In 1962, Cinematografica Calderon starred two beautiful women, Lorena Velazquez and Elizabeth Campbell, in Las Luchadoras vs el Medico Asesino, a new concept in Mexican adventure films. The heroic sweaty masked males of standard "Lucha Libre" films (like Santo or Blue Demon) were replaced by heroic sweaty unmasked females. A big improvement, no? Las Luchadoras vs. el Medico Asesino was the first of perhaps the weirdest hybrid-series to ever hit the screen: the sexy/sci-fi/horror/female-wrestler/super-hero film. This sextet of sexiness was really a stroke of genius. Not only did the adventures of "Las Luchadoras" appeal to its main audience (children eager for weird monsters and lots of action), but horny teenage boys were captivated as well.

The Luchadoras series (better known in the United States as the "Wrestling Women") contained mind-boggling elements including; mad doctors, apes, Frankenstein-like monsters, robots, panther women, death traps, male masked wrestlers, wrestling tournaments, super-human-masked-female-villainesses and of course the shapely heroines. During the 1960s, Las Luchadoras, had a run of six films (seven if you count, the semi-related, Mujer Murcielago). While all titles are very entertaining, the first two are the best known. As the series progressed, the female leads changed, but all entries were directed by the same man, Rene Cardona Sr.

On a dark and lonely night, a girl walking alone is grabbed by a beast-like man. Seconds later we're enjoying the action at a female tag-team wrestling match. Now the scene shifts to a doctor transplanting a woman's brain. With an opening like that, it's clear that you're not watching anything filmed in the U.S. -- even if they are speaking English!

For some unexplained reason, a scientist, Dr. Ruiz, is trying to transplant the brain of a gorilla into the body of a woman. (If Ed Wood Jr. had written the script, there would have certainly been an angora angle.) Although all his previous experiments have been failures, the doctor insists that only women are appropriate for the operation. His assistant suggests that perhaps the class of women being used is the problem (they had all been uneducated women). Maybe if they use a professional woman, they will succeed. Grasping at straws, Doom agrees that this might be the answer. He sends Gomar (his half-man/half-gorilla henchman) to kidnap an intelligent woman. Gomar, wearing bullet-proof clothing, not only gets his girl, but he beats up half the police force in the process. The woman, Alice, happens to be the sister of Gloria Venus (Lorena Velazquez), the champion woman wrestler. Alas, Alice isn't quite intelligent or professional enough &emdash; and she dies as well.

Two policemen, Mike and Tommy (Armando and Chucho in the Spanish version), investigating the case come to question Gloria and her new tag-team partner, Golden Rubi (Elizabeth Campbell). These four become friends and decide to join forces in going after "Dr. Doom" and his associates.

Boris, the ever-helpful assistant, now surmises that maybe what they need is a woman of unusual strength. Once again Dr. Doom agrees, even though Boris' predictions have been none too accurate up to this point. They decide to go after Gloria. An attempt is made to capture the two wrestling women, but they rather easily fight off their attackers. Mike suggests that the best way to catch the killers is for the girls to allow themselves to be kidnapped so that the police can follow them to Doom's hideout. The plan works to perfection and during the ensuing battle, the Doctor's assistant is captured. Unfortunately, while being questioned by the police, he's murdered.

Professor Ruiz, who'd been Alice's boss (and who's one of the most obvious master criminal in the history of modern cinema), calls Mike and Tommy and tells them to come to his home. They arrive, are captured by Doom's gang and placed in a death trap. Luckily, Gloria and Rubi are wearing their Dick Tracy-style wrist radios and come to the rescue. There's another battle with the villains and this time the doc gets acid thrown in his face. He screams in agony while his lab goes up in flames. Gomar breaks out of his cell and rescues him from the inferno. The now disfigured Dr. Doom swears vengeance on Gloria. Meanwhile, Gomar's reward for saving the doc is to have his brain removed. It's to be placed in the body of another female wrestler. This new creation is called Vendetta, a mute, chubby and masked wrestling woman. Dr. Doom, now posing as a masked wrestling manager, explains that the reason his client can't speak is that she's from France (just like the Coneheads). Vendetta signs to meet Gloria in a special wrestling event. She's ordered (presumably in French) to kill Gloria in the ring during their match. Rubi uncovers the plot and climbs into the ring to help her friend battle the powerful Vendetta. Knowing that the jig is up, the masked doc and his creation, escape from the arena, climb to the top of a water tower (a la, King Kong) and are shot dead like the worthless scum that they are. In a (un)surprise ending, Doctor Doom's mask is removed and he's revealed to be.............the kindly Professor Ruiz.

