Reviews

SKEETER on the one hand is clearly influenced by typical mutant monster movies of the 50s like THEM or TARANTULA, on the other hand it owes its existence certainly to successful movies of the 90s that tell similar stories, such as TREMORS or TICKS. To come straight to the point: The biggest drawback of the film is its running time of 91 minutes. There is not enough substance to the story for this. In this respect director Clark Brandon should have been guided more by movies from the 50s, which rarely exceeded the 80 minute mark. This could have been a thrilling movie. As it is, we have to deal with a long exposure and a rather dreary love story between a pretty boy Deputy and the red haired village beauty. Even the subplot about a vicious building tycoon seems very much out of place. Regarding the build up of tension, SKEETER works along the line of classic monster movies. But Brandon tries to do something different with the scenes between the mosquito attacks and to not just stretch the running time (well, mostly). Brandon's style deviates significantly from what is common in most contemporary B-monster-movies. He more often than not works with clear, almost static shots, frequently taken slightly from below. Thus, the protagonist are standing around like lost in somewhat unreal and inhospitable landscapes as if they don't belong there. This impression is reinforced by the special light of the desert which is used very effectively by the director. With these scenes, the film, which was almost entirely shot on location, describes man as an intruder into a world, seemingly motionless for ages, a world whose balance is destroyed by man, thus evoking his own destruction. In this sense, quite apart from the rather simplistic presented toxic waste problem, SKEETER is, albeit on a modest level, a warning against home-made environmental disasters. In this regard, the film stands also in the tradition of classic monster movies, who frequently point to the dangers of nuclear disaster. The mostly unknown cast of the film, aside from Napier and Sanderson, are doing an acceptable job, albeit Jim Youngs comes off as a rather pale hero. The incomparable Charles Napier has, in fact, the best scene of the movie, as he, already dying, grabs one of the mosquitoes, crushing it with his bare hands, shouting: "I got one! I got one!" The special effects are mostly acceptable for a low budget movie like this, albeit not entirely convincing. Especially the "mosquito-point-of-view" shots, done with a special camera, are undoubtedly an asset to the film. SKEETER is certainly not more than an average B-monster movie with a few lengths, but due to its effective and sympathetic style it stands out positively from the usual direct-to-video stuff.

THREE THE HARD WAY is a colorful blaxploitation movie, albeit not as much fun as it could have been. The story tells about a paramilitary organization of neo-fascists, who have developed an insidious, toxic drug that proves lethal only to Afro-Americans (!). The racial fanatics threaten to pollute the drinking water of all major American cities with this drug, thus bringing a biological victory of the superior white race over the Negros once and for all. The intellectual instigator of this plan explains the "noble goal" of his organization at one point in the film as follows: "You are here in a scientific institution. We are looking for human solutions to social chaos. A cleansing process is our only concern. The cleansing of the races on this continent is our goal, especially within our great nation, you see?" But the self-proclaimed white supremacists have not reckon with the resistance of the "three icy professionals (German title), Jim Brown and Fred Williamson, two superstars of American Football and Karate Champ Jim Kelly"(German VHS). They shoot and fight tirelessly through the "brown swamp" and are the happy winners at the end; balm for the collective ego of the black community. THREE THE HARD WAY was staged by Gordon Parks Jr. after the pattern of action films, tailored especially for a black audience, which his father Gordon Parks has successfully established in the early '70s with SHAFT. The opening of the movie shows Jim Brown driving through L.A. with a white Rolls Royce, accompanied by an extremely cheesy theme song, intoned by the "Impressions", who get the opportunity to present more second-class soul and funk music in the course of the film, sometimes lasting for seemingly endless minutes. Unfortunately, the film is a bit to epic in scale with it's 93 minutes running time, so the occasionally quite good action and martial arts sequences are not that effective, because too much space has been granted for the dialogs and romantic scenes. Thus, even the numerous pyrotechnical effects and shootings (including the three leading actors eliminating almost single-handedly an entire hundred of heavily armed paramilitaries) can not prevent the emergence of slight boredom. At least, the film is a bit more fun than the majority of the genre, especially because of some pretty slanted ingredients like the neo-fascists who are dressed up with red uniform caps and brown shirts, and the symbol of their organization is clearly reminiscent of the Nazi-SS runes. Highlight of the film, however, is the appearance of the three "lady torturers" by the name of Comtess, Princess and Empress. All clad in leather and each wrapped in a red, white and blue jacket respectively, they drive by on motorcycles, which are painted in the same color as their outfit! And this look is also taken up by the color of their bras! They seem to come from the visions of a drug-damaged masochist. What kind of torture the three girls are using remains, however, to the imagination of the viewer. Anyhow, the condition of those who have been tortured gives way to the most adventurous perspectives. All in all, the film can not hide the fact that it is a veritable B-picture, but due to the aforementioned unusual elements it offers at least a minimum of entertainment. Condensed to 80 minutes, the film could have been really good. The producer of the film, Harry Bernsen, is the father of actor Corbin Bernsen, who gives his debut here.

