Really Surprised!

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

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

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Doctor of Doom (1963) ** (out of 4) Very silly but entertaining Mexican horror film about a mad scientist who is putting the hearts of apes into the bodies of females. When all of the females keep dying the doctor decides to use a stronger body, that of a female wrestler, and by doing so he plans on using her to kill a couple other female wrestlers who blew up his laboratory. If you're wanting some sort of art picture then I'd recommend several films by Luis Bunuel because that's not what you're going to be getting out of this picture. DOCTOR OF DOOM makes very little sense, the special effects aren't that special and the performances rank just above a middle-school production but all of this just adds to the charm. I think what makes the film work so well is that the pacing is pretty fast and there's always something crazy going on. It's funny hearing dialogue early on talking about how women are "too weak" to be experimented on and yet the doctor just keeps using them. He blames women for not being strong enough to live through his operations but then he sends his men out to get another woman. We also have an accident of the doctors, which is a half man, half ape creation who does the majority of the dirty work. You can tell that didn't have too much money to fix him us as he's just got a few patches of hair scattered around his body. In the English dubbed version we get some hilarious heavy breathing from the creature, which makes him more charming than scary. Then, of course, you have the downright silly wrestling scenes that add nothing and I'm still trying to figure out why they were so important in the first place. Naturally these must have been very popular in the day but today it just comes off rather silly and childish. While there's no tension or drama, the director at least keeps the pace rather fast and it's funny seeing the various ways that the story changes for no reason or watching things happen, which couldn't have possibly happened. Just check out the highlight when a couple cops are about to be smashed to death in a secret room (think THE RAVEN torture trap) and the wall is just a foot or so away from them. They use their watches to call out for help and the female wrestlers, in a different location, have time to drive to them, walk around the house slowly and then finally track them down. Seeing this scene play out is a non-stop laugh and one of the reasons the film remains entertaining.

This film and WRESTLING WOMEN VERSUS THE AZTEC MUMMY (1964) are included on the same DVD. Interestingly, BOTH films share many of the same scenes as well as actors and it appears as if they basically created one movie and filmed a few extra scenes in order to make two movies! While cheap and crappy, it also made for many incomprehensible moments and a lot of repetition--particularly the wrestling scenes--which were identical.To many non-Mexicans, this film is about as weird and foreign as they get! Mexican wrestling films were immensely popular in the 1960s and 70s and they rarely, if ever, made any sense. However, in this film instead of a man wearing a 'lucha libre' mask everywhere they go (el Santo and many of the other good guys wore elaborate masks and guarded their identities), here we have a couple non-masked sexy ladies. While their wrestling skills are not always great, they were very curvaceous AND were crime fighters--just like Blue Demon, el Santo and the rest! As I said, I know that this seems very, very weird! In this installment, Lorena Velázquez and Elizabeth Campbell star as the lady wrestlers. They punch, flip and grapple their way to the bottom of a strange case--a crazy doctor who is trying to perform brain transplants on unsuspecting women!!! There is also a strange guy who is apparently part gorilla! Despite the strangeness of it all, I swear to you I am not making any of this up--it's all in the film and I am not on drugs nor have I had a severe head injury!! If you've seen any of the Mexican wrestling films, it's pretty much what you'd expect--no better nor worse. It's dumb, poorly acted, poorly written and stupid...but also rather funny in a kitschy sort of way. While you'd never assume this is a good film, it is fun for bad movie fans. All others beware!!!

While not a film of any real significance or importance in the overall history of horror film, this is still an enjoyable treat, presenting the cinematic debut of the two lovely amazon wrestling women, Gloria Venus and Golden Rubi, who would then be re-united in the 1964 film, Wrestling Women vs Aztec Mummy.These two girls are good examples of the kind of girlfriend a guy ought to have - buxom, beautiful, tough yet feminine, and they have jobs too.The best thing about these Mexican horror films is not that they are frightening, for they aren't, but that they are fast-paced and adventurous fantasy, if silly at times, with good character humor. Always enjoyable and never too gruesome for the kids.

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!