Santo vs. the Diabolical Hatchet (1965) review

EL HATCHA DIABOLICA 1964 (released in 1965) aka SANTO VS. THE DIABOLICAL HATCHET

Santo (himself), Lorena Velazquez (Isabel), Fernando Oses (The Black Hood), Bety Gonzalez (Alicia), Mario Sevilla (Dr. Zanoni/Abraca)

Directed by Jose Diaz Morales

The Short Version: The first of four Santo adventures from Vergara Films revisits what the earlier Rodriguez trilogy from 1961 did by giving the Saintly One an entirely different origin story. Action and imagination levels are extremely high (the Axe Man chopping the opening credits in half is a nice touch), while production values are low, very low (the cramped, cardboard sets). THE DIABOLICAL HATCHET is ultimately too ambitious for its own good; a veritable loaded burrito of tasty ingredients, albeit undercooked. Far from one of the worst, it's creativity brings it close to being one of the best, if not for the budgetary hatchet job.

In 1603, the original Santo has died. Buried by the monks of a local monastery, he is visited by his satanic nemesis, The Black Hood. Swearing to follow him through the ages, the axe-wielding maniac intends to avenge himself on the Silver Masked One for nearly killing him, and for taking away the object of his obsession, a beautiful woman named Isabel.

Shot back to back with ATACAN LAS BRUJAS (THE WITCHES ATTACK [1964]), EL HACHA DIABOLICA was the first of a quartet of horror/fantasy laced Santo movies from penny pinching producer Luis Enrique Vergara and his Vergara Films company; the other two being EL BARON BRAKOLA and PROFANADORAS DE TUMBAS (GRAVE ROBBERS), both produced in 1965. Another Vergara movie, BLUE DEMON CONTRA EL PODER SATANICO (1964), featured a cameo by the Saintly One.

For all its faults and budgetary limitations, HATCHET is one of the more attractive entries in the Santo canon for a variety of reasons. For one, a good chunk of the movie takes place in the 1600s. Opening in 1603, Santo is dead(!), and being taken to his final resting place. Later in the movie the 60s Santo, in spirit form via a time traveling device, goes back in time to learn about his history with the deadly Black Hood. It's here where we see Elizabethan Era Santo (yet to obtain his iconic mask) engaging in some sword duels with his black attired nemesis lusting for the hand of Santo's lady, the lovely Isabel. Not long after, he receives his magical mask and cape (more on that shortly), so it's a bit of a surreal sight seeing 17th century Santo in his familiar ring attire wearing bucket boots! 

Time travel was a concept that found its way into the elusive Santo horror film, BARON BRAKOLA (1965). In 1969s SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA, the masked man of many talents displayed a penchant for science; building an actual time machine to travel back to the 19th century where he tangles with Dracula. 

Another script addition -- unusual for this period -- is giving Santo a love interest. He has two, actually. The oldeworld romance with Isabel (played by Mexican Scream Queen, Lorena Velazquez) and in modern times with Alicia (played by Bety Gonzalez). At just 74 minutes in length, neither is explored sufficiently to the point where it makes an impact. In later movies, Santo films were more prone to feature romantic angles and potential liaisons akin to a James Bond movie. In one Santo film, he even dabbles in some voyeuristic intention. In this particular endeavor, romance is incidental. 

Santo's silver mask is, like all Luchadores, a vitally important piece to the Mexican wrestler ensemble. To remove it generally means the career is over. In HATCHET, to remove the mask of The Black Hood means his life is literally over with a quick ticket straight to hell after selling his soul to a demon named Ariman. The Black Hood, however, is more interested in removing Santo's head as opposed to his mask. Moreover, in some other Santo movies the villains are preoccupied with removing Santo's mask than eliminating the crime-fighting luchador. SANTO VS. THE ZOMBIES (1961) is a perfect example of this. 

The Saintly One willingly removes his mask in EL HATCHA DIABOLICA; something you rarely saw in his films. You only see him from behind, and never his face; he does this for his girlfriend, stating she will be the first and last to see his visage. This wasn't the first time viewers were teased with a maskless mystique in a Santo picture. It happened a few years earlier in SANTO AGAINST THE KING OF CRIME, a 1961 production released in 1962. This fascination with separating the man from his guise became a staple in the Lucha genre. Another example is in the ridiculously entertaining SANTO VS. THE MARTIAN INVASION (1966) when one of the muscular aliens is hellbent on taking it off, and does, but only to reveal a second mask underneath! It comes off again -- willingly -- for the well endowed martian babes elsewhere in the movie. Other wrestlers like Mil Mascaras did this in their movies, too.

The themes of good vs. evil are probably at their most tangible in this series entry. EL HATCHA DIABOLICA feels like a stand-alone movie next to the 10+ that came before it. Santo is given another origin; an entirely different one from what was established in the first of a Rodriguez Pictures trilogy, the aforementioned SANTO AGAINST THE KING OF CRIME (1962) -- the first Santo film to do so. In HATCHET, the comic book leanings are even more obvious. We're told Santo's cape is made of an indestructible material, passed down from previous Saints in the lineage; upon weakening, his silver mask replenishes his strength! Believe it or not, his mask has a triangular symbol on it that spells out 'Abracadabra'! The name signifies a monk-like wizard named Abraca (played by Mario Sevilla), a sort of monastic Obi Wan Kenobi.