Mexico City. Some day a schoolboy named Roberto sees a little girl being harassed by a few hooligans. He steps out of a group of classmates and helps the girl. During the scuffle he gets a bloody nose. His father is mighty proud of him and initiates him into a secret: Behind a painting in his office hangs a silver mask. It is the mask of Mexican wrestler and heroic fighter against evil: Santo - El Enmascarado de Plata. For years it was Roberto's father, who, as El Santo, confronted criminals of all kinds with courage and determination, and who had got the silver mask decades ago from his father. One day Roberto should also accept the legacy of his father and assume the role of Santo. After many years, it's finally time that the now grown Roberto puts on the silver mask. He is then guided by the faithful servant Matias to a secret room in the basement of the house. Here is Santos headquarter, with radios and countless technological gadgets. From now on, a new Santo will take up the fight against evil. And the first challenge is already waiting... Virginia, a journalist of the daily newspaper "Novedades", her friend, the policeman Fernando Lavalle and his assistant Conrado visit one evening a sporting event. At the ballgame known as "Jai Alai", Virginia observes three men in the hall that make suspicious hand signs to one of the players. Virginia suspects that the game should be manipulated and senses a big story. Fernando is skeptical and forbids her to carry out further research. But it soon turns out that her suspicion is correct. The crime boss Don Cosme and his minions manipulate the games to win large sums of money when betting. Some time later Virginia reports a wrestling match between Santo and another wrestler by order of her publisher. Suddenly she discovers the same three men in the audience who she had already seen at the Jai Alai game. She observes that one of the men secretly put a liquid on Santos towel. Just in time, she can warn Santo, who then finds out that it is acid. As the crooks try to make off, there is a wild brawl between the gangsters and the police, but in the confusion the men escape. From now on, not only the police but also Santo is interested in who is behind the machinations. Fernando and Conrado soon follow a clue that leads to the nightclub "Trocadero". There they become witnesses as one of Don Cosmes henchmen try to persuade a Jai Alai player to manipulate a game, but the man refuses. During the next game he is mortally wounded by a ball thrown against his head. The incident is classified by the police as an accident, but the truth is that the player Tony who is on Don Cosmes payroll killed the uncooperative player deliberately. A little later, as Santo tries to learn from Tony who is the mastermind behind the betting scams, Tony is shot from ambush. By now, Don Cosme has enough of Santos interference with his lucrative business and he flies in a wrestler from Germany named Max Stromberg. He should fight against Santo in the ring to get rid off the masked wrestler once and for all. To be on the safe side, one of Don Cosmes men will shoot at Santo with a gun at a suitable moment. But the plan goes awry, however, and instead of Santo, Max Stromberg is fatally wounded. Don Cosme is not happy about this and as a last resort, he now kidnaps Virginia and Fernando to set a trap for Santo. As Santo rushes to the aid of the two, Don Cosme and his men are already waiting for him. With a trick and his outstanding abilities Santo can finally overcome all gangsters and hand over Don Cosme to justice... SANTO CONTRA EL REY DEL CRIMEN tells a largely unspectacular story of organized crime and betting frauds. The film is quite jittery and the mise en scène is not very stringent. Only the corpulent villain Don Cosme, the "King of Crime", provides some interesting moments. Don Cosme is sitting most of the time behind his desk, which is crowded with five or six phones. He constantly places bets somewhere, while his men do the dirty work. A hunchbacked dwarf scuttles around him all the time or is sitting next to him on the desk(!) to make telephone calls by Don Cosmes instructions or hand him a glass of water. In a funny scene (for German spectators at least) the linguistically gifted Don Cosme even makes a phone call to "Amburgo" in German ! Despite the film's title, El Santo himself is seen relatively seldom in action. He interferes a few times in fistfights, participates in a Jai Alai game, appears twice in the ring and saves the day at the end. At the beginning of the film, Santo is even seen without a mask, but only from behind. Even if the settlement of the story in the milieu of the the Jai Alai game is unusual, the film as a whole is not particular original and the episodic structure of the movies staging prevents something like tension in the first place, especially since the audience knows early on about the machinations of the villain. To bring the film to a reasonable length, there are not only a lot of scenes from Jai Alai games being shown, but also two longer wrestling sequences, and the "Fredy Guzman Combo" also got the opportunity to play their instruments extensively. Technically the film is competently made, but the art direction is rather modest due to a small budget and most of the action scenes seem a bit awkward. But the scenes in the ring between Santo and Fernando Oses or "Max Stromberg" are rather dynamic and entertainingly staged, while the trivial and boring Jai Alai game scenes are presented in too much detail.

