El fantasma de la casa roja

Remembering the great, great Clavillazo. He owns this movie. His comedic skills are truly ahead of it's time and his on-screen charm is worth the watch.

The movie has an interesting plot that if taken seriously, could've been something really creepy. You have the typical plot where a group of heirs need to spend a night on a haunted mansion. But we learn that the living are more dangerous than the dead.

The atmosphere is somehow creepy as in most classical Mexican Horror movies but it goes away soon when the comedy (voluntary and involuntary) starts. The whole ghost costumes are really good considering that not many Horror movies from the time used them. Also, some Horror clichès were used here. For example, the grand father's painting that has two holes where the "ghost" spies.

The chasing scene where "the ghost" with an ax runs after Mercedes is memorable. He throws a knife to her but she just stands in desperation. After three minutes of running around a table, Mercedes manages to escape just to hide under her bed sheets. There, another ghost appears next to her! They struggle under sheets. Non sense! Mercedes spends most of her on-screen time screaming and crying. Not even in the ending she could stop being a pain in the ass.

The ending leaves a lot to desire. Clavillazo solves the mystery of who is the man behind the mask. And in the typical detective film, everyone reunites in the center of the mansion to discuss the situation.

Watch this movie if you are a fan of the great Clavillazo. He's a comedy delight.

If done correctly, this movie could've been something important because it has Horror elements well done but the comedic factor ruins the atmosphere.

When thinking about the Mexican movies brought north of the border by K. Gordon Murray we tend to think of EL VAMPIRO, INVASION OF THE VAMPIRES, the NOSTRADMUS series and so forth. Here is a haunted house comedy starring Antonio Espino, a/k/a Clavillazo that is surprisingly funny. You know right away we cannot take the plot seriously when we find out the name of the heroine is "Mercedes Benz Rattington" and not much later Clavillazo pops up as a detective so bumbling he makes Stan Laurel look like a genius. The plot, oh yes there's a plot, involves a bunch of greedy relative getting together for the reading of a rich mans will. They all have to live in his scary mansion for three days and on the third day they can search for his hidden fortune. Meanwhile there is a phantom in a red cloak (at least everyone says it's a red cloak, the movie is black and white so it looks like a grey cloak to me!) sneaking around through the secret passageways that all spooky houses have in movies and sticking daggers into peoples backs. Still this is a comedy so everyone who gets killed has it coming to them. There is a happy ending and a final surprise that you probably won't be expecting. Performances are good and the dialogue is priceless. One exchange between the heroine and the chauffeur is great:

Mercedes: I have a limousine?

Chauffeur: Yes, with 400 horses.

Mercedes: I abhor horses. They'll have to go.

Chauffeur: It's horsepower I'm talking about.

Mercedes: The car is pulled by horses? I thought it was

modern.

Chauffeur: Let's forget the whole thing.

Other classic lines include "God will forgive you, even though you're a lawyer." and too many others to repeat here. Clavillazo is funny but I do wish historians would stop comparing him to Buster Keaton, there is no similarity in style. Foreign comedies are not usually well received because many of the jokes don't translate well but here is a rare exception that is most enjoyable. It's hard to find on video but it IS out there so give it a try.

1st watched 3/25/2012 – 2 out of 10(Dir-Michael M. Delgado,English language version-Manuel San Fernando): Incredibly inept Mexican comedy that's kind of a twist between an Abbott&Costello horror comedy and an Agatha Christie mystery with musical pieces added in. The story starts in a nightclub called the Devil's Inn complete with torches and waitresses dressed in devil's costumes and we're presented with two musical numbers(getting some local musicians some airtime, I guess). We then learn that one of the waitresses Godfather died and is asking for a group to show up at his Red House for a reading of his will. They are told by the lawyer to stay three nights, contemplating their sins on the first two, then looking for treasure on the third. Most of the inheritance is going to the Godchild, but half of the treasure goes to the one who finds it. What's kinda weird is that all of them don't stay overnight?? Instead they go back to the Devil's Inn for more musical numbers?? I guess the movie was good fodder for the Ricky Ricardo craze on American TV and that's why it was released in this dubbed version to TV, but it's pretty laughable for the most part. The main leading lady tries to be funny but is really just a bad over-actor, and the detective does pretty much the same thing. I'm not really a fan of dubbed films, but it would be probably be hard to find this one in any other English language form. Watch the Lucy show instead if you need some Latino-American entertainment…this one probably wouldn't even classify for entertainment unless you want a good laugh, I guess.

The best thing about Mexican comedy/horror The Phantom of the Red House is some of the clichéd characters' goofy names: heroine Mercedes Benz, detective Diogenes Holmes, and doctor Hipocrates Piedra. Come to think of it, there's very little else about the film that I did enjoy.

In true 'old dark house' tradition, a group of people gather at a creepy house for the reading of a will, which stipulates that they must all stay there for three nights, on the last of which they will be allowed to search for the benefactor's fortune. Of course, there's a good chance that not all of them will survive to join in the hunt, for a murderous phantom dressed in wide-brimmed hat, cape and luchador mask is on the prowl.

What makes this film so intolerable is the dreadfully unsophisticated humour as exemplified by Antonio Espino Clavillazo as the moronic Holmes, who spends most of the film gurning, gesticulating wildly, and talking nonsense. If that sounds funny to you, have at it, but I found it difficult to endure. Alma Rosa Aguirre as Mercedes is almost as annoying and unfunny, perpetually frightened and screaming at just about everything. As if the awful comedy wasn't bad enough, the film regularly cuts to the nightclub inherited by Mercedes where we are subjected to insipid songs by a moustachioed crooner and a guitar-playing mariachi trio, all of which is totally pointless filler.

2/10.

This creepy Mansion comedies are a dime a dozen. Everybody has one in their credits. Tin Tan, Pompín Iglesias, etc. Here the star is Clavillazo. The plot changes though, because the group of people who were called to get the inheritance, will not have to spend 3 days and 3 nights in the creepy Mansion before they die or go crazy; they can go home and live their lives as they usually do and only visit the Mansion by night. They have to endure 3 nights here, and if they survive, the money is theirs to keep. Most of that money will go to one niece of the deceased, Mercedes Benz (Alma Rosa Aguirre) while the rest will go to whoever finds it, because it's hidden. So, every night, the doctor, the lawyer, the girlfriend, the maid, the chauffeur, they all will try to outsmart the rest in a crazy race until the executioner shows up and start leaving less and less people to enjoy wealth. Is then when Mercedez Benz's boyfriend hires a private detective (Clavillazo) to find the hidden money fast and stop the killings. Very good comedy with hand made characters perfectly well designed and cast. There's nothing creepier than the maid (Enriqueta Reza), o Manuel Dondé, or José Chávez Throwe