LADRÓN DE CÀDAVERES - Federico Ruiz - "Body Snatchers" (1957)

If you're a mad scientist in Mexico, and if you need good bodies, common sense would tell you that, you might as well dig up dead wrasslers, and if there are no dead wrasslers, then you just kill some!!!

The raven sitting on the car was a stroke of genius, kudos to director Fernando Méndez and cinematographer Víctor Herrera for their vision in this opening scene, and throughout the whole movie!!

Sorry about the 'L' getting cut off the title card!!!

Mexico, 1957, a better time you might think, but not necessarily so, if tonight's movie, "Ladrón de Cadáveres," has anything to say about it! The composer of the music for this film is Federico Ruiz, a name we have not heard around here before, because this seems to be the one and only lucha libre mostro pelicula he ever worked on, but he obviously knew his stuff, since he'd worked in the movies since 1932! The man was a master of any style, as you will hear when you listen to the story of "Ladrón de Cadáveres", or as they might say in English, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers!"

"Ladrón de Cadáveres"

Eleven years later Yerye Beirute, here playing the body snatchin' Cosme Ramírez, was in "La Camara Del Terror" with Boris Karloff, a film we covered a couple of months ago!

Federico's music in this movie is great, but they saved the best and swingingest part for this scene right here!!

This gal, who I'm assuming is a lady of the night, walks out of the motel, but she can't get her cigarette lit!

So she goes up this this guy to get a light, and gets quite a surprise, the reason he's ignoring her is because he's dead!

Like el difunto rey!! But you know what they say, "Los muertos no hablan!"

Hubba, Hubba!!!

Okay, Now I get it! It's all starting to make sense now!!

I will always remember the first time I saw a picture of this monster, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was issue #13 of "Famous Monsters" magazine. I remember because it was quite horrible at the time and unlike anything we were used to, that's for sure. I really think it had something to do with the drool!!! I still have a couple of "F M's" left, but I couldn't find the picture. It was pretty interesting looking through them though and flashing on the pictures from all the movies we've written about since we started this project, and I found it quite interesting to re-read references to movies I always wondered about, but never saw with titles like "Killer Smog" and "Mutano the Horrible." What was even more interesting was trying to look them up on IMDB, and not finding anything, which made me start to wonder how much of that info they tossed at us was actually fact & how much was just good writing!!

Well, you know what they say about payback, and this film is no exception!!!! Ow!!!!

SON OF GODZILLA / Toho - 1967 / Music by Masaru Satô

Hey, yo!! Heads up, everyone, GODZILLA's looking for his son!! Jun Fukuda gives director Ishirô Honda a break and handles this one.

Masaru Satô had already done the Dungeon all-time favorite GODZILLA vs THE SEA MONSTER prior to this outing. Then, his next project would be GODZILLA vs MECHA-GODZILLA in 1974, and, that would be his last one for the series. He ended his career with 211 composing credits between 1952-1999!.. Wow!!

Obviously, the studio heads wanted a playful feel to the music, and, well, that's what they got! GODZILLA had been turned into a 'children friendly' monster and Toho was now competing with Daiei's GAMERA for the top spot with that audience.

Akira Kubo plays Goro Maki, a reporter that drops in to get a story!..

The island is a research outpost for weather manipulation.

And, ever since the atom bomb tests back in the fifties, there's also giant preying mantis referred to as GIMANTIS!!

For some unknown reason, Godzilla shows up on the island!

The Gimantis unearth an egg, an egg that hatches little Minya, the SON OF GODZILLA!! Can you say... WAAAAAGWAAAAAA!!!

Luckily, Bibari Maeda, as Riko, shows up to help out the baby monster, and make the boys in the audience happy!

Pops shows sonny boy how to fight and use their fiery, atomic breath! Minya struggles with the new power at first.

Great shot!!

Oh, yeah, don't forget about the web spitting giant spider, what makes pop and son miserable! At one 'point' the spider pokes Godzilla right in the eye with his spiked mouth!!

The science guys give one last shot at making it snow on the island.

In the meantime the big guy drops a boulder on Minya's tail, and viola, he now has the full power of his breath! Then, the boys really turn up the heat on the pesky arachnid!

It starts snowing like crazy and Minya can't make it back to the sea with his dad!

The gang make it off the island and Godzilla decides to stay with Minya, like a good dad, afterall...

THE BRIDES OF DRACULA - Malcolm Williamson - "Is That Teeth?" (1960)

If this isn't one of the best lookin' title cards you've ever seen, I'll bite your neck!!!

It was a cold and windy night when it all began!! Yes, it's yet another classic Hammer vampire tale, this time, it's the story of "The Brides of Dracula!"

It's quite a simple story really, and it all begins when the totally lovely Yvonne Monlaur as Marianne Danielle first appears on the scene!

One of the first people Yvonne meets is Martita Hunt as the Baroness Meinster, or as everyone else knows her, Dracula's mother!!!

Yvonne goes off to spend the night with the lonely baroness, and, of coure she doesn't listen when told not to release the baroness's nice guy son, because he's not really a nice guy!!

Yvonne is pretty dumb, and is quite surprised when she sees that the baroness has been killed by her own son, the nice guy she just released!! Maybe you should have listened to the Mama!! Duh!!!

Unlike last night, now here's a guy that really does look like a vampire!!! David Peel was mostly a TV actor, and this was one of his rare film appearances, and only horror role, except in "The Hands Of Orlac" he played an airplane pilot!!

The rather somber and stoic soundtrack is provided by Master of the Queen's music, Malcolm Williamson, in his only 60's horror outing!!

The brides start coming to life, so enter stage right, the man of many hours, Peter Cushing, this time as Dr. J. Van Helsing again!

Here we have Andree Melly as Gina, before and after she meets Dracula! Gina's appearance as the bride scarred many a young boy's psyche in the 60's, who found it confusing, to be attracted to the devil with her hair down, instead of the innocent angel!!

Time for the big showdown between Dracula and Van Helsing!

You would have thought with Peter Cushing's experience, and the fact that David Peel was such a novice, that he would have put up a better fight!! Pretty easy to see what an amazing actor Peter Cushing really was as he delivers this incredible eye-popping performance!!

Any self-respecting vampire just wouldn't stand a chance to ever feel comfortable in a land with giant burning crosses like this scattered across the countryside. You'd of thought all the vampires would have moved out of the region by now!!

You can find "The Brides Of Dracula" on a double feature DVD with "Curse Of The Werewolf!" Now, that's a bargain you can sink your fangs into!!