kevin s
hi i saw this on a movie preview on a friday night in 1969 and it just scared the living daylights out of me'
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/10/24
Full Review
CKB
This is like an Ed Wood film with better production values and less logic (really!). The Mexican film industry was slow to embrace the horror and sci-fi genres so popular in the U.S., and this early-60s entry is especially to be avoided. A 17th century bad boy sorcerer gets burned at the stake while vowing to destroy his inquisitors' descendants once the comet flying overhead returns to earth -- in 300 years. Sure enough, now it's 1961 and he's back for vengeance. The comet is the sorcerer's space vehicle, get it? His true form features a ludicrous rubber face, useless tubey fingers, and a forked tongue with which he sucks his victims' brains out (giving him indigestion). He takes on the form of a handsome aristocrat to attract his victims, briefly seducing the ladies before getting ugly and sucking more brain. Each murder is carried out with clumsy unbelievability and little variation, making the film's pretense to horror a bore. At least the sorcerer's victims include a parade of attractive women, the cutest being Rosa María Gallardo as a grad student in astronomy helping to track down the sorcerer's pesky comet (she survives). Lots of time gets wasted in babble by the inquisitors rattling off the sorcerer's naughty deeds and baffled by his resistance to their best tortures, and by Rosa's astronomy prof flabbergasted that the cool new comet he discovered has simply vanished. There's also an intrepid police inspector doggedly following clues to the multiple murders, who shows up in the nick of time with flame throwers to dispatch Mr. Rubberface once and for all (but burning him 300 years before didn't stop him so...). The film does feature some nice camerawork, but there's not much a cameraman can do with such a dorky monster and uninspired director. Though this mess has attained cult film status, it really doesn't deliver the 'so bad it's good' satisfaction -- it's just bad and boring.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
06/29/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I would try and describe what this film is about, but it would end up turning into a 1,000-word essay. The budget for this film was $5,000 and $4,000 of it was spent on acid, weed and alcohol. After seeing this movie I still can't understand how something so unbelievably over the top and ridiculous can be so boring. You always have to grade movies on a curve and for something done on such a low budget to still be around 60 years later does say a lot, it doesn't make it objectively good but it is an accomplishment to be acknowledged.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A maniac with a lot of knowledge is a threat.
In the 1600s in Mexico a ruthless, tyrant baron is sentenced to death. As the baron dies he swears vengeance and put a curse on the men that sentenced him to death. Over 300 years later a comet passes over the Earth, and along with it, an alien beast that begins killing the descendants of the men responsible for sentencing the baron to death.
"His arms were tied to the rope and the rope was turned thirty times."
Chano Urueta, director of Woman, Highway of Cats, The Black Pirate, The Count of Monte Cristo (1942), The Sign of Death, Night of the Mayas, and Men of the Sea, delivers The Brainiac. The storyline for this picture is just okay but the execution is very good. The special effects, make-up, and masks are very well done. The acting is fairly standard for this era.
"What does he use his knowledge of anatomy for, to be a dangerous maniac?"
This was recently added to the Netflix online queue so I decided to give it a shot. I loved how they did the main horror character. The special effects may be dated, but are very well done for the time. I do think this is a worthwhile picture to view if you enjoy the old school horror genre.
"It so happens liquor does me damage."
Grade: C
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It's the kind of outrageous movie that it's impossible to get mad at. This is a movie that's so ridiculously goofy that, if it were to come out today, it would torn to shreds, but because it came out in a time, it's a movie for that time. However, it is definitely good for some corny thrills on a late October night.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It takes itself so seriously and actually sort of works at times as a slow burning, Dracula-esque horror film. What makes the whole thing fall into B-movie hilarity is the ridiculous monster. It's like the fly crossed with the devil. It's so bizarre seeing this movie building up suspense and drama (and it's heavy on the dialogue by the way) only to flush that down the toilet real quick with the costume they used. The problem is this movie falls kind of in the middle somewhere. It's not bad in a Plan 9, let's riff this movie kind of way. Whenever the monster isn't on screen it's just fairly generic (almost a bit past its time) horror b-movie. When the monster is on screen it does fall into the Plan 9 territory. But overall it is just stuck in the middle and not good, but not that bad, and definitely not that funny.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
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