Anyone who belongs to a Film Society knows that theres a difference between the films people claim to admire and what they actually like to watch. Schedule an Ingmar Bergman film and a handful of people might show up, but if its a Roger Corman movie, they come running. In public, these films have to be viewed ironically, with comments such as theyre so bad theyre good or they're good if you like that sort of thing, which is understandable who wants to be marked as a fan of Galaxy Of Terror? If nothing else, the explosion of media has allowed people to watch what they want when they want, and to hell to with what anyone else thinks. You can read The Imitation Games synopsis on Wikipedia for when your Film Society friends mention it, even though you ignored it and watched Attack Of The 50ft Cheerleader instead. In the horror genre, where no idea is ever too outrageous, a new guilty pleasure arrives every month. This is where fans of Page 3 Girls with power tools, monstrous talking sandwiches and homicidal hand puppets (as well as that perennial favourite, the flying fish monster) come to get their fix. Anyone seeking an alternative to movies about masked killers this Halloween need look no further.
15. Wrestling Women Vs The Aztec Mummy (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQ2N8cTT60 Lorena Velazquez plays Gloria Venus, the "famous" Mexican wrestler, who together with her partner Golden Rubi encounters a Fu Manchu-like villain and a mummy that can transform into a bat. The Black Dragons, a gang of evil Orientals who try to hide their ethnicity by wearing sunglasses, have two-thirds of a three-part Aztec treasure map, and since Gloria and Rubi have the third piece, they naturally decide to send two female wrestlers to fight our heroines for possession of it. There are unintentional laughs to be had from the bad dubbing and unconvincing stunt doubles, and if you do watch it for a giggle, then dont miss the final 20 minutes. When the mummy finally appears, unleashed by the luchadoras to fight on their side, its somehow able to transform itself from a moaning and groaning mass of bandages into a rubber bat at will, leading to cries of Look, hes a vampire now! and Hes a mummy again! Strange doesnt begin to cover it.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
