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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.

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...

I must disagree with other critics here. This is a marvelous Mexican exploitation movie. One problem with the translated title, however, is that there is only one ape in the movie, not two, and he dies early on after having his heart transplanted to a human. Thereafter, a man-ape assumes the role of movie-monster, so he's not fully a gorilla. Apes?? Anyway, much of the movie was made to titilate Mexican male viewers in the era of the movie's release, 1972. The ape-man has a penchant for chasing voluptuous Mexican ladies and tearing their blouse and bra off. For some reason he also likes to rip the heads off of human males. Surely this is the consequence of his animal heart! The movie also features the obligatory masked wrestling women, the heroine in this instance having almost no connection with the ape-man or his evil scientist creator, but the dialogue makes for extremely bad/funny sequences. There is much red paint splattered about and some obviously phony gore scenes. A great and good laugh for the twisted soul such as myself.

Now, this is a really obscure Mexican Horror flick. It's almost impossible to find it even in Mèxico. I don't know if it's banned but it's worth searching. This is a movie with many clichès from Mexican Horror: we get wrestlers (now that they are popular), boobs, and creepy settings.

This movie has good cheesy gore. Don't expect a shocking exploitation movie. It's just an ultra low budgeter with guts.

The beast is not that horrid as the title says, in fact, it's kind of cheesy (in the likes of "Night Of The Demon") , but it delivers for the movie's tone.

I recommend this one for lovers of B-movies that can stand cheesiness through 90 minutes. There's some gore and violence but not enough to consider this one as exploitation.