This wonderful film has many things to recommend it for lovers of the bizarre. As usual, the dubbed dialog is amusing. A narrator reads a newspaper headline, "Four policemen torn to pieces by strange being. Police are completely confused." Also, at one point, the doctor repeatedly yells at a silent Gomar, "Quiet down Gomar, quiet down, I say." Gomar seems understandably confused. Ms. Campbell also has lots of playful banter with her policeman boyfriend Tommy (Chucho Salinas). She calls him her "Five-foot Lightning Bolt."

The great cast is headed by Lorena Velazquez, the queen of Mexican horror cinema. Lorena has appeared in numerous classic efforts including; Nave de los Monstruos, Santo contra los Zombies (Invasion of the Zombies), Santo vs las Mujeres Vampiro (Samson vs the Vampire Women), plus many more. Golden Rubi is played by the gorgeous Elizabeth Campbell, an America actress who appeared in numerous Mexican genre films during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. She starred in the first four wrestling women films, as well as, Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras (with Velazquez), Operacion 67 (with Santo) and many others. Armando Silvestre, (Mike, the cop) starred in many genre films including; Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy, the three films of the original Neutron series, several early Santo films and a host of others. Silvestre also repeats his policeman role in the 1968 remake of this film, Night of the Bloody Apes. Roberto Canedo plays professor Ruiz and his alter-ego, the Doctor of Doom. He, too, is a regular in these outings, often in similar mad scientist roles.

The female leads play unusually strong characters for this time period -- easily the equal to their male counterparts in both brains and brawn. It is often left up to them to rescue their helpless policeman-boyfriends. U.S. films of this era seldom provided their female characters with such heroic roles.

Doctor of Doom may have a few plot holes (or even more than a few), but it also has an endearing combination of non-stop action, absurd dialogue and strange imagery. I highly recommend it!

The success of Las Luchadoras vs el Medico Asesino insured a follow-up. This sequel came two years later in 1964. It was called, Las Luchadoras contra la Momia. The English release title, Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy, is perhaps the most (in)famous film titles of all time. The four stars from the first film (Lorena Velazquez, Elizabeth Campbell, Armando Silvestre and Chucho Salinas) all return to repeat their roles, although the Velazquez' character has mysteriously changed her name to Loreta Venus.

