Las luchadoras contra el médico asesino

After 30 years of masked wrestlers and just a few feature films starring the renowned Santo, somebody had the bright idea to duplicate those rasslin' moves with gorgeous gals instead of masked marauders in a short lived series of six films, kicking off with 1962's "Las Luchadoras Contra el Medico Asesino," better known in its initial dubbed US form as "Doctor of Doom," more recently granted the title "Sex Monster" perhaps in a nod to its 1968 remake "Night of the Bloody Apes" (Rhino's redubbed take from the 80s was called "Rock 'n' Roll Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Ape"). Like Santo, Lorena Velasquez as Gloria Venus and Elizabeth Campbell as the Golden Rubi are essentially two fisted action heroines right out of an old movie serial, the costumed and hooded villain conveniently identified as 'The Mad Doctor' having transplanted the brain of a gorilla into a human being, the final ape-like result Gomar (Gerardo Zepeda) kept locked in a cage for periodic feeding, and quite a meat eater. From there the MD decides that low IQ females should be his next targets for brain experimentation but they lack the stamina to survive the operations, guess who he figures will be next to be kidnapped? For the unenlightened the wrestling scenes that are so integral to the genre merely grind the picture to a halt, Gomar goes out on the hunt on just two occasions, the last dressed in an impregnable outfit impervious to bullets, finally disposed of when his brain is encased in the skull of a wrestling rival known as Vendetta, born to beat the tar out of Gloria Venus. The final reveal of 'The Mad Doctor' wouldn't surprise a 5 year old, who might at least find it amazing how much action gets crammed into an 80 minute running time, the most hilarious death trap a spiked wall that tries to crush its victims before Gomar can get them first. It's a novelty to see helpless males rescued by fist fighting femme fatales, lacking only the 'BAM!' 'POW!' later popularized by BATMAN, with one direct sequel for the same two leads, "The Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy."

Mexican horror movie about a mad doctor who's trying to transplant one womens brain into another womens head but with no success. The doctor did succeeded with having a gorilla's brain transplanted into his servants, Gomar, head turning him into a semi-human primate. But somehow when it came to women to women brain transplants in the four times that he tried it all the women died on the operating table.

Coming up with the bright idea that the women that he's using in his experiment's are of low intelligence the doctor has his hoods together with a bullet-proof clad Gomar kidnap laboratory aid Alice, after taking out four Mexican cops. Alice also dies during the doctors transplant operation which convinces the mad doctor that what he needs is a woman of very strong body as well as mind, a woman wrestler. And who better to experiment on then the Woman's Wrestling Champion of Mexico herself, who just happens to be the dead Alice's sister, Gloria Venus.

Lots of action with Gloria and her tag-team partner Golden Rubi taking on the mad doctor and his gang of thugs and having little trouble kicking their a**. In desperation the doctor, who after having his face burned with acid in a fight with the two girls, get the woman wrestler Vendatta and has Gomar's brain transplanted into her head! This hair brained idea on the doctors part gave Vendatta the strength of a bull-gorilla. Now the doctor will use her to get his revenge against both Gloria and Golden Rubi in the ring.

Not at first knowing who she's fighting with Gloria get's the hell beat out of her by the zombie-like Vendatta with the mad doctor disguised as her manager giving her instructions, via his power of mental telepathy, at ringside. Golden Rubi spots one of the mad doctors henchmen in the stands watching the wrestling match and realizes, after almost twisting his arm off, that it's the mad doctor who's behind Vendatta and want's his super-woman to end Gloria's career in the ring.

All hell breaks loose with both Golden Rubi and the ring referee joining in the fight with Vendatta as she and the disguised mad doctor make a run for it only to be trapped on a water tower where he and Vendatta have no where else to go but down and give themselves up to the awaiting police.

The wrestling scenes which make up almost half of the movie "Doctor of Doom" are about the only thing that makes the film watchable. The suspense of who the mad doctor really is is almost non-existent. Since even someone brain dead, like most of those in the movie, could figure that one out almost as soon as they saw the mad doctor, minus his KKK-like hood, make his both grand and uneventful appearance in the movie.

I recently (and reluctantly) posted a somewhat negative review of the Mexican classic BRAINIAC. Last night I watched DOCTOR OF DOOM and my faith has been restored! This is the kind of goofy fun I expect from old south of the border exploitation films. A mad scientist kidnaps women for brain transplant experiments! His henchman is a hulking guy with a gorilla brain in his skull! The detectives are trapped in one of those rooms with spiked walls that close in on you! Wrestling women who look like Laura Petrie on steroids save the day! Oh man, it doesn't get better than this. I especially liked the detective captain's sidekick, a little guy one of the women refers to as a "five foot lightning bolt." He's actually funny and engaging. At one point he faces nearly certain doom and radios his girl friend for help. If she doesn't hurry, he says, they'll never walk down the aisle together. "Don't talk like that, small hero!" she responds, "I'll be there like white lightning!" I felt like I'd been drinking white lightning while I watched this. Check it out!

While not a film of any real significance or importance in the overall history of horror film, this is still an enjoyable treat, presenting the cinematic debut of the two lovely amazon wrestling women, Gloria Venus and Golden Rubi, who would then be re-united in the 1964 film, Wrestling Women vs Aztec Mummy.

These two girls are good examples of the kind of girlfriend a guy ought to have - buxom, beautiful, tough yet feminine, and they have jobs too.

The best thing about these Mexican horror films is not that they are frightening, for they aren't, but that they are fast-paced and adventurous fantasy, if silly at times, with good character humor. Always enjoyable and never too gruesome for the kids.

"Doctor Of Doom" has something for everyone: whodunit (just WHO is the mysterious masked mad doctor? The answer surprises - and cheats!), comedy (an almost "Abbott & Costello"-like duo of cops), camp (through the dubbing, as well as the straightfaced handling of the most outrageous plot points), monster film (with a man-gorilla hybrid), and of course lots of female pro wrestling (which may appear a bit crude, but still remains far superior to most of women's wrestling even in today's WWE; this is a must-see for fans of the sport in a more pure form). Lorena Velázquez (who actually bears a resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor!) and Elizabeth Campbell are two beautiful, sweet, strong, and eye-poppingly curvy heroines who are more often doing the rescuing than being in need of it; in that respect, "Doctor Of Doom" was ahead of its time. Good schlocky fun. **1/2 out of 4.