Night of the Bloody Apes

This is another notorious Mexican horror film: however, while the original Spanish-language version is quite tame, all sorts of gore and nudity were inserted for the English-dubbed variant (prepared by Jerald Intrator - who did similar duties on THE CURIOUS DR. HUMPP [1967/71] - and, like the U.S. version of that film, had previously been available on DVD through Something Weird/Image)!

I watched the original first and, while no great shakes, it was fairly engaging - especially with a plot as familiar as this one was: a doctor goes beyond the call of duty in attempting to save the life of his terminally ill son; he even has a hulking, game-legged assistant (played by Carlos Lopez Moctezuma, who had essayed a strikingly similar role - though in a more sinister vein - in THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN [1961]). I know that several Mexican films mingled horror with the "Lucha Libre" (Wrestling) genre but I had never watched one myself; this element is present here - in fact, the heroine is a wrestler - but the two styles are, perhaps thankfully, kept apart (that said, the wrestling sequences are competently done, with some of the moves proving highly amusing).

The doctor's son is transformed into a monster (looking like The Incredible Hulk with mud splashed over his face!) after having had an ape's heart transplanted into him - but, then, when this is replaced with that of a comatose female wrestler, he stays this way and grows a pair of fangs to boot (shouldn't he realistically have turned into a transsexual...though I guess that wouldn't have been very interesting)!! The climactic rooftop sequence in which the monster kidnaps a child and meets his demise at the hands of the police is reminiscent of THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942). My favorite unintentionally funny moments in the film, however, occur when the doctor, trying to comfort his son, tells him that he'll soon be cured - only to turn his back soon after on the verge of tears - and also the impatient look he gives his crippled assistant (as the latter staggers slowly into the car) when they're about to chase the monster who has escaped from the lab.

The alternate nude scenes work for the film (these were actually done by Cardona himself for a racier Mexican version entitled HORROR Y SEXO) but its reputation is largely based on the added material showing over-the-top violence, such as an eyeball being gouged out of its socket, a scalping and even a person's head being torn off. There are also several graphic operation inserts which, however, give rise to a goof: while it's made clear that only two people are involved in the operation, we see a third pair of hands constantly holding an oxygen mask to the patient's face!

The film is also said to be a loose remake of Cardona's own black-and-white horror film DOCTOR OF DOOM (1962) but, since I haven't watched that one, I can't say how much of it was actually pilfered for NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES...

I enjoyed watching Night Of The Blody Apes,I found it to be quite a funny sort of horror film. This was a cheap Mexican horror film. Female masked wrestler Lucy beats an opponent a wrestling lady with a red costume like Catwoman. she hurls her opponent from the ring. A mad scientist (Dr. Krellman) attempts to cure his son's leukaemia by doing the first 'ape-to-human' heart transplant. He decides to put a gorilla's heart into the lad There is footage of a graphic open heart surgery inserted in the ape operation scenes. this causes the boy to turn into a big ape. He becomes deformed and mutated, as he grows facial hair and immediately goes on a bloody rampage, tearing clothes off women and faces off men. I found this to be quite a funny horror to watch at time

Because I am obviously a masochist, I have subjected myself to almost the entire cinematic oeuvre of Mexican exploitation director Rene Cardona. This one might just edge out "Doctor of Doom" to receive the dubious distinction of being his best work. It's VERY gory with decapitations, eyeball-ectomies, and several scenes of real-life open-heart surgery. Like any great Mexican exploitation flick it contains both scenes of gratuitous nudity (muchas senoritas desnudas)and gratuitous wrestling (female wrestling that is--alas, no Santo). It has a mad doctor and a hilarious, mestizo version of Igor. The bizarro plot involves the mad scientist transplanting the heart of a gorilla into his dying son. The result, as any scientist might have predicted, is that the son transforms into a half-man/half-gorilla who rapes a lot of Mexican babes (somehow without removing his pants) and kills a number of people with his bare hands. This, of course, requires yet another heart transplant at which point the movie starts to get a little ridiculous. . .

Some may find this film a tad offensive, but it's funny as hell if you're in the right mood. The funniest part of all might be the English dubbing in the US version. The actor dubbing the doctor, for instance, insists on pronouncing the Spanish name of the son, Julio, with an English "J", calling him Jewel-i-o. (It never occurs to him to just anglicize the whole name and call him Julian or something). And why was the US version called "Night of the Bloody Apes" when there's really only one "ape" in the movie? All in all, this film is a valid candidate for the "So-Bad-It's-Good" Hall of Fame. A true anti-masterpiece.

What can I say about this movie? If you are seeing it, you've already heard about it. If you've heard about it, you know what to expect. It is a gory, sleazy and silly movie...

And, I mean that in a good way. The actors don't seem to know that they are in a low budget movie. Some even seem unaware of the fact that they cannot act and TRY anyway. It is beautiful in its way.

The makeup and special effects are pretty bad. The ape-man looks as if someone slapped a mud pack on a professional wrestler. Later, cheesy looking fangs are added, possibly to show that his heart had been replaced again...possibly to show that the makeup man had a very short train of thought.

The biggest waste in this movie is the lady wrestler who is contemplating retirement after putting an opponent into a coma. She is on the periphery of the plot...a plot where, for example, in the Santos movies, wrestling could've played a large part. I was unhappy not to see her in action against the ape-man...

The actors are generally sincere. The doctor does an excellent job. The zaftig nudity of a lady wrestler is also a welcome change from the anorexia we are forced to consume in today's sleaze.

But this movie is BLOODY. Many scenes are simply stock footage taken from heart operations. But there are gougings, scalping's, detoothings and squishings. None of these injuries look particularly authentic; but, the thought of them might be offensive to some. Definitely, this is an adult movie...

For sheer fun, I gave this movie a seven. If you like sleaze and cheese, see it...

Night of the Bloody Apes (1969)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Dr. Krallman (Jose Elias Moreno) has a son who is dying and as a last resort he tries to transplant the heart of a gorilla into him. At first it seems like it might have worked but before long the son turns into a disfigured monster and goes on a killing rampage.

NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES was a huge box office hit back in the day and if you watch the trailer it's easy to see why. It did a terrific job at promising various thrills and gory action and I must say that this is a rare example of where the trailer didn't lie and the film delivers on the promises. I say that because this here is a pretty gory and pretty violent little film that's certainly worth watching if you enjoy these Mexican horror films.

This here was a remake of DOCTOR OF DOOM but this one here takes the subject a lot further. For starters, this one here is in color, which allows the gore to just jump off the screen. The most famous thing about this is that they took an actual heart surgery and placed it in the film at a couple different spots. I can only imagine how many kids watched this back in the day and were traumatized from it. There's other gory action and the film even delivers some wrestling as well as nudity. The film certainly went far beyond what most films were doing during this era.

The American dubbed version adds a few laughs as the track is pretty silly. The highlight of this version is the woman screaming when she finds a dead man in the street. The film's monster is pretty good looking for what it is and for the most part this is an entertaining and fun movie. Obviously this isn't Oscar-material but it's a fun drive-in picture.