Las Luchadoras contra la Momia opens with a montage of clips showing the reign of terror being perpetrated by the Black Dragon, an evil, oriental, crime syndicate. They kidnap, hypnotize and murder people, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. The bad guys are trying to find a "codex" which will divulge the location of a breast plate, which in turn will tell the hiding place of a fabulous Aztec treasure. One of five men are in possession of the codex and by process of elimination, the Black Dragon is trying to discover which one. After four failures, only Professor Tracy is left. In order to insure the codex (not his mention his own) safety, the doctor divides it into three parts and surreptitiously sends the sections to his friends, Loreta, Rubi, Mike and Tommy. Fujiyata, the leader of the Black Dragon, orders his men to kidnap the professor, but arriving at his apartment, they only find Dr. Tracy's niece, Charlotte, at home. She's abducted instead. The evil mastermind uses a combination of drugs and hypnosis to put her under his power. He then releases the girl in order to use her to spy on her friends. Fujiyata can see (via closed circuit television) into Tracy's home, where he learns the location of the first part of the codex. His men get to the hotel where it's hidden before Rubi and Tommy, and they capture the statuesque wrestler and her diminutive friend. But, Loreta and Mike come to the rescue and beat up the thugs. The second section is hidden in a post office box and the Black Dragon again gets there first. While going after the third section, hidden in Rubi's locker, Fujiyata and his henchmen are caught. He suggests a wager, the winner getting all sections of the codex. He will pit his two Judo-fighting, sisters against Loreta and Rubi in a match in the ring. Loreta agrees over Mike's objections. He's worried that they may get hurt. Loreta shrugs this off. "We can punch them if they get too rough on us." "A headlock or Double-Nelson should do the trick," Rubi adds. Loreta and Rubi win and Fujiyata keeps his word. Charlotte is released from the crime lord's power as part of the bargain. However, when the sneaky Mike tries to arrest the criminal, his sisters beat up the policemen, allowing their brother to escape. Again on TV, Fujiyata watches as Tracy successfully deciphers the codex. Everyone heads for the tomb of Xochitl (an Aztec Princess) where the breast plate is hidden. Guarding it is the mummified remains of Tezomoc, a sorcerer/warrior buried alive to guard the priceless artifact. The heroes grab it and flee as the mummy awakens. Back at the apartment, Dr. Tracy tells of the magical powers of the mummy. (It can change form into that of a demon or animal.) The scientist works all night on the breast plate. In the early hours of the morning, just as Fujiyata's men arrive to steal the plate, a bat flies to the apartment and changes into the mummy. It kills all the Black Dragon gang and goes inside. As it reaches for the plate, the sun begins to come up and the mummy cowers away, changes back into a bat and flies away. When Charlotte reads about the destruction of the Black Dragon gang, she realizes that the mummy will come for them next. She convinces Tommy to help her return the breast plate to the tomb of Xochitl. He doesn't want to go, "Maybe that stupid mummy has fits and undresses, who knows what he has beneath his clothes," the trembling detective says. She finally drags him along but they get separated in the tomb. Tommy leaves to get help but Tezomoc finds her before the search party arrives. They arrive at the tomb as the mummy prepares to sacrifice Charlotte. Loreta frightens it with torches and everyone watches in horror as it turns first into a bat ("Look he's a vampire now" Loreta says) and then a spider. A cloth is thrown over the spider as it regains its mummy form. The good guys manage to chain it to a pillar and, leaving the breast plate behind, exit from the tomb. The mummy's struggles to free itself bring the tomb down all around it. The narrator wonders, "Who can tell how many centuries more the Aztec treasure will remain hidden."

Several things are worthy of note. This film is incorrectly considered part of the original "Aztec Mummy" series. However, the mummy in the original trio of films (also produced by Cinematografica Calderon) is Popoca, not Tezomoc. This is an Aztec mummy, not the Aztec mummy. And an odd mummy it is too. One might conclude that the many years of solitude have confused the poor thing as it apparently thinks of itself as a vampire. Tezomoc is afraid of sunlight and changes into a bat on several occasions.

There's a continuity problem during the climax. The breast plate, which Tezomoc had placed on the bound Charlotte, disappears and reappears several times as she watches the action. Also, Fujiyata just vanishes from the plot. After the mummy has destroyed his gang, nothing more is mentioned of he or his sisters. Of course, none of these things really matter. What makes Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy such an enjoyable film is the crazy dialog (Tommy tells Rubi, "As an Amazon, you're the greatest") and mind-boggling plot. Just the fact that the film makers were able to combine two rather unrelated elements (female wrestlers and an ancient mummy) into one story line is worthy of accolades.

One final note. Beware Rhino Video's "rock 'n roll" version of this film. It has numerous omissions and cuts and has a different (unsatisfying) ending. (It always is a bad idea to parody something that's a parody of itself.) Stick with the original. It's funnier, more coherent and much more entertaining.

Lobas del Ring has the distinction of being the only film in the Luchadoras series to have no fantasy elements. While this would seem to make it the least interesting entry, it's at least a little different.

