kikaidar

NIGHT FRIGHT shares an eerie half-world with a handful of similarly modest but entertaining teen horror/sci-fi entries like GIANT GILA MONSTER, HORROR OF PARTY BEACH and DEATH CURSE OF TARTU. These are an uneasy mix of happily gyrating teens and skulking horror that are a guilty weakness of mine.

The storyline is standard stuff: a spaceship sent into the icy depths of Out There by dedicated scientists runs into unchecked radiation, and the test animals aboard are mutated. The largest and nastiest promptly goes on an eating binge. The film appears for be a rehash of themes already used in the obscure DEMON FROM DEVIL'S LAKE.

Granted, Texas isn't known for astounding advances in cinema. Larry Buchannan, the fevered brow at the helm of THE EYE CREATURES, IT'S ALIVE! and ZONTAR, THE THING FROM VENUS, hailed from Texas. THE GIANT GILA MONSTER was filmed in and around Cielo. Still...

John Agar, in one of his last "earnest man with a job to do" roles is a somewhat peeved lawman charged with finding out what exactly is killing the locals. He does well in the limited role, providing the film's one strong performance. The other characters are broadly written and almost painfully bland. The bizarrely named Roger Ready woodenly plays a scientist who knows more than he admits (and who is largely qualified as being a researcher by way of smoking a pipe). There's also a nerdy newshound, police resenting kids, and an extremely lackluster love interest.

That said, the overall film is actually fairly enjoyable. The monster, a hulking gorilla with facial spines and a Klingon head ridge, is reasonably impressive for a regional production. The isolated locales and dim photography add a certain appeal, though the latter occasionally flashes almost starkly bright (particularly during the climax where half the hunters seem to be waiting in the dead of night and the rest in some distant land where it's high noon). The government cover-up angle is expected, and should neatly justify the suspicions of any borderline paranoids in the audience.

Not a great film but, taken as a simple "googly fiend run amok" picture, it's more than passable.

Filmed in Miami, this Santo/Blue Demon crossover is a mess, though not for trying. There's simply too much happening in the script, and much of it happens somewhat vaguely and lacks impact.

A wealthy heiress is kidnapped by a pair of small time thieves who are seeking a fast way to get out from under the thumb of gangster Lucky. A local detective (Cesar del Campo) takes the case and begins snooping around. One of his first stops is to see Lucky, who may have the contacts to help solve the mystery. Lucky suspects that a rival crook(screenwriter Fernando Oses) is somehow involved. He is, as he's working in cahoots with the.

In the meantime, a scientist and his minions (including Santo's real-life manager, Carlos Suarez, who also regularly appeared in the Man in the Silver Mask's films) are stealing the bodies of young women from a local graveyard. The researcher is reviving the corpses and selling them to overseas the white slave market.

After murdering a passing motorist and stealing his car, the kidnappers have the bad luck to intercept the body snatchers, who promptly take them captive. It seems the female criminal and the victim can provide blood for use in the reviving process. The mad researcher also falls under the former's spell.

El Santo and Blue Demon are called in, and -- working around Santo's overseas wrestling commitment -- set out to track down the kidnapped girl. There are the expected fights before wrestlers, detective and the inappropriately named Lucky all converge on the criminal scientist's lair.

In spite of the title, there are no actual terrifying beasts in the film. The zombie girls are passive and listless. That only leaves a trio of extremely frisky and visibly happy Irish setters -- which the script calls upon to "chew a man to death" -- to uphold the title. Happy puppies just don't inspire fear, and it's obvious that all that's attracting them to the victim is that he's endlessly shrieking as they fumble and blunder about the confines of the call.

I'm always a sucker for a film featuring the late Blue Demon (he passed away on 12/16/00 of a heart attack), but this is definitely lesser fare. Watch for bloopers, as one night scene where the Demon is driving and using a hand held radio to converse with the others. In one scene his striped shirt becomes a blazer, then reverts a moment later.

Lacks an interesting fantasy theme, mad scientist not withstanding, and not all that successful in its action sequences.

A 3 out of 10.

I didn't expect to like this Santo entry, but I was pleasantly surprised when I obtained a prereord of it.

Actually a sequel to OPERATION 67, the film again places Santo as a combination wrestler and agent for Interpol. In TREASURE, he continues his partnership with fellow agent Jorge Rubio (Jorge Rivero).

I'd always wanted to see a Santo film done with a reasonable budget and, of the 20-odd films I have in my collection, this comes closest to meeting that desire. With settings including Paris, Hong Kong, Mexico and San Francisco's famed Chinatown, the screenwriter at least tried to inject a global context. There is good use of local setting (in particular the pyramids in Mexico and some nice (if brief) night footage of a parade dragon in Chinatown.

The film possesses the expected mix of strong and weak points. On the negative side of the list, Santo looks bad in this one, spending the first portion of the film in a dishwater grey turtleneck which makes him look bloated. His mask also doesn't fit well, at times making it look as if he just tugged it on in time to dash in front of the cameras for his scene.

Equally disappointing is an otherwise well executed battle between a warship and Santo's swooping airplane. This sequence is spoiled as the aircraft -- riddled with shells, visibly hangs on wires for a few moments before exploding.

Then there's a nice trap in which thugs catch Jorge at a bullfight and plot to drop him into a pit containing several peevish bulls. After a short battle with Jorge and Santo, one of the criminals falls into the pit, but a _very_ obvious dummy is mauled for several minutes, as the heroes grimace above.

This, however, is comparatively minor when compared to the film's positive points. Santo and Jorge Rivero have a smooth, easygoing relationship. Santo unwinds enough to make a few amusing lines.

To be frank, Jorge seems to take this partnering a bit casually. In one scene, he stands and good naturedly watched two thugs beating and kicking the stuffings out of Santo. Still, there's a light and breezy friendship in there, between the contusions and bruises.

The storyline is also exciting, and includes some intriguing sequences, such as the museum robbery in which several guards are frozen in mid-step by gas -- allowing the protected thieves to abscond with a statue without interference.

Also adding to the action is a scene in which Santo is repeatedly struck by several cars which are chasing him through a car park. Another intriguing trick involves an ambush atop the Pyramid of the Sun. Santo goes there for a rendezvous, only to find the figure waiting for him is an explosive dummy.

The actual plotline brings back the Oriental crime gang from OPERATION 67, who are now searching for the lost treasure of Moctezuma. They know the secret of the trove's location is to be found on a statue in the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, but the snag is that a ring in Jorge's possession (he received it at the end of the prior film) contains the means of translating the map. The films goes from the gang's early attempt to recover the ring, into the duo's struggle to keep track of the gang and prevent their obtaining the treasure. In the end, the gang _do_ steal the treasure, but of course they go down in defeat.

Overall, a pleasing actioner with an "action theme" which pops up in several places and gets a bit grinding. However, the various dangers faced by the protagonists, the locals and a good sense of pacing make it an exciting watch.

8 out of 10.