Santo vs. The Vampire Women

Santo vs. The Vampire Women (Santo contra las mujeres vampire)

1962

Director- Alfonso Corona Blake

Cast- Santo, Lorena Velázquez,  María Duval, Ofelia Montesco, Jaime Fernández, Augusto Benedico, Xavier Loyá, Fernando Osés, Guillermo Hernández, Nathanael León

           
From Mexico

    If you’re not familiar with the Mexican sensation that is Santo, I’m not sure if there is a cultural equivalent. Imagine Hulk Hogan, Wyatt Earp, and Superman all rolled into one and that might come close. Mexican luchadore wrestler, El Santo (The Saint).  starred in over 50 films where he fought Martians, witches, mummies, martial artists and every other nefarious thing that you can imagine. In this installment, maybe the best known outside of Mexico, he fights a coven of vampire women.

            

    The first thing that you need to do in order to enjoy this movie is to toss out your ideas about what a horror movie SHOULD be. Mexican horror takes recognizable elements from European and Hollywood movies but also filters it through its own unique culture, kind of like how The Day of the Dead is an obvious analog to the Anglo-Saxon Halloween but has unique elements that set it apart.

        

 

     The beginning of the film focuses on a coven of vampire women, seeking a successor for their queen. Tundra  (Ofelia Montesco)  is the high priestess of the coven. She awakes her sisters and their three male servants. The vampire women, before they get blood are old, desiccated hags. After getting their nourishment they turn in to toga clad beauties, each one glamorous and sexy. Their servants are muscular men wearing what looks like wrestling tights with black capes. Even though they have the typical vampire powers (hypnotism, turn into a bat etc.) they get their victims by running up behind them and giving them a blow to the back of the head like they’re getting mugged for their wallet!

           

    After securing nourishment, they revive their queen, Zorina ( real life Miss Mexico, Lorena Velázquez who couldn’t look more glamorous if she tried). The coven serves Satan and Zorina has a limited time on the Earth before she must go back to the dark world from which she came (there is a really cool effect, where we never actually see the Devil, we only see his shadow on the wall). Before her time is up she must find a successor to be queen of the coven. They have their eye on Diana (María Duval) a young woman who prophecy states should be their queen. She even has a birth mark on her shoulder that looks like a bat!

           

    Diana’s father is a loremaster and knows the doom that awaits his daughter, so he contacts Santo to aid the police in protecting his daughter on her 21^st birthday (the days she is meant to ascend to the vampire throne). The vampire coven tries to stop Santo, including a scene where one of them fights him in the ring, a scene which was homaged in the 2019 Hellboy film. They finally succeed in kidnapping Diana and Santo must track them down and face the coven in their lair.

            

    The beginning of the film is as creepy as anything Unviersal put out in the 40s and if you didn’t know what you were watching you’d think it was a straight up horror film. The movie gets silly at times. I don’t think it was meant to make sense as much as it was supposed to just be fun. Part horror, part live action comic book, part wrestling, Santo vs. The Vampire Women offers an interesting, sometimes bizarre, mixture of genres and imagery.

Faust: Love of the Damned

 

Faust: Love of the Damned

2000

Director-Brian Yuzna

Cast- Mark Frost, Isabel Brook, Jeffery Combs, Andrew Divoff, Monica Van Campen

            

   This film was based on the Tim Vigil comic of the same name. In the 80s, in response to the success of books like Watchmen and characters like Wolverine and the Punisher, the comics industry rushed to make darker and grittier characters. At the same time, the rise of the comic book store made it possible to widely distribute comics that would never be Code approved and sold in your local grocery store. Faust, the comic, is a direct product of that era and this movie would probably have been more shocking if it had been made about 10 years earlier.

            

     This is the story of John Jaspers who sells his soul to the devil (played by Andrew Divoff looking very Billy Drago-esque) for the power to take revenge upon his girlfriend’s murderers. John then becomes a tool of Mephistopheles who uses him as a sort of hitman. John eventually breaks his deal and runs, drawing a beautiful psychiatrist (played by Isabel Brook) and a veteran cop (played by genre legend Jeffery Combs) into his dark and bloody life.

           

    Brian Yuzna, who directed Bride of the Reanimator and Return of the Living Dead 3, brings his sense of humor and gore. The most memorable scene in the film is where beautiful nymphomaniac Claire (Monica Van Campen) has her intangible characteristics made into tangible reality when she is transformed into a giant set of breasts with a face.