A publicist comes up with the idea of a wrestling tournament, with a prize of one million pesos (about three dollars) going to the winning team. Real-life wrestler Murcielago Velazquez (no relation to Lorena) leads the "clean" team, which of course includes Loreta (Lorena Velazquez) and Rubi (Elizabeth Campbell). Loreta's fiance wants her to quit the ring and settle down and she agrees, but only after she wins the tournament. She wants to win and divide the money among her teammates. Sonia (Sonia Infante) is the leader of the bad team. (The good gals wear light colored leotards while the bad ones wear black. This makes things simple for the audience.) The matches begin. During her bout, Chebela (another of the clean wrestlers) sees Bernardo (Eric del Castillo) in the arena and recognizes him as the man who murdered her father. Understandably flustered, she loses. Rubi also loses, but only after she'd been drugged by the bad guys. This sets up a final between Loreta and Sonia. Not taking any chances, the evil wrestlers have Loreta's mother and Rubi kidnapped They tell Loreta to lose her match if she cares about seeing them again. Rubi however, is able to get word to Murcielago where they're being held and he and his friends rescue the two women. Rubi goes to the arena so Loreta will know that it's alright to win. She does manage to win and after the bout, Chabela again sees Bernardo and gives chase. They struggle for a while and eventually Bernardo gets electrocuted.

It was unusual for Murcielago Velazquez to have a sympathetic movie role. (He usually played the third thug from the left.) But, as he wrote the script for Lobas, I guess he could pick any role he wanted.

This was the last Luchadoras film to star Lorena Velazquez. During an interview she gave to Santo Street, we asked Lorena why she left the series after Lobas del Ring. "Rene Cardona had encouraged me to be in the wrestling women films, but my boyfriend at the time didn't like the idea. It was his jealousy that made me stop being in the series." This film wasn't one of Velazquez' favorites. "I hated this movie because I had such a fat double. I spent much of the picture trying to get her to stop eating but she would eat, eat, eat all the time."

With Mujeres Panteras, the Wrestling Women series moved back into familiar "fantastic" territory. It's plot included monsters, black magic and an ancient curse. Ariadna Welter replaces Lorena Velazquez in the role of Loreta. She teams up with Elizabeth Campbell's Rubi.

A group of panther women invoke the spirit of "Satanasa, the Goddess of Evil." They need her help in destroying the descendants of the Pietra Santa family, who had been responsible for the death of the Magician Eloim, whom the panther women worship. Three members of the family still survive, Professor Rafael Pietra Santa, his son Ramon and Ramon's daughter Paquita. Ramon's girlfriend is Tonga, an exotic dancer. Ramon introduces Tonga to his wrestling woman friends, Loreta and Rubi. The professor owns a sword and cross that belonged to the Druids. These items are useful in fighting the black magic of Eloim and his followers. However, the prof is dispatched before he gets a chance to use them. Ramon's friends, Rubi, Loreta and a male masked wrestler known as "the Angel" are joined by Captain Diaz of the police (Eric del Castillo, changing sides from Lobas del Ring) and his comical assistant (Loco Valdes). Tonga, actually one of the panther women, tries to kill her sweetheart Ramon, but She's interrupted by Paquita's arrival. The panther women don't want to harm the child because she's destined to be sacrificed, in order to revive Eloim. Alas, this is only a temporary respite, as Tonga does indeed kill Ramon shortly thereafter. (The panther women have the quaint habit of sprouting claws and howling at the moment that they kill.) Ramon's blood revives Eloim for a short time and he lumbers around as a zombie-like monster. The panther women come for Paquita but she's wearing that Druid cross, which repels them. Back at the wrestling arena, Rubi and Loreta prepare for a match. Unbeknownst to them, Tonga and another panther woman replace their opponents, and plan to murder them in the ring. Warned of this plan by the Angel, the police arrive and shoot the evil panther women just as they're spouting their claws. The wounded Tonga, escapes, kidnaps Paquita and returns to Eloim's tomb. The Angel, armed with the Druid sword, arrives in the nick of time to save the little girl and slaughters the remaining panther women.

Alfredo Salazar, who wrote the script for Mujeres Panteras, borrowed liberally from other luchador films, especially Santo vs las Mujeres Vampiro (Samson vs the Vampire Women). The ideas of a resurrected evil entity, a family curse and replacing a masked ring opponent as a means of murder, were all used in the earlier film.

