ZORRO VS. THE TEENAGE MONSTER, this incredibly rare never-dubbed-in-English '58 Mexican wannabe-serial monster flick from schlockmeisters Something Weird, starts off promisingly, with a poorly made-up monster rampaging around a creaky laboratory that wants to be the one in FRANKENSTEIN whilst a comic-relief skeleton with light bulb eyes comments on the action! Once settled down it becomes a film of two halves. The first is the traditional Zorro-as-folk-hero tale with the whip-cracking one tackling rural crime and in this case a supernatural beastie; the second is an impromptu musical with all of the cast members bursting into song at a moment's notice and continuing that way for ten minute stretches or so.
Now, I'm no big fan of musicals, so those parts left me cold, despite all the energy the guys and gals put into their singing. The parts with the monster, on the other hand, are a cheese fan's dream. A sweaty guy turns into this misshapen creation with the aid of dodgy time-lapse photography, and said monster then rampages around the fields, brutalising sheep and terrorising the Mexican community (just kidding about the sheep part). He also takes time out to break into women's bedrooms and kidnap the nightie-clad prone females for his master, the typical mad doctor type who watches people on his widescreen television. Only the big-hatted guy can save the day, so in comes Zorro, scaling what looks like the ruins of Aztec temples and racing heroically across rooftops to do what he does best - fight.
The action scenes may be limited, but when they do come they're testosterone-fuelled and highly entertaining. Otherwise, ZORRO VS. THE TEENAGE MONSTER is a film of images: the prone female victim, strapped to a table in the atmospheric mad scientist's laboratory; the laughing skeleton who pops up to offer advice; a big shoot-out in a ruined cemetery; Zorro swinging into the monster on a rope and knocking him to the ground, plus of course the suitably explosive climax. Sure, the make-up is rubbish and the technical aspects poor, but this deserves kudos alone for the comedy skeleton, the scientist who touches a 'live wire' and fries himself to death, and the manically overacting monster who groans loudly and hits a lot of people.
Now, I'm no big fan of musicals, so those parts left me cold, despite all the energy the guys and gals put into their singing. The parts with the monster, on the other hand, are a cheese fan's dream. A sweaty guy turns into this misshapen creation with the aid of dodgy time-lapse photography, and said monster then rampages around the fields, brutalising sheep and terrorising the Mexican community (just kidding about the sheep part). He also takes time out to break into women's bedrooms and kidnap the nightie-clad prone females for his master, the typical mad doctor type who watches people on his widescreen television. Only the big-hatted guy can save the day, so in comes Zorro, scaling what looks like the ruins of Aztec temples and racing heroically across rooftops to do what he does best - fight.
The action scenes may be limited, but when they do come they're testosterone-fuelled and highly entertaining. Otherwise, ZORRO VS. THE TEENAGE MONSTER is a film of images: the prone female victim, strapped to a table in the atmospheric mad scientist's laboratory; the laughing skeleton who pops up to offer advice; a big shoot-out in a ruined cemetery; Zorro swinging into the monster on a rope and knocking him to the ground, plus of course the suitably explosive climax. Sure, the make-up is rubbish and the technical aspects poor, but this deserves kudos alone for the comedy skeleton, the scientist who touches a 'live wire' and fries himself to death, and the manically overacting monster who groans loudly and hits a lot of people.