"Big Sister" is watching you! America after World War III. Apocalyptic times. The power on earth is in the hands of a faceless "Central Control". By means of their martialist troops, the "Security Control", the liberation efforts of a bold group of resistance fighters are brutally suppressed. A female humanoid alien with a message of peace arrives on earth, but ends up in the clutches of the "Security Control". But the alien is freed by the rebels. After endless struggles between the "Security Control" and the rebels, the women from space can finally journey back to her planet. Director Frank Harris, a former reporter for a television station in California, is producing amateurish action movies for the international video market since the early 80's. Usually he writes his own scripts and he often is his own DoP. He shot his first film KILL POINT in 1984, starring Leo Fong, Richard Roundtree and Cameron Mitchell. In AFTERSHOCK there are Chris Mitchum, Russ Tamblyn and John Saxon at hand, three veritable actors in low budget movies, but their presence can only make the movie interesting for some brief moments. Like so many cheap post-nuke movies, AFTERSHOCK was shot in the shadows of industrial ruins, here namely the "Kaiser Steel Plant" and the "Fontana Domtar Gypsum Paper Mill", but the aimed apocalyptic feeling never sets in. The typical ruins remain just what they are: the ordinary remnants of former industrial complexes. Obeying the stereotype of such movies (and also due to the thin checkbook of the producer) Harris added endless scenes of shootings and brawls to the completely ridiculous "story", but because of the stinginess of the producer these scenes are only look cheap. While the aforementioned performers had to be content with smaller roles (or were too expensive for leading parts), incompetent no-name actors have to stutter lots of dimwitted dialog and bore the viewer with their bland faces. By the way, more than 90 actors are listed by name in the end credits! All in all, AFTERSHOCK is a film of little entertainment value. Despite intensive research, the name of the DoP of the film who is not given credit could not be traced.

