VCI Entertainment announced this past week that two
classic Mexican horror films, director Servando González’s 1968 film release of
El Escapulario, and
director Fernando Méndez’s 1957 horror tale, Ladrón de
Cadáveres, will be released on Mar. 22 on
Blu-ray in the collection titled Mexican Horror Classics Double
Feature.
These are new 4K film restorations from the original
35mm camera negatives.
Director Servando Gonzalez’s gothic-like horror story,
El Escapulario,
takes place during the Mexican Revolution and has an interesting story
structure that begins with Father Andrés (Enrique Aguilar — El Asesino
Enmascarado, Una Noche Bajo la Tormenta)
arriving at the home of a dying woman — two bandits watch his movements with
the intention of robbing him, but decide to wait until he gives absolution to
the woman, Doña María (Ofelia Guilmáin — as Juana Avila in Luis Buñuel’s The
Exterminating Angel).
Once inside, Doña María gives the priest, who is new
in town, a scapular (a family relic), which she says has special powers to save
lives. Of course, he is skeptical of
such a claim. She then tells him — in
flashback — stories of how it saved her eldest son, Julián (Carlos Cardán) from
a hail of bullets fired by troops loyal to Porfirio Díaz, and then later, her
youngest son, Pedro (Enrique Lizalde), came into possession of the scapular and
has fallen in love with a woman, Rosario (Alicia Bonet), the niece of a wealthy
politician who will not allow the relationship … Pedro’s murder is planned.
Once the stories conclude, Father Andrés notices a
family portrait, which shows Doña María with four children, not just the two
she mentioned. She explains that they
were kidnapped by bandits when they were young boys and never seen again.
Outside the priest is waylaid by the two bandits …
there is twist ending involving the “dying” woman.
Teamed with this eerie tale is director Fernando
Méndez’s Ladrón de Cadáveres, a
more traditional horror tale involving a mad scientist and a series of murders,
but not just any murders, but those of famous athletes!
Assigned to the case is police captain Carlos Robles
(Crox Alvarado — as Pinacate in the Aztec
Mummy series of films … The Aztec
Mummy, The Curse of the Aztec Mummy and The
Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy), who is completely
stumped by the series of gruesome murders.
But he has a plan, an undercover operative who will serve as a lure for
the mad killer.
Robles recruits Guillermo Santana (Wolf Ruvinskis —
as Neutron in Neutron Battles the Karate Assassins, Neutron
vs. the Maniac and Neutron
vs. the Amazing Dr. Caronte), a rancher friend of
his — who actually wants to be a professional wrestler — to catch the mysterious
murderer. He becomes “El Vampiro” and
to complicate things just a bit, he falls in love with Lucía (Columba Domínguez),
a woman who works at the gym where Santana has been installed by Robles as bait.
Naturally, things quickly go south as Santana is
kidnapped and is butchered … for his brain!!
It seems that a mad scientist Don Panchito/The Professor (Carlos
Riquelme — three-time Ariel Awards nominee) has been murdering Mexico City’s
top athletes and transplanting their brains into various animals … he is not
having much success.
However, our boy Santana survives the operation
(sort of) and has his brain transplanted into the body of a gorilla, who
returns to the ring and a masked wrestler … a killer wrestler!! In a beauty and the beast twist, the
creature kidnaps Lucía, has his revenge on The Professor and takes flight across
the rooftops of the city with Lucía … and the police in pursuit.
Bonus features include newly-prepared video sessions
with Mexican Film Historian Dr. David Wilt.
Both films are presented in Spanish with English
subtitles. And both El
Escapulario and Ladrón de
Cadáveres will be available as separate DVD
releases on Mar. 22 as well.