 

All this variety in Rafael Garcia Travesi's script (from a script by both Travesi and Fernando Oses) extends to the wrestling matches, too. In many of the Lucha movies the rumbles in the ring were sometimes unrelated to the storyline. For HATCHET, both bouts propel the plot. The first match about ten minutes in is business as usual till the black masked, axe-wielding assassin we saw during the opening 17th century sequence magically appears in the ring (via stopping and starting the camera). The Black Hood assaults Santo, while tossing out both his opponent and the referee as the crowd flees in panic. Things get so wild and wooly, the police enter the ring and fire a number of bullets into the Black Hood who vanishes in the same fashion in which he appeared.

Played by Fernando Oses, the devil-worshiping Black Hood is among Santo's most formidable foes. Sometimes viewed as a shadow on a wall, this axe-slinging maniac -- appearing and disappearing at will -- shows up at inopportune times to separate Santo's head from his shoulders. The Saint uses his head, though; even asleep, he is fully dressed so as to combat the hooded menace at a moments notice. The Black Hood can also possess a body; which he does during the second wrestling bout where Santo gets pummeled the worst of his cinematic career up to this time. Oses was a series regular in front of, and behind the camera. He had his own series in the form of THE AVENGING SHADOW, a string of movies that began back in 1954.

In Mexico at that time, many films were shot in an episodic format. EL HACHA DIABOLICA is one of these; segmented into three 25 minute pieces to formulate a feature-length movie. The titles of these "episodes" are not on this print, but according to Spanish sources, the titles are as follows: 'The Diabolical Ax', 'Terror in the Past', and 'Disciple of Satan'. The reason for shooting a movie in this way had to do with the unionized Mexican movie studios. If you were shooting a full-length feature, you had to do so at a facility associated with the STPC (Sindicato de Trabajadores de Producción Cinematográfica [Workers Union Film Production]). If you were working on TV productions, documentaries, etc, your affiliation was with the STIC (Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria Cinematográfica). Naturally, the unions aligned with the latter were much cheaper in terms of capital and labor. This was ideal for producers who were looking to pocket as much money as possible (and with the alleged amount of corruption in Mexico's film industry at that time, they were pocketing quite a lot!). With that in mind, a number of Mexican theatrical productions were shot in episodic format using STIC crews to take advantage of the inexpensive resources.

Even with an array of intriguing ideas and creativity (dig those axe chopped opening credits!), EL HATCHA DIABOLICA has some serious problems. At just 74 minutes, it drags in spots due to some poor editing. Some scenes go on too long, while others seem cut short. The sword duel, for instance; it's shot almost exclusively in a single master shot. No closeups or variance in camera set-ups, just stagnancy. The choreography is fine, but it's undone by an immobile camera. Additionally, the production values are painfully low. When the hooded menace is about to be burned at the stake, he transforms into an equally immobile bat. Most of these movies were shot on shoestrings, and HATCHET's cramped, quasi-grade school play sets are an indication of that. 

As much as this picture has going for it, these drawbacks make it all the more a missed opportunity to be on the same level as such better produced series entries as SANTO CONTRA MUJERES VAMPIRO (1962), SANTO EN EL MUSEO DE CERA (1963), and OPERACION 67 (1966). Nonetheless, EL HATCHA DIABOLICA (1965) remains a great deal of fun. If you're a fan of Lucha movies, the negatives alone fail to impede the entertainment value, and are not enough to lose ones head over.

This review is representative of the Rise Above Entertainment DVD.

Reel Bad Cinema: The Devil's Express (1976) review

 

THE DEVIL'S EXPRESS 1976 aka GANG WARS

Warhawk Tanzania (Luke Curtis), Larry Fleishman (Chris), Wilfredo Roldan (Rodan), Stephen DeFazio (Sam)

Directed by Barry Rosen

The Short Version: A bumper crop of bad movie madness, DEVIL'S EXPRESS goes off the rails right after leaving the station. There's Big Trouble in this little budget movie when a talisman is removed from the burial site of ancient Oriental demon Lo Pan. Later, a poorly choreographed gang war between The Blackjacks and The Red Dragons is blamed for mauled corpses in the NYC subway tunnels, but it's really our man, Lo Pan, a guy in sneakers and beat-up monster suit with matching skull mask. Non-existent production values, bargain bin gore effects, and even worse kung fu sequences ensue. If you can't appreciate the greasy spoons of cinema, you may want to avoid this train and take the bus instead. 

In 200 B.C. China, a band of monks bury a coffin in an underground cave containing a demon kept imprisoned by a magic amulet. Flash forward to 1970s New York, Luke and Rodan fly to Hong Kong for a martial arts tournament in China. Finding the cave, Rodan steals the talisman. The demon awakens and follows both men back to the States. Finding refuge from the sunlight in the New York subway system, the beast stalks victims nightly till a final showdown pits kung fu vs. 2,000 years of death!

