.

There’s also the matter of some prophecy that the plague and the twins being joined as they are signals the birth of the Antichrist. But the lawman is too busy blaming the doctor for his wife dying and the fact that he has to raise these kids all by himself.

Years later, as the boys near puberty, Jackson kidnaps the doctor and forces him to split the boys at gunpoint. Despite the protests of the old surgeon, the surgery happens and Erick pays the price, ending up buried in an unmarked grave.

Things would have worked out great for Jackson except Fred won’t stop telling people how his father killed him, as he believes that he’s really the dead one. Jackson was a pretty crappy cop — go figure — so he’s finally caught for a murder that he covered up. On the day of the hanging, the ghost of Erick appears with glowing eyes and demands that only he can kill his father. That job complete, he decides to go after his brother too.

This is the first film of Fernando Duran Rojas I’ve seen, but it won’t be the last.

Better known by its U.S. title Curse of the Doll People, this movie was directed by Benito Alazraki, who also was behind Santo contra Los Zombies and Espiritismo, both made the same year as this film.

Four men have stolen an idol from a voodoo priest. I don’t have to tell you what a bad idea that is in any country. Soon, evil dolls begin killing their family members years before we even heard of Puppet Master. It’s actually based on the book Burn Witch Burn! by A. Merritt, which has nothing to do with the movie of the same name. That British-American film was originally called Night of the Eagle and based on the Fritz Leiber novel Conjure Wife.

Speaking of that movie, it had a Paul Frees-narrated prologue in which he read a protective spell for the audience, who were also given further occult defenses via a special pack of salt and the words to an ancient incantation.

This movie has no such assurances.

K. Gordon Murray, who brought The Brainiac and Santa Claus up north, as well as the writer of Shanty Tramp, also brought this movie to America, but not before adding some new scenes.

Ramon Gay, who was in all of the Aztec Mummy films, stars. He was one of the brightest lights in Mexican cinema when a dispute over the affections of the actress Evangelina Elizondo ended with her estranged husband shooting Gay dead.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Also known as Isle of the Snake People, the original title of this movie translates as  Living Death. It was directed by Juan Ibanez, who also directed star Boris Karloff in The Incredible Invasion, House of Evil and Fear Chamber.

Karloff’s box office value led to these movies being financed by Columbia Pictures, which would then distribute them. Karloff received $100,000 per film, which is about $641,000 in today’s money. He rejected the scripts for all four movies, but agreed to make them when Jack Hill — yes, the maker of Spider Baby — rewrote the stories.

Filming was to take place in Mexico City, but Karloff’s emphysema (as well as the fact that he’d already lost a lung to cancer and had pneumonia in the other) would not allow him to work in the city’s altitude. He shot his scenes — with Hill directing — at the Dored Studios in Los Angeles, with additional scenes shot in Mexico with a Karloff stand-in named Jerry Petty.

Captain Labesch has arrived at a far-flung island to stop the voodoo rites being carried out by Damballah (Karloff). He’s warned by local rich white man Carl van Molder (also Karloff) to leave well enough alone. There’s a temperance subplot too, but who cares when Kalea the snake dancer is turning women into zombies that eat policemen?

She is played by Yolanda Montes, who used the stage name Tongolele and was known as The Queen of Tahitian Dances. A vedette in the Mexican cabaret, Tongolele is a potent mix of Swedish and Spanish who was born in Spokane, Washington and continues to be a star in Mexico to this day. She even released an album at one point. I have to say, she looks like she stepped straight out of 2020, with her shaved head and fierce makeup. She’s seriously volcanic, taking over the film from the moment she appears,

Human sacrifice. Dance numbers. Near-psychedelic images. Zombies. Well, as to that latter part of this movie, Night of the Living Dead came out in the years between when this movie was made and when it was released. By that point, this seemed dated. No matter. Watching it today, I was beyond entertained by it.

You can watch this on YouTube.

If this movie is any indication, Isaac Ezban is a writer and director to watch. He was inspired by The Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life” and the color palette of 2009’s The Box, as this has a muted look that is unlike anything I’ve seen recently. It’s a movie that takes a somewhat silly conceit — every person in a bus station starts to look alike — and makes it amazingly taunt and shocking.

Ulises is stranded in a bus station during a rainstorm and the Tlatelolco riots of 1968. His wife is in Mexico City, ready to give birth and he must get there to see her. However, it seems like the storm is a worldwide phenomenon.

After speaking with Irene, the twosome decides to grab a taxi together. Ulises asks an old woman if she’d like to join them, but she angrily replies in a foreign language. At the same time, a cleaning lady demands that Rosa not leave before succumbing to an epileptic fit.

Meanwhile, as more people arrive, the man who runs the station screams that everything is Ulises’s fault before trying to kill him. And oh yeah — there’s a mysterious child named Igancio who must continually be shot up with sedatives.

At this point, the film reveals its crucial conceit: everyone begins to turn into Ulises, even the women, the magazines, the statues, everything has started to transform into him. Ignacio shows him a comic book about aliens who steal humanity’s individuality without them ever knowing. Somehow, the child has caused this comic book fiction to become fact.

I really don’t want to reveal much more, but suffice to say that this movie really stuck with me. I can’t wait to see what Ezban does next.