For those who may have missed it: In 1999 Earth was attacked by monstrous aliens! Randomly they destroyed entire cities with their spaceships, killed and kidnapped people and tried to conquer our world. The War of the Worlds was on fire! But, to our luck, there were some upright fighter, people like you and me, who stood up against this eerie encounter of the third kind and stood in the way of the invaders. They had figured out how to destroy the spaceships of the aliens, and in doing so, save the freedom of mankind, at least for the next few years. But they could not destroy this alien seed of horror permanently... ALIEN SPECIES is a mix of countless set pieces from well known (and lesser known) science fiction movies, a potboiler in which a motley group of stereotype protagonists has to defend themselves against a seemingly overwhelming threat, and thereby, incidentally, save the world. The sterile atmosphere of the film is mainly due to the fact that it was apparently shot with digital equipment, and it is in many scenes reminiscent of an episode of a cheap TV series. Of little help in terms of a compelling production are also the very cheap CGI effects, the unpleasant, inept actors, the annoying music and endless, boring dialog scenes. The whole project was probably a little too big for the available budget. Some films ALIEN SPECIES shamelessly uses as "inspiration" are CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, INDEPENDENCE DAY, ALIEN SULLA TERRA (!) and of course ALIEN. The open end of the film intends a sequel, which is announced in the end credits: "Coming Soon: Alien Species 2 - The Invasion." Fortunately, until now this seems not to have been realized.

In the 2nd Edition of his meritorious book "The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography" (McFarland 2008) the author RM Cotter says about this film: "The story [...] was a re-write of the first Wrestling Woman movie. Since both were written by Alfredo Salazar, at least the producers were not ripping off someone else's good idea.". (Page 144). This assessment, however, is not quite accurate. There are some elements out of LAS LUCHADORAS CONTRA EL MEDICO ASESINO in it, but mostly LAS LUCHADORAS CONTRA EL ROBOT ASESINO is a rather shameless rip-off of the episode RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS from the British TV series THE AVENGERS. The storyline is almost identical, a lot of the dialogs are used word by word and numerous sequences are copied in detail. To stretch the story of the 50-minute TV film to feature length, the writer invented a second showdown, and another Mexican horror film was ready to shoot. LAS LUCHADORAS CONTRA EL ROBOT ASESINO is a wonderfully surreal concoction of absurd ideas and numerous set pieces of the horror and science fiction genre, stretched with some rather boring wrestling scenes, as they are typical of many Mexican genre films. These kind of movies, often with masked wrestlers in the hero's role, were mainly produced in the 50s, 60s and 70s, mostly cheap and in large numbers. To save time and money, the producers generously used the ideas of other filmmakers or integrated whole scenes from other films into their own productions. For the producers of LAS LUCHADORAS CONTRA EL ROBOT ASESINO thrift was also the main rule. Thus the laboratory where Dr. Orlac performs his infamous experiments is rather poorly and meager equipped, despite the supply with "aparatos electronicas" from "Siemens, Mexicana SA". Carlos Agosti as Dr. Orlac performs in the style of the classic "mad scientist", but overdoing it a bit, with rolling eyes, malicious laughter and an overall very grandiose gesture. Of course, a monster he created ("el hombre zombie") and held captive in the basement of the lab also belongs to the inventory of the film. Joaquin Cordero as Inspector Arturo Campos remains pale in the part of the hero and the resolute "Luchadoras" are little more than decorative additions. Hector Lechuga provides a few comedic moments as the goofy assistant of the investigating inspector, but most of his antics are just plain silly. The real star of the film is undoubtedly the robot, a delightfully grotesque sight, with a metal head, a black trench coat, black hat and sunglasses. It is great fun to see him rip car doors out of their anchorage or clearing his way through walls and doors with karate blows.