Ariadna Welter was no stranger to Mexican genre films. (She's also had some exposure in the U.S., since six of her features have been dubbed into English.) She was the heroine in the classic El Vampiro series, and starred in; El Baron del Terror (The Brainiac), Cien Gritos del Terror (One Hundred Cries of Terror), Neutron vs los Asesinos del Karate (Neutron and the Karate Killers) and Espadachines de la Reina (The Queen's Swordsman). Ariadna also appeared with her sister (Linda Christian) in The Devil's Hand, a U.S. film released in 1961. In another Santo Street interview, we asked Ms. Welter what she thought about Mujeres. "I wish they would take all the prints and shoot them off into space in a rocketship." (I guess she didn't like it.)

Perhaps Ariadna Welter has gotten her wish as both Mujeres Panteras and Lobas del Ring appear to be "lost" films. The were made too late to be included in the K. Gordon Murray packages that were dubbed into English in the early 1960s. And since both were filmed in black and white, there's no demand for their release on video in Mexico. They therefore remain impossible to see. In fact, I haven't spoken to anyone who's seen either film in the last 20 years. Ms. Welters feelings not with standing, I would very much like to see Mujeres Panteras.

Luchadoras contra el Robot Asesino introduces the viewers to two new wrestling women, Gaby (Regina Torne) and Gema (Malu Reyes). As this was the first of the wrestling women series to be shot in color, it was also the first to be released on video.

Dr. Orlak, your typical loony scientist, makes a robot to help him with his dastardly schemes. Also assisting him are his assistant Waldo and a Frankenstein-like monster named Carfax. Orlak is kidnapping scientists to help him perfect a device that will turn regular people into robot-slaves. One captured scientist balks at helping Orlak and he's unceremoniously killed for his refusal. This scientist's niece is Gaby, a popular female wrestler. She and her partner Gema, are joined by two policemen Arturo (Joaquin Cordero) and Chava (Hector Lechugo) in their quest to bring the killer to justice. They all go to Orlak's hideout where they're captured and fitted with special bracelets made of "Acridium." These bracelets subject them to Orlak's will, in effect making them human-robots. Gaby manages to remove her bracelet and she places it on the real robot. This causes the mechanical man to go berserk, wreck Orlak's lab and kill Waldo (as well as some of the captive scientists). The robot is finally destroyed and Orlak is mad (in addition to being insane). He swears revenge on Gaby. This revenge takes the form of his latest creation, a masked-super-human-female-wrestling-robot named Electra. He sets up a match with Gaby. During the bout, Orlak is discovered and he tries to escape. He and his creation climb to the top of the arena, where they both fall to their death.

As was a common practice during the late 1960s (in films like, Santo en el Tesoro de Dracula) Luchadoras contra el Robot Asesino was also released in a pornographic version (with added nude footage). The "sex" version was called El Asesino Loco y el Sexo, and was exported for foreign markets only. The monstrous Carfax has an expanded role in this version, as it is he who get's the tough job of tearing women's clothing off.

The top-billed Joaquin Cordero and Regina Torne were new to the Luchadora series, but not to Mexican genre films in general. Cordero starred in; La Loba, Orlak, el Infierno de Frankenstein, Monstruo de los Volcanes, a pair of Dr. Satan films and the first two Santo outings. Torne showed up in; Los Canallas (with Mil Mascaras), Blue Demon y las Invasoras, Rocambole vs las Mujeres Arpias, Pacto Diabolica and Senora Muerte (the last two with John Carradine). While not available in an English version, Luchadoras contra el Robot Asesino is well worth seeking out. There are far worse ways to spend 80 minutes.

Las Luchadoras vs el Medico Asesino was remade (sort of) in 1968 as El Horripilante Bestia Humana (this must be one of the weirdest films to be remade since the 1953 epic, Catwomen of the Moon was re-shot as Missile to the Moon). The new version features one wrestling woman instead of a pair and its villain is much more sympathetic, but it still has many of the usual elements.