Andrei is a detective and the world’s most horrible father. He has brought together a group of people who all want revenge on him, including his angry daughter, a brutal criminal and a cheated cop. They all want revenge. So who is gonna get it?

Kirill Sokolov’s debut film calls to mind the cinematic styles of those he refers to as his favorite directors: Sergio Leone, Martin McDonagh, Park Chan-wook, Martin Scorsese, and, foremost amongst these greats, Quentin Tarantino.

Somehow, this movie takes a Russian spin on a Western action film, which gives it the signposts that will be able to guide audiences through it, but allows those looking for something unique their own avenues to travel throughout the film.

Matvey has a mission. His girlfriend feels that her father — the aforementioned Andrei — has shamed her. So he must kill the old man with a hammer. Easier said than done.

Andrei has a lot of fight in him. Matvey can take an inordinate amount of damage before dying. This “meet the parents” tale is filled with an overwhelming amount of violence, blood and gore. Which is a long way to say that this is awesome.

The Arrow release also includes four short films by the director: Could Be Worse, The Outcome, The Flame and Sisyphus is Happy. It also has the trailer, behind the scenes footage and even the storyboards used to make this.

I had no idea what to expect from this film and ended up really enjoying it. Consider this a recommendation for you to grab this for yourself. You can get it from Arrow Video, who was kind enough to send us a copy.

A year after making this movie, which translates as World of the Vampires, Alfonso Corona Blake would direct Santo vs. Las Mujeres Vampiro. 

Count Sergio Subotai is a vampire who is seeking to wipe out the descendants of his greatest enemy. I’d like to state for the record that he is played by Guillermo Murray. When I was a nino taking el espanol, anyone named Bill was called Guillermo, which means William. So this vampire is really named Mexican Bill Murray.

Another fact that this movie taught me is that instead of a stake through the heart, sunlight, garlic or a cross, music is the best weapon to use against a Mexican vampire. I take that back — stakes are also used.

That said, there are some attractive female vampires and an organ made of human bones and skulls, so this movie isn’t all bad.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Slaughter Night is a portmanteau written and directed by Gilberto de Anda. It features three stories that aren’t really connected, but the astounding ending of the last story more than makes up for that. I’d never seen a Mexican Bigfoot before and now that I have, I feel like my life is closer to finally nearing completion. Don’t feel sad. I feel fulfilled.

In the first story, a young actor wants to get ahead and learns that his elder rival uses black magic. So he kills the man and steals his book of spells, which seems like the worst idea ever. Or perhaps that’s the second story, where some punk rockers try to rob a family of vampires.

The last story, well, that’s why you’ll want to watch this. Mexican action movie star Mario Almada — who looks like someone’s dad and not who we in America would think of as someone who should be in those types of films and we really need to get over our prejudices in so many ways, but particularly against elder Mexican actors not being able to patear el culo.

Anyways, Mario plays a hunter who has been after a Yeti for his entire life, before having to join forces with El Squatcho and fight a bunch of thugs who are about to assault Mario’s annoying comedy relief wife. Much like the creature in Night of the Demon, this Bigfoot’s fight style is to knock people’s heads clean off. It’s everything I wanted this movie to be, but it takes a while to get there.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This movie originally appeared on our site on October 29, 2018. As we’re covering Mexican films all week long, I feel like this is the perfect time to remind everyone how perfect and wonderful and special this little oddball film is.

The sequel to 1980’s Intrepidos Punks, this one ups the ante from the very first five minutes. After Tarzan (luchador El Fantasma, father to NXT star El Hijo del Fantasma) is freed from prison, he instantly gets revenge on the man who put him away, Marco (Juan Valentin) by interrupting the cop’s daughter’s quinceanera. His gang proceeds to rape and kill every single person there, leaving Marco alive so that he can be tormented by his loss.

Let me sum this up the best way I can: Tarzan and his gang look like the best Italian post-apocalyptic movie ever, if a Mexican wrestler led a gang that’s mostly made up of Japanese women wrestlers circa the Crush Girls era that had constant Satanic orgies. Tarzan even yells, “Long live death, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol!” at one point, sending me into ecstatic bliss.

Marco’s partner says that “We are all guilty. We are all accomplices. All of us!” Probably no one listened to the police chief when he claimed that the gang was only the tip of the iceberg at the end of  the last film. Now, Marco is getting kicked off the force, slowly eating soup and planning his horrible vengeance on the gang.

This movie quite literally comes from inside my brain. It’s the only place where luchadors can lead Satanist drug gangs against an ex-cop willing to take things so far that he pours acid on people, all whilst a surf punk band jams out and curvy dancers gyrate to their completely offbeat (and off beat) performance. Everybody has aluminum foil on their spikes or metallic hair or is naked or has a bad dye job or looks likes the random dudes you beat up in Final Fight. Throw in a black mass where a goat is beheaded and devoured and you have the feel good movie of 1987!

The only thing I don’t like about this movie is its ending, which Roberto Ewing explains away the entire movie as one bad dream. Fuck that. If you just stop the movie right before that, all will be much better with your world. I also want there to be more movies in this series and am willing to Kickstart anything that attempts to make this happen.