But as already mentioned, screenwriter Alfredo Salazar has "borrowed" not only the appearance of the robot, but almost all of the films ideas from RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS. Particularly the following scenes and details from RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS can be find almost unchanged in LAS LUCHADORAS CONTRA EL ROBOT ASESINO: The programming of the robot is done with index cards that are inserted into the robot, with a photo of the victim, some strange hieroglyphics and other data on it. These cards are designed almost identical in both films. The kidnapping of the scientists is in both films more or less identically staged. When the robot attacks one of the scientists, he can escape at first, but loses the keys to his car on the run. He manages to get them back in time and to start the car. At the same moment the robot braces against the vehicle, preventing it from leaving. While the driver puts the pedal, the car does not move a bit. In both films there is a close-up of the key lying on the ground and two close-ups of the spinning wheels. In both films one of the scientists fires his revolver against the robot, but that proves useless. When one of the scientists, who are imprisoned in large barred cells, refuses to participate in the realization of the villains plans, he gets the permission to leave the laboratory. But the man does not get far, because the robot kills him. One of the scientists manages to build a small bomb which he ignites in the laboratory. In the general confusion he can escape, but shortly after that he is being tracked by the robot and brought back to the lab. Later he is killed when the apparatus invented by the scientists is tested on him. Absolutely identical in both films is the sequence in which the robot appears in one of the victims office. He goes by the telephoning secretary to the office door, and the somewhat stupid typist begins to flirt with the robot until it knocks her out. Later, her only concern is her hairstyle and whether she will look good enough on the expected press photos. And finally, the showdown in the laboratory can be found in both movies, but as RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS ends here, screenwriter Salazar delivers a bonus with a second showdown in a wrestling arena. According to the Mexican Internet Movie Database www.cineyrevmex.unam.mx LAS LUCHADORAS CONTRA EL ROBOT ASESINO was shot between the 10th and 30th April 1968 and was shown in Mexico on January 9, 1969 for the first time. The AVENGERS episode RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS was first broadcast on September 30, 1967 in the UK as episode 121 and in the U.S.A. on February 21, 1968. In Germany the film was released 22.05.1972 under the title HORROR-MONSTER SCHLAGEN ZU and it was apparently the "El Sexo" version (EL LOCO ASESION Y EL SEXO) of the movie. So called "El Sexo" versions were produced of many Mexican horror films in the 60s and 70s. In these cases, additional or differently shot scenes with more erotic content than in the "regular" version were inserted into a movie. Most of these "El Sexo" versions seem to have been lost.

Michael Gold, mercenary on behalf of the CIA, gets the assignment to arrest a scientist by the name of Prof. Braun, because Braun is going to develop a laser weapon with unimaginable destructive potential. The KGB is also interested in Brauns invention, so a wild chase after the professor is set in motion. "Laser Mission" uses plot and action elements reminiscent of the stereotypical Euro-Spy films of the 60s, in which dashing Bond imitators are rushing after some technical gadgets or secret formulas to prevent the "other side" from getting their hands on it. The only problem is that "Laser Mission", unfortunately, is a lot more boring than most of the colorful but somewhat naïve spy adventures from the heyday of European epigonic cinema. The absurd plot of the film, "refurbished" with some goofy humor, the inept actors and the clumsy amateurish action sequences become more and more annoying. The almost permanently used, unbearable song "Mercenary Man" by soft-rocker David Knopfler does not help the film either. Maybe there was not enough money to pay him for a complete score.

The only bright spot in the whole dreary mumbo-jumbo is the late great German actor Werner Pochath, who plays his small part as villain "Eckhardt" with his usual intensity. Brandon Lee is running around all the time in a white undershirt and thus he is sitting in a briefing at the embassy of the USA, surrounded by blasé bureaucrats in business suits. An absurd sight.

Laser Mission is an abstruse, uninvolvingly staged movie with no redeeming value. So bad that it is no longer good. In Germany the film was released in an uncut (84"45 Minutes/PAL) FSK 18 version and also sold in a cut to 79 minutes FSK 16 version.

