Doctor of Doom (1963)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Doctor Of Doom, A.K.A Las Luchadoras VS El Doctor Asesino, its the basic luchador film from México, but its executed very well by director Rene Cardona. Cardona never disappoints, this time he brings us with an amazing film that never ceases to be fun.The film its better than your average luchador B-movie, with some nice directing, some good acting, decent writing and a big cheesy schlock value.The film was latter remade as Night Of The Bloody Apes, A.K.A La Horripilante Bestia Humana, which its also very fun, but I found this one to be better.Overall, its definitely a must watch for B-movie fans, it has some good characters and a extreme camp value.

I recently (and reluctantly) posted a somewhat negative review of the Mexican classic BRAINIAC. Last night I watched DOCTOR OF DOOM and my faith has been restored! This is the kind of goofy fun I expect from old south of the border exploitation films. A mad scientist kidnaps women for brain transplant experiments! His henchman is a hulking guy with a gorilla brain in his skull! The detectives are trapped in one of those rooms with spiked walls that close in on you! Wrestling women who look like Laura Petrie on steroids save the day! Oh man, it doesn't get better than this. I especially liked the detective captain's sidekick, a little guy one of the women refers to as a "five foot lightning bolt." He's actually funny and engaging. At one point he faces nearly certain doom and radios his girl friend for help. If she doesn't hurry, he says, they'll never walk down the aisle together. "Don't talk like that, small hero!" she responds, "I'll be there like white lightning!" I felt like I'd been drinking white lightning while I watched this. Check it out!

(aka: DOCTOR OF DOOM)Hey, I like this gordida stuff. They don't make 'em like they used to. Mad doctor kidnaps woman for his brain transplant experiments. He even keeps a creature down in his basement named Gomar who is a man with a gorilla's brain, the result of an earlier experiment.So far, his transplants of human brains into other humans have failed, so then the doctor then kidnaps the pretty sister of a famous female wrestler Golden Venus (Lorena Velazquez) and winds up killing her on the operating table. Venus finds out about what happened and vows revenge, and herself and fellow wrestler Golden Rubi (Elizabeth Campbell) go after the mad doctor.They wind up getting captured by the mad doctor and two cops who are assigned to help them, save them. Then later when the two incompetent cops are themselves captured by the doctor, then they are saved by our two brave kick-ass babes. Back & forth, back & forthThe mad doctor then creates a new masculine-looking female monster named Vendetta who disguised as a wrestler, fights Venus and Ruby in the ring. All kinds of babe flesh fly. Not bad. Not bad at all.The whole thing ends on a water tower where the mad doctor and Vendetta are trapped. They almost kill a cop and are then in turn, shot down. The bodies fall...(thump...)The Something Weird video is doubled up with WRESTLING WOMEN VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY and has tons of extras including many trailers for other Mexican horror films they have in their library. Although the b/w print shows it's age, it's far better than the old grainy VHS tape. And the print I saw had an AIP logo in the titles instead of K. Gordon Murray's. Excellent badly-dubbed cheddar cheese. It's funny. 6 out of 10

It is seldom that B-movie lovers get a treat like this. K. Gordon Murray, the man who delivers Mexican wrestling flicks for our consumption, brings us "Rock & Roll Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Ape." I can honestly say that this is truly a guilty pleasure.This movie involves your typical Mad Scientist (MS), who is working on transplanting brains for reasons not explained. He has already transplanted an ape's brain into a man, giving us a man slowly turning into an ape. The purpose of this is not entirely clear either, but thankfully said MS has a hypnotic trance over him. Heaven knows we can't afford to have half man/half apes walking around willy-nilly.Anyhow, since the young, less educated women don't seem to be surviving these transplants (gee, I wonder why?), MS decides to abduct and operated on a pretty young lady who is a scientist. Sadly, she dies on the table. Next, MS decides he needs more athletic women -- so he decides to find a wrestler. Unfortunately, the woman he goes after is Venus, the sister of the pretty scientist MS just killed.This flick is enjoyable in every area except for the soundtrack, which should have been stopped at the border, strip searched, and held on trumped-up charges. The wrestling scenes are well done, and the acting is much above the norm. Plus, I love Venus! She is absolutely fabulous as both an actress & as a wrestler. She puts Peaches Page to shame.This movie also doesn't take itself too seriously, and tells a good story without cutting corners or relying on an overuse of stock footage. Plus, it doesn't insult my Suspension of Disbelief or cause it to slap me for my poor choice in movies.Sterno says flick your Bics for "Rock & Roll Wrestling Women".