  There are a few good gore scenes, but the film relies too much on cheap CGI and the demonic transformation of John Japers, which is supposed to look like a dark super hero, complete with cape and cowl ,but instead it looks like a Gwar version of Wolverine.

 The highlights are sexy Monica Van Campen who is in various stages of undress throughout the film and Jeffery Combs who provides a solid performance as always. The film isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. Fans of the comic or fans of Jeffery Combs will want to see it. Everyone else should only watch it if you can accept it for what it is; a B grade fantasy with gore and lots of gratuitous nudity.

Hellboy (2004,2019)

Hellboy

2004

Director- Guillermo del Toro

Cast- Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, David Hyde Pierce, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, Bridget Hodson, Jeffrey Tambor

           

     I went back and forth on how to classify this film.  It isn’t really horror but it’s also not obviously something else. It’s sort of an action film. Despite its title it doesn’t fit into the typical God vs. Satan mythology. But then again it doesn’t fit into anything. Or really it fits into a lot of things all at once. Mike Mignola’s signature comic combines a heavy dose of Lovecraft, liberally sprinkled with folklore and mythology from all over the world and filters it through Christian and gothic imagery. It’s this improbable mixture (along with Mignola’s art) that has made the comic so endearing.

          

      If you’re not familiar with it, the plot of the movie (which is reasonably close to the comic) goes like this. The Mad Monk himself, Rasputin, teams up with Nazi’s to unleash some Lovecraftian god frozen in space, and in the process, lets loose a baby demon who is then raised by a parapsychologist to be a weapon against the evil supernatural forces around the world. Teamed up with him are a pyrokinetic and a blue Creature from the Black Lagoon. Yeah, it may not sound like it works but it does.

      

    

    I give the movie a B+. It succumbs to Hollywoodisms with silly stunts, an unneeded schmuck  character for a narrative device and the unfortunate decision to turn the creepy Karl Kroenen into a robot ninja. Despite all this, it keeps the spirit of the comic and is pretty spot on with its visual translation of the characters from comic to film. The main attraction of course is Ron Perlman as Hellboy. He looks great and the look is achieved through old school makeup and not a bunch of distracting CGI.

           

     A sequel was made a few years later, The Golden Army. Although it was a more successful movie, it veers too far away from the dark creepiness of the comic and feels more like Hellboy meets Tolkein. The reboot, although financially a flop, was more enjoyable.

Hellboy

2019

Director- Neil Marshall

Cast- David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, Thomas Haden Church

     

      This movie has a lot going for it. One could easily say it’s a genre fan’s dream. David Harbour (Stranger Things) dons the horns this time. His nemesis is Mila Jovovich (Fifth Element, Resident Evil) with Ian McShane (Deadwood, John Wick) in support. The whole thing is over seen by Neil Marhsall (Dog Soldiers, Doomsday). What it didn’t have was Ron Perlman, and that was just a bridge too far for most fans it seems. Many fans hated the film 6 months before they saw it (like the similarly doomed Solo: A Star Wars Story, and like with Solo, they seemed to go out of their way to torpedo it on social media.)

           

    I never could understand this reaction. The studio offered the job to Ron and he turned it down. Also, it had been 15 years since the first Hellboy film. One can hardly blame him for moving on. But alas, such is the fickle nature of the modern fan. God help whoever is eventually picked to replace Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. That poor sap will probably never know what hit him.

            

     As for Mila, can we all just acknowledge that she is immortal? It’s been over 20 years since Fifth Element and she is still astonishingly beautiful.

            

    As for the movie itself, in this installment, Hellboy and his crew are fighting a thousand year old witch (Jovovich) who is trying to summon an army of demons. If you’ve seen Doomsday, you are familiar with what Marshall can do in terms of mixing genre elements. This film crams lucha libre wrestling, vampires, a lycanthrope, demons, giants, Baba Yaga, ectoplasmic spirit channeling, Nazis, Merlin and King Arthur and a ton of gore into 2 hours. I thought it was a wild, fun film and well worth the price of admission. The film got decent reviews from fans who saw it, but too many fans, through misplaced loyalty, just avoided it.

            

     If you’re not married to the idea that Ron has to be Hellboy, this film will give you everything you could want. If on the other hand, you can’t stomach the idea of passing the torch, best just leave the movie alone as it will no doubt drive up your blood pressure.

 

 

Bloody Mallory

Bloody Mallory

2002

Director- Julien Magnat

Cast- Olivia Bonamy, Adrià Collado, Jeffrey Ribier, Laurent Speilvogel, Valentina Vargas

From France

           

 

Imagine Bloodrayne meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That’s a pretty fair description of this film both aesthetically and stylistically. If you are familiar with, and liked, those franchises you will definitely like Bloody Mallory. If not, you probably won’t like this French genre gem.