In the 21st Century. After six months, the spacecraft MK 31 commanded by Captain Hamilton is on the return flight to Earth, having successfully carried out a special space mission. When the on-board computer receives strange radio signals, the crew pays no attention at first. But from earth comes the order to investigate the signals. Reluctantly, Captain Hamilton obeys the instructions from earth-base. Suddenly, the MK 31 is attacked by alien spaceships with laser weapons. Hamilton loses control of the ship and it rushes toward a planet on which it will be smashed to pieces. Miraculously the dive is stopped at the last moment: "The spaceship is sustained by an anti-gravitational force of unknown origin", reports the on-board computer. Once the crew has overcome the initial shock, a landing party is assembled to investigate the planet, which has an Earth-like atmosphere. Here, however, they are soon attacked by a giant robot, who kills several astronauts with his energy weapon. Hamilton and the rest of the crew discover a large stone gate, which turns out to be a kind of transmitter. As they walk through it, they are transported into a cave from which the mysterious radio signals are coming. As they investigate the cave, they are captured by humanoid aliens. The leader of the aliens, who are actually peacefully minded towards mankind, recounts what has happened to his race. In their highly developed civilization, intelligent computer and machines played an important role in daily life. One day there was a "Rise of the Machines", which ended in a nuclear disaster. Humans evolved back into an "animal state" and retreated back into the caves beneath the planet. From the machines, a supercomputer emerged, who still terrorizes the aliens and whose aim is to conquer the universe. However, in a collaborative effort the humans and the aliens succeed in destroying the computer. This triggered a massive explosion that leads to a chain reaction which will destroy the entire planet, and with it the race of the aliens. At the last second, the MK 31 spacecraft launched back into space, leaving the bursting planet behind. But one of the aliens could be rescued and taken on board. On the flight back to Earth, the liberated, evil power of the supercomputer takes possession of one of the crew members, who transforms into a kind of zombie. He attacks the last survivor of the alien race and kills him. BATTAGLIE NEGLI SPAZI STELLARI is one of five low-budget sci-fi films that the late Italian director Alfonso Brescia staged in one go in the years 1977 and 1978, in response to the immense success of STAR WARS. For all movies he used the same, slightly modified sets and costumes, the same optical effects and animated sequences and the actors are largely the same in all the films, with only some different actors in the main parts. Of course, the technicians behind the scenes are largely identical for all the films. This extremely low-cost production method allowed Brescia to stage five films for the price of one, so to speak. The other four movies of this quintet are: ANNO ZERO - GUERRA NELLO SPAZIO (77), SETTE UOMINI D'ORO NELLO SPAZIO (78), LA GUERRA DEI ROBOT (78) and LA BESTIA NELLO SPAZIO (78). That such an approach, however, can not produce high-caliber films is obvious. And therefore, BATTAGLIE NEGLI SPAZI STELLARI is an involuntarily comic space-opera, with protagonists in funny outfits, cheap special effects, an oblique synth soundtrack and silly dialogs. The actors were put in light gray "pajamas", with extra wide belts and red inserts, a red cap, which extends up to the ears and gray boots. Simply chic! The humanoid aliens in turn are bald, have a bluish metallic skin and pointy ears a la "Mr.Spock". The set design as a whole looks at least quite expensive. Because of the idea to use the sets for four more films, the producers have probably invested a little more money into it. It seems, that the art director was allowed to let his imagination loose, because the sets are almost overloaded with a plethora of wild flashing and flickering lights, consoles and screens. On the other hand, in case of the tools the astronauts are using, it looks as if probably the red pencil again was used, and so the set decorator has had to shop at the nearest hardware store (metal detector) or the store for auto parts (hazard warning lamp). As luck would have it (for the producers at least), the surface of the alien planet is almost entirely blurred in darkness, and as the viewer does not see much anyway, the producers thought it was not necessary to evoke the illusion of an alien world. Saved money again! The already mentioned electronic music is a mix of classic elements (Bach) and noisy synthesizer sounds in the style of Raymond Scott and his "Soothing Sounds for Baby." The story of the film makes little sense, and something like suspense does not even arise. The dialog, however, are sometimes quite funny, for example when one of the astronauts exclaims indignantly, "Hey, how does that guy know our language?". In another scene, a male astronaut and a female astronaut practicing "Cosmic Love", for which they sit side by side on a bed, connected to a "virtual sex machine" and have sex with each other without even get in touch. Bleak outlook!