El Mascarado Massacre

While driving a van through Mexico looking for a location for shooting a low-budget porn, Alphonse (Adam Huss), Steve (Jeremy Radin), Dallas (Leyla Milani), Debbie (Margaret Scarborough), the alcoholic Daisy (Catherine Wreford) and the pothead Jimbo (Zack Bennett) get lost and meet a stranger (Irwin Keyes) in a remote gas station run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. The man gives the directions for the nearest gas station, and advises the group to avoid the ghost town La Sangre de Dios. Steve recalls the Mexican legend about the best Mexican wrestler, El Mascarado, who became crazy and started killing his opponents, and was sent to this town later. The director Alphonse decides to trespass the gate of La Sangre de Dios and shoot the film in the local bar. Sooner the group discovers that Mexican legends sometimes are true.

"El Mascarado Massacre" is a great example of how to make a good B-movie of horror. The story is funny, there are lots of gore and beautify and sexy women partially naked. The director and writer Jesse Baget made a great debut in the cinema industry and I sincerely look forward to see his next work. The unknown actresses are really sexy; the actors are funny and the killer is really bad, and in the end I really liked this movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem Mascarado" ("The Masked Man")

The main conceit of this psycho-killer thriller is a good one. The Mexican government, circa 1960, desperately wants to win a gold medal at the Olympics, so they "disappear" the top four Mexican wrestlers and assemble from them the perfect wrestler...with superior wrestling skills, but unfortunately, warped by the process into a maniacal, murderous mat-man. He is stashed in a secret government facility, and forgotten. Enter our protagonists, Jimbo (Zack Bennett), Steve (Jeremy Radin), Dallas (Leyla Razzari) and a few others, in Mexico to film a cheap porno film. They stumble upon the town where the forgotten facility was, and Steve (a wrestling fan) recognizes it as the final repose of El Mascarado (Rey Misterio Sr.). Mayhem ensues. This is a good attempt to create a franchise character ala Freddie Kreuger or Jason Vorhees. The masked wrestler is inexorable and has superhuman strength. The victims struggle, with various success amid the great sets, outstanding in a low budget film. It's filmed with considerable flair, and the characters survive according to the skill of their portrayals. If you like slasher flicks, masked wrestler movies, or are just a fan of well made low-budget films, check this one out.

I must admit, I'm a horror geek but also a wrestling fan. Being aware of the fact that there are some movies out with famous wrestlers in it (12 Rounds, The Marine) I guessed that there would be some horror movies out there with the famous WWE players in it. And indeed, it did, See No Evil (Kane) is one of the famous in the genre but we also have this one with Rey Mysterio Sr. As stated, don't take it seriously. It's a simple storyline. You know. Getting lost in the dessert. Stopping at a local gas station were the owner tells you NOT to stop at the ghost town. What happens next is the car breaking down...just before that town. Guess what, small talk tells about a wrestling legend still being around in that particular town. And it does of course. Up next is blood, a bit of gore, some gratuitous nudity, sexy girls loosing their clothes and a stupid ending, but hey, I told you, it's good to watch with your friends, you really gonna cheer for the girls...

Lets be fair this is not 12 Angry Men or Citizen Kane or Apocalypse Now. You aren't going to learn anything watching this film or gain very much but you are going to have a good time. This falls firmly into B movie category and there's nothing wrong with B movies. Its virtually a grindhouse movie.

It feels like a Tarantino movie, i'm fairly surprised his sticky fingers aren't involved with it in some way. Its rattles along at a cracking pace vomiting (in a good way) out horror movie clichés as it goes and some of them are so well done but so stupid they are laugh out loud charming. Its a sweet little movie. Adorable in what its trying to do. Because its not trying to do anything. Its not post modern with annoying teens dissecting horror movies working out how to cheat the system. Although one of the characters knows an awful lot about Mexican wrestling and the killer would be improbably old.

It is what it is, a cheap, cobbled together horror film full of plot holes that, so long as you turn your brain off and your expectations down, you'll have a good time watching.

I caught this the other night on a random movie app I downloaded. Being a fan of wrestling, naturally, I had to check this one out. First off, I knew the premise for a movie like this would be ridiculous But I was hoping for funny, at best. I wasn't wrong. Quickly summarized, it makes Mexico seem unlawful and egocentric. Actually.... Thats not that far from the truth. We still love Mexico though. A chemically and structurally engineered wrestler turns supernaturally powerful as he destroys his opponents to win Mexico a gold medal in the Olympics. Normally this would be a cool sci fi plot, but this is a horror movie. B horror at that. The title alone should establish that. His psyche and his prowess quickly turns him into a killer and is then retired to obscurity where he disappears along with everyone who lived in the town of Sangre de Dios. Again, it really does sound like a cool X Files episode but it's grindhouse fodder. Enter the stoner group of friends that decide to travel across the nation to film a crappy porno with its director also pulling the main actor job. The dialogue is not expected to win any awards And neither are the actors. They legitimately seem to be having fun with their roles. I actually liked that and gave the movie points for this. It has some funny lines, most notably by Adam Huss who delivers quite a hilarious performance, even as he is.....well you'll see. The rest were OK and I have to give it up to the filmmakers for giving the hero role to the unusual character. Also gave the movie points for it. Rey Misterio Sr makes the appearance as the baddie here. He shouldn't be of importance to you unless you're a hardcore lucha fan. He was actually menacing and gave a few good scares in the film. My last few points are given here. The plot unravels a not that interesting turn of events and the payoff is incredibly misleading as well as weak. The ending may have you believe that the baddie is released out into the world to start a new life or resume his spree. Not really something you want to do unless you plan to make a sequel and considering it is 2016, this movie came out 10 years ago. No sequel seems to be in the works but then again it shouldn't be. 2006 was a big year for gorefests such as Hatchet, Hostel and Saw. This would be the TV version of those. For what it is and what it offers, it is not that bad. (2003's S.I.C.K is still KING of the crappy B movie horror wait... D movie horror) If you wanna watch some horror movie at 2am and be amused like I was, watch this but be ready to have some good humor about it because if you don't.... It's gonna hurt to watch. Literally.