            Mallory (Olivia Bonamy) leads a team of monster hunters that includes a blue haired Amazon drag queen and a mute, telepathic little girl that projects her consciousness into other people and animals. Mallory herself looks like the aforementioned Bloodrayne with her red hair and red and black leather. And just in case you weren’t sure whether to take the movie seriously, they cruise around in a big, pink hearse.

            The movie begins with Mallory’s team fighting a group of ghouls that are trying to impregnate virgin nuns. Shortly after, the newly elected Pope, who is probably the most hateful Pope since the middle ages, is kidnapped by a cult worshiping the demon Abaddon. Aiding the demon is a shape changing succubus and a vampire played by Valentina Vargas. Hellraiser fans will know her as Angelique, the only good part of Hellraiser Bloodlines, the last film before that franchise went south.

            Mallory’s team journeys to the netherworld to rescue the Pope only to realize they’ve been double-crossed.  Various action packed, gory shenanigans ensue as they try to beat the demon and save humanity.

            Not a scary movie by any stretch, but if you like the frenetic feel of live action anime, Bloody Mallory is worth the price of admission.

The Babysitter

The Babysitter

2017

Director- McG

Cast- Samara Weaving, Judah Lewis, Hana Mae Lee, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, King Bach, Emily Alyn Lind, Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino

           

This little gem premiered on Netflix but it was totally worth a theatrical release. The reason it didn’t get one, I assume, was short sightedness on the part of some Hollywood mogul that didn’t think it warranted it. I don’t want to say too much to spoil it, but just think coming-of-age teen comedy meets Satanic cult murders.

            Judah Lewis is Cole, a junior high loser that seems afraid of everything and is picked on by everyone. Samara Weaving is Bee, the babysitter who watches him when his parents are out of town. Bee is much older, and super-hot, and Cole’s feelings for her go back and forth between horny crush to admiration. In a world of bullies, Bee is the only one that treats him like a person.  The chemistry between the two seems real and I think this helps the viewer invest in the story despite some of the over the top shenanigans that ensue.

            When the Satanic cult is introduced the movie shifts to a kind of Evil Dead version of Home Alone with some creative gore and funny characters that parody the millennial generation without being too obvious about it.

            A one of a kind horror-comedy that offers laughs, gore, surprises, and very clever dialogue. Weaving particularly turns in a memorable performance as the titular character. Worth your time to see.

Dracula Sovereign of the Damned

Dracula Sovereign of the Damned

1980

Director- Minoru Okazaki

           

     It doesn’t get much more eclectic than this; an anime adaptation of Marvel’s 1970’s horror comic Tomb of Dracula. As an adaptation goes, it’s actually pretty good with most of the characters from the series making an appearance and most of them looking like they did in the comic though it tries to cram several years’ worth of stories into 90 minutes and, being a Japanese adaptation of a Western comic, is a little weird at times.

           

    The movie starts with a coven of Satanists trying to summon Lucifer  in order to offer him a bride. Instead, Dracula shows up and impersonates Ol’ Nick and takes the girl, Dolores, for himself.  The Marvel Dracula looked rather Satanic with his mustache, pointed ears and cape, so I can see how they would be fooled.

            

    The Satanists realize too late that they’ve been had and the real Lucifer shows up and helps them plan their revenge, which culminates in killing Dracula’s new born son, Janus. Then God steps in, brings the kid back to life, except fully grown and in a super hero costume, and sets him to work to hunt down and kill his father, Dracula. 

    

    Drac however, has a showdown with Satan and loses his vampire powers and then has to set out on a rather humiliating quest to get them back. My favorite part is when Drac, after becoming a human, realizes he hasn’t eaten in 500 years, but has no money for food and has to mug a couple for money to buy a burger. Oh how the mighty have fallen!

            Old school anime fans will love this as it has the look and feel of old Robotech and Voltron cartoons (it was distributed in the States by Harmony Gold). You may recognize some of the American voices, most especially Dan Woren (Roy Fokker in Robotech and Jagi in Fist of the North Star), Edie Mirman (Miyra from Robotech) and Richard Epcar (Batou from Ghost in the Shell) as the voice of Satan himself.

            

    Weird and fun I highly recommend it to old school anime fans.

Pretty faithful transition from comics to anime, at least as far as the character designs go.