ATACAN LAS BRUJAS / Filmica Vergara Comisiones - 1968

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is one of the last Santo flicks shot in black & white, this time he spends most of his time attacking the witches from across town...

Here's a very cool Mexican lobby card with an image of a devil stolen from an old Weird Tales pulp cover, I believe.

Eegah!! has given us a very surrealistic soundclip for this one, thanx! The music was composed by Jorge Pérez, he had 77 composing credits that include these titles... HIGHWAY OF CATS, THE MUSEUM OF CRIME, THE CURSE OF NOSTRAMADUS, THE HELL OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE BLOOD OF NOSTRADAMUS, BLUE DEMON vs THE SATANIC POWER, THE BRAINIAC and HELLISH SPIDERS!

Letz bring in our little fuzzy Dungeon helper and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. He's here for one reason, so, push the big red 'GO' button now Ralphie! Here's.. ATACAN LAS BRUJAS!

Like I said, across town, a bunch of witches live in an old mansion, and they're ready for some action!!

The big boss drops in from time to time just to say hey...

The story centers around Ofelia, a friend of Santo. The witches want her to join their coven and she's having disturbing dreams and visions about it.

Santo decides to pay a visit to the Witch House and see if he can find out anything. He drives a Porsche in this one, it'd be hard to imagine a super-hero driving around in like a Nash Rambler, or a Studebaker with a propeller!

Santo's spider sense tells him that there's something fishy going on around here!..

And, it was right!! Dude's a Pisces!

In about 3 seconds, Santo pulls a 3 Stooges routine where he slams the guys together, faces first!.. n'yuk, n'yuk

He makes his body into a cross and it repels the henchmen!

Santo gets mesmerized and side tracked by one of his female opponents!

You can make whatever you want out of these 2 photos, is it hot in here?..

Whenever Santo goes to the Witch House, he always has to climb up a wall to get inside! That's Santo's pal's '46 Chevy.

Did you ever notice that Santo never fights just one henchman at a time!

Back at the ranch, it's time to pound on our hero!.. But, Santo is able to grab a torch and he makes them run like little schoolgirls!

The legend went, Santo never even lost one match in the ring!!

Like I always say, if you do something bad to Santo, you're going to get something back even worse!

Viva el Santo!!.. Another packed house going bananas for their wrestling idol!

Is it raining witches, or what?!

Poor sap, caught in his own trap, so crap, might as well take a nap!..

The main witch is played by the beautiful Lorena Velázquez, who was in everything! She even sang in SHIP OF THE MONSTERS!

Man, I love this still!! Without these two guys here, Fernando Osés and Crox Alvarado, well, Mexican monster movies would have suffered for it. For one thing, these muscle bound actors did their own stunts!! Fernando played the dude with the spider arm in HELLISH SPIDERS and Crox played Silver Angel in the AZTEC MUMMY series!

Santo brings out his giant cross and all Hell breaks loose!

Goodnight, Sweet Wench!..

DAIKAIJÛ KETTÔ: GAMERA TAI BARUGON - Chûji Kinoshita - "Gamera Vs. Barugon" (1966)

I'm pretty sure it's a general consensus that "Gamera Vs. Barugon" is the best Gamera film ever made! If you want to argue the point, head on over to August Ragone's Place and I'm sure he'll be glad to tell you all about it, since August and his Pal Jason Varney did the English commentary on the DVD, and I seriously doubt there's anybody who knows more on the subject! I'm talking more details than Gamera's own family even knows!

You're going to want to buy this "Shout! Factory" DVD, so Here's the best place to take care of that little bit of business, and we can get on with the BIG Kaiju show!

Have you ever noticed that sometimes Gamera's got some Barney Google eyes going on! Check out this Google search for Barney Google and you'll see what I mean!

This is kind of weird, but this shot of Gamera really makes me hungry for some sushi! He looks like a big barbecued artichoke! Pass the wasabi and the butter over this direction, please!

Cut to tropical paradise, and some cool tribal dance music created by Chûji Kinoshita! Chûji had a very busy career that went back all the way to 1946, and although I don't see any other Kaiju titles in his 145 credits, he did compose the music for a film called "Golgo 13."

Time to bring out the island's Chip or Dale dancer for the ladies!

A helicopter lands on the island and, well, let's just say that peace, harmony and tranquility will soon no longer be tangible concerns! Now is that one of the most beautiful painted backdrops that you've even seen in your life or not?

These three Bozos show up in search of a legendary giant opal that they were told about! From left to right, the treasure hunters are Yuzo Hayakawa as Kawajiri, Kojiro Hongo as Keisuke Hirata, and Kôji Fujiyama as Onodera!

The fascinating Kyôko Enami is Karen, the gal who knows everything about what happens on the island! Kyôko has been very busy acting since 1960, and is still working today

From this point on, the mood changes quickly, and like a snowball from Hell or a rickety old broken down roller coaster, everything goes downhill real fast!!

Karen told them not to go, but they are like madmen possessed, and are going to have to pay some dues before they get to the cave that houses the giant opal!

There is one little thing you need to know about Onodera, and that is, he's a big fat liar!! I'm surprised he's got any drawers left at all, his pants are so on fire!!

This is going to be a short lived celebration!

....And then there were two!

Onodera and Keisuke were rescued after the cave blew up, and Onodera remained in possession of the opal, and is traveling back to Japan on this ship. He's treating his messed up foot with a heat lamp, and because he so danged stupid, eventually,.......

.....the heat lamp heats up the opal, and without Onodero's knowledge, Little baby Barugon is born! Aaahhhh!!! How's about them apples, it wasn't an opal at all, it was an egg!! The irony of it all!!

Barugon grows up real fast; he's a crazy critter, and it's no time at all until death and destruction are rampant just like in these two beautiful stills!! Director Shigeo Tanaka, Cinematographer Michio Takahashi, and Director of Special Effects Noriaki Yuasa, should all be very proud!!

Even though Barugon is tearing up the countryside, Onodero still doesn't know or realize that he's responsible, and like a demon possessed, nothing is going to stand in his way, including Ichiro Hirata and his innocent wife! Onodero is one mean spirited son of a bitch! This is the only Gamera film not made for kids!

Barugon in all his glory, does his best trick, the devastating rainbow out of the back number!

Gamera had showed up to help, but Barugon's big old tongue and freezing rainbow take their toll on him real fast, and it doesn't seem like he stands a ghost of a chance!

Onodero and Keisuke have a reunion! Believe it or not, Onodero still doesn't know what's going on, and continues his rampage to get the giant opal back, and he wants Keisuke to help him go diving for it, because he thinks it's still at the bottom of the ocean! What a blockhead!

When Onodero finally realizes that the opal was an egg, he decides to go after the next best thing, the giant diamond that Karen has in her possession, that she has brought along to try and control Barugon! Here he comes in a boat to get it!

This shot looks like some kind of unbelievable surrealistic oil painting!

Finally, after it seemed like nothing could stop him, Onodero gets his just rewards!!

The idea is hatched to try and use mirrors to reflect Barugon's deadly ray back in his face!!

"Bad dreamer, What’s your name, Looks like we’re ridin’ on the same train, Looks as through there’ll be more pain, There’s gonna be a showdown!" - ELO

In The End, Gamera chills out Barugon in about the 8th round, and retains his championship belt to the delight of his fans all over the world! Peace!