During a match, Lucy (Norma Lazareno) throws her opponent Elena out of the ring. Elena sustains head injuries in the incident and is sent to the hospital. Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated incident, Dr. Krauman (Jose Alias Moreno) and his deformed servant Goyo (Carlos Lopez Moctezuma) sneak into the zoo and steal a gorilla. Dr. Krauman is called to the hospital to operate on the injured wrestler, but before departing, he goes in to see his bedridden son Julio. Krauman removes a bone fragment from Elena but the prognosis for her recovery is not good. After the operation, Krauman has a meeting with some of his colleagues where he's told his son's condition is hopeless and the young man has only has a short time to live. Krauman returns home and tells Goyo that it's time to try the emergency operation. They transplant the gorilla's heart into Julio, in the hopes that the stronger animal's organ will be able to defeat his son's leukemia. (The operation is quite gory, it looks like actual operation footage may have been used.) Julio's condition improves immediately. Back at the arena, Lucy has another match but she's afraid of hurting her adversary, so she's beaten. Arturo (Armando Silvestre, returning to the series after a four-year hiatis), her policeman boyfriend says, either stop dwelling on the accident or quit the ring. She says she will quit, but after Monday's free-for-all event. This makes Arturo very happy. At the lab, Dr. K. has been waiting to see the final results of the operation. As Goyo brings his dinner in, Julio begins to transform into a hideous beast. He/it gets up from the bed, pushes the two men aside and escapes into the night. Dr. Krauman and Goyo get their tranquilizer rifle and give chase. Wandering the streets, the monster see's a woman thru her window. He climbs in and surprises her in the shower. He tries to rape her but can't seem to figure out how to do it. The encounter gets more and more violent and eventually the woman is killed. Escaping back to the street, the monster hides as a small boy approaches. He doesn't harm the child however. (The child seemed to sense that he's in no danger, as he has trouble keeping a straight face as he walks past the beast.) Dr. Krauman finally recaptures his son. He says that since the operation affected Julio's brain, he'll have to do another heart transplant (huh?). He wants to use a human heart to counteract the gorilla heart's influence. He decides that Elena would be the perfect donor. Goyo points out that this would be wrong. The doctor agrees, but he has to save his son and Elena is destined to be a vegetable anyway. The loyal Goyo agrees to help his master. They succeed in kidnapping the comatose girl, but Julio again escapes before they can do the second operation. He goes on another rampage, killing several men (including one by gouging out his eye) and tearing the clothes off more women. Dr. Krauman again finds Julio and brings him home. The second operation seems to go well as Julio regains human form. However, this transformation doesn't last very long. He soon awakens as the snarling beast. The creature creeps down the stairs, grabs Goyo's head and slowly rips it from it's deformed body. When Dr. Krauman returns home, he's justifiably upset about the mess on his new carpet. Julio confronts him and as the father backs away, he trips and hits his head. The Julio-monster, gently picks up his dad and lays him on a bed. Then he then goes out for a little more rape and murder. After several more gory killings, and a few more exposed breasts, the monster faints and again becomes human. Dr. Krauman (who has admitted that his son is the monster) and Julio are taken to the hospital. Shortly after arriving, Julio transforms yet again and kills some of the staff. Perhaps frustrated that he can find no women to tear the clothes from, he grabs a little girl and heads for the roof. Arturo and Dr. Krauman follow him and the doctor manages to rescue the child from his monstrous son. The police open fire and Julio is finally put out of his misery. The distraught father begs his son's forgiveness and says, "I acted against the dictates of God." Later in Arturo's car, Lucy ends the proceedings by saying, "It's unfortunate, really sad."

El Horripilante Bestia Humana was released in its original Mexican form and as, Night of the Bloody Apes (aka Horror y Sexo). This dubbed rendition, for foreign markets, had added scenes of nudity and gore not present on the Mexican prints. Night of the Bloody Apes seems to be the only sex-version of a wrestling film available for viewing by today's fans.

The dubbing for Night of the Bloody Apes is better than usual, although there are a few classic lines. As the medical examiner inspects one of the monster's victims he says (in highly technical terms), "Boy oh boy, this ones been murdered, ripped to pieces!" When Arturo give his theory of a half man/half beast killer, his chief says, "It's more probable that of late, more and more, you're watching on your television more of those pictures of terror". Then there's the strange case of Dr. Krauman who sometimes calls his son Julio and at other times adresses him as (the correct) Hulio.