Imaginative, yet impoverished exploitation flick has skid row production values and one of the most laughable plots ever devised. Tonally this train ride is comparable to the kung fu segment of the atrociously funny Joel Reed anthology BLOOD BATH (1975). It's made somewhat attractive in that this obscure howler was, whether intentionally or unintentionally, overhauled into the much healthier budgeted, but no less ludicrous BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986). The plots share similarities in their mixture of magic and martial arts; Lo Pan is the name of the villain in both movies; and you can ride for free on the Pork Chop Express.

Reportedly shot for somewhere in the ballpark of $100,000 in about 2 1/2 weeks, this 'shot fast and cheap' approach is evident from start to finish. Some scenes have no dialog. You see mouths moving but hear nothing but music laid over the soundtrack. Sometimes conversations begin or end in mid speech. Acting is hit or miss. Some scenes work pretty well, but are undone within moments by ineptness of gigantic proportions. The spots chosen for Far East locations fail to convince; not just because there are Asians with Afros in Communist China, but for the fact the same actors show up multiple times over playing different characters. Hariman State Park in upstate NY fills in for China; as does parks in Brooklyn during the hokey martial arts tournament.

Basically a kung fu master vs. an ancient demon in the NYC subways, this epically inadequate piece of schlock cinema is chock-full of jive ass acting, sloppy editing, perfunctory "kung fu" fights, and DIY gore effects. For instance, the effect of the Chinese guy infected by the demon stumbling around with the biggest bulging eyes this side of a Larry Buchanan monster movie had his eyelids painted white with black dots in the center. Talk about cut-rate! The monster suit, as tattered as it looks, is modestly successful till the camera pans down and you can see the guy in the costume is wearing sneakers.

The kung fu fights fare far worse. DEVIL'S EXPRESS has some of the absolute worst choreography ever conceived. The action sequences are so bad, they make DOLEMITE's kung fu battles look worthy of Bruce Lee. Everybody performs, and with majestically poor execution, in old school style like on Kung Fu Theater. See Snake Fist and Tiger Claw on the streets of Harlem! Combatants move like they're rehearsing and somebody filmed that instead. Oftentimes kicks and punches never come close to their targets. Since we're on that subject... 

 
Lead actor Warhawk Tanzania is the Don "No Soul" Simmons of (badly made) kung fu movies. In DEVIL'S EXPRESS, he  hits a guy then realizes he's missed his mark; then casually moves his fist or foot to where it's supposed to be. It's incredible. The exaggerated facial expressions, the constant posing, seeing the same extras over and over again, and Chinese (or Japanese) actors reading their live sound dialog in a fashion that sounds like it's been dubbed seeks only to make this knee-slapper a goldmine of mediocrity. 

 
Possessing about as much screen presence as a fire hydrant, Tanzania remains strangely fascinating because of his lacking charisma. Perhaps it's his hair? His alternating wardrobe of Chinese kung fu attire and gold lame overalls? Or that both he and his lady go to bed in their pajamas?! Yes, Luke (Tanzania) might use the Force against Lo Pan, but never stretches out with his feelings in the bedroom. Tanzania made one more funky and clunky fu flick, FORCE FOUR (1974) before seemingly vanishing from cinema forever.

The fights scenes are the handiwork of Master Frank Ruiz, a decorated war veteran and founder of Nisei Goju Ryu Karate. His film choreography period was between 1974 and 1977. As amazingly awful as the fight scenes are in this movie, some of the actors were indeed martial artists -- but you'd never know that from the woefully poor action. Wilfredo Roldan (who plays Rodan, a character named after a Japanese giant monster) is apparently now a Grand Master in Karate, and was a student of the late GM Frank Ruiz (The BLACK DRAGON himself, Ron Van Clief is among his students). The two of them appeared on the April 1972 cover of Official Karate.

 
If you remember that awful vampire movie, LAST RITES (1980), or the exploitation docs AMAZING MASTERS OF THE MARTIAL ARTS (1985) and FILM HOUSE FEVER (1986), the name Domonic Paris might ring a bell -- he was a camera assistant on this wacky flick. 

Let's face it, DEVIL'S EXPRESS is a mango-sized mess. Astonishingly, it took five writers to put this nonsense together. There are some genuinely good things here, though. Some of the scenes have a level of competency that make you wonder what the hell happened the rest of the time. Some of the dialog exchanges are right snappy; that old urban legend about alligators in the sewers is rolled out; and the decrepit, grimy look of 70s NYC are a time capsule to be appreciated by the 42nd Street faithful. Moreover, David Durston, director of slime classic I DRINK YOUR BLOOD (1970) is in here as one of Lo Pan's victims; and then there's a gleefully maniacal, showstopping monologue from famous rambler Brother Theodore!

This 'Phantom of the Subway' is the sort of movie you just don't see anymore. Some folks wouldn't want to see it, anyway. As bad as it is (and it's reeeaaally bad), there's a schlocky charm infecting all the defective fight scenes, awful editing, glaringly continuity errors, and shoddy makeup jobs that make this EXPRESS worth buying a ticket for. 

This review is representative of the Code Red DVD.