The most interesting member of the cast was Carlos Lopez Moctezuma (Goyo). For many years he was one of the best known character actors in Mexican cinema, appearing in everything from classic films, (he's won the Mexican equivalent an Oscar for Rio Escondido in 1947), to horror outings like Hombre y la Bestia and Maldicion de la LLorona (Curse of the Crying Woman). Moctezuma usually played vile villains or psychotic killers, roles at which he excelled. He was originally slated to play the vampire in Able Salazar's El Vampiro, but the producer felt that his face was too recognizable, so he was replaced by German Robles.

As you might notice from the synopsis, other than injuring Elena (and taking a couple of gratuitous showers) Lucy has almost nothing to do. She could work in McDonalds for all wrestling has to do with the plot. On the other hand, Dr. Krauman is a much more developed (and sympathetic) character than the average mad doctor. He's presented as a good father, who's downfall is caused by the love for his son. There's genuine affection between Julio and his dad and scenes of their interaction are often touching. Even the usually cliched part of the deformed servant, Goyo, is unusual. He's portrayed as a moral and caring person, motivated by loyalty, not by madness. These things make El Horripilante Bestia Humana less a typical wrestling film and more one of serious horror. Unfortunately, the original Mexican version seems to be unavailable. Without the added gore killings and rapes, this would be a very solid effort. And although it doesn't have the goofy charm of its predecessors, El Horripilante Bestia Humana, too, is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it was the last film in the "Wrestling Women" series.

Though it's not part of the original "Luchadoras" series, one other title bears mentioning. Mujer Murcielago features the beautiful Maura Monti as a bat-bikini-clad, female wrestler. Ms. Maura appeared in numerous Mexican genre films in the mid to late 1960s and then promptly disappeared from the screen. She also appeared in; Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras (with Lorena Velazquez and Elizabeth Campbell), Las Vampiras (with John Carradine and Mil Mascaras) Invasion Increible (with Boris Karloff) as well as four "Lucha Libre" films starring Santo and Blue Demon (two with each) .

Mujer Murcielago, with its combination of spies, a Creature from the Black Lagoon-like monster, super heroines and mad doctors, is a typical Mexican production, in that it contained a little of everything. It came out during the Batman craze of the 1960s and will appeal to Batman fans and Mexican horror/wrestler fans alike.

Wrestlers begin to turn up dead on the beach. Dr. Williams (Roberto Canedo, in a similar role to his Dr. Ruiz from, Las Luchadoras vs el Medico Asesino) and his assistant Igor have been kidnapping the wrestlers to secure glandular secretions. They've experimenting with these secretions on marine life to create a new life form. We eventually see the result of these experiments, a tiny fish-man swimming around in a tank. Working from his yacht, the Reptilicus (perhaps previously owned by Sid Pink), Dr. Williams makes his creation grow to adult human size. He names the creature Piscis. Mario (a policeman), Tony (a secret agent) and Batwoman enter the case. Batwoman finds Williams' yacht and she's almost captured on board. In escaping, she throws acid on the scientist's face. For revenge, Dr. Williams decides to make her the "bride of the fish-man." Piscis is sent to kidnap her, but she's rescued on the beach. However, Mario and a policeman are taken by the doc. Later, while trying to rescue them, Batwoman is also seized. She manages to put a special transmitter on Dr. Williams' coat (sort of a electronic "kick me" sign). This causes Piscis to attack his creator and wreck the lab. In the confusion, the good guys escape, just moments before the yacht explodes.

Mujer Murcielago was also directed by Rene Cardona, who clearly had a thing for sweaty women. If your taste runs similar to Mr. Cardonas, by all means visit the bizarre world of Las Luchadoras.

I want to thank David Wilt, of the Mexican Film Bulletin, for his help on this article (and for the Sid Pink joke).

Where possible, I've reviewed the English-dubbed prints of the films.