El Mascarado Massacre (2006) Reviews

• Not bad of its type...

  heybhc2007-03-09

  The main conceit of this psycho-killer thriller is a good one. The Mexican government, circa 1960, desperately wants to win a gold medal at the Olympics, so they "disappear" the top four Mexican wrestlers and assemble from them the perfect wrestler...with superior wrestling skills, but unfortunately, warped by the process into a maniacal, murderous mat-man. He is stashed in a secret government facility, and forgotten. Enter our protagonists, Jimbo (Zack Bennett), Steve (Jeremy Radin), Dallas (Leyla Razzari) and a few others, in Mexico to film a cheap porno film. They stumble upon the town where the forgotten facility was, and Steve (a wrestling fan) recognizes it as the final repose of El Mascarado (Rey Misterio Sr.). Mayhem ensues. This is a good attempt to create a franchise character ala Freddie Kreuger or Jason Vorhees. The masked wrestler is inexorable and has superhuman strength. The victims struggle, with various success amid the great sets, outstanding in a low budget film. It's filmed with considerable flair, and the characters survive according to the skill of their portrayals. If you like slasher flicks, masked wrestler movies, or are just a fan of well made low-budget films, check this one out.

• Mexican Legends Sometimes Are True

  claudio_carvalho2008-09-09

  While driving a van through Mexico looking for a location for shooting a low-budget porn, Alphonse (Adam Huss), Steve (Jeremy Radin), Dallas (Leyla Milani), Debbie (Margaret Scarborough), the alcoholic Daisy (Catherine Wreford) and the pothead Jimbo (Zack Bennett) get lost and meet a stranger (Irwin Keyes) in a remote gas station run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. The man gives the directions for the nearest gas station, and advises the group to avoid the ghost town La Sangre de Dios. Steve recalls the Mexican legend about the best Mexican wrestler, El Mascarado, who became crazy and started killing his opponents, and was sent to this town later. The director Alphonse decides to trespass the gate of La Sangre de Dios and shoot the film in the local bar. Sooner the group discovers that Mexican legends sometimes are true. "El Mascarado Massacre" is a great example of how to make a good B-movie of horror. The story is funny, there are lots of gore and beautify and sexy women partially naked. The director and writer Jesse Baget made a great debut in the cinema industry and I sincerely look forward to see his next work. The unknown actresses are really sexy; the actors are funny and the killer is really bad, and in the end I really liked this movie. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "O Homem Mascarado" ("The Masked Man")

• Great for what it is

  ScarTrek2007-09-13

  Insane Mexican wrestler brutalizes people before ripping their faces off with his bare hands. Really, nobody watching this expects Tolstoy. But for what it is, a lowbudget slasher flick, it's top stuff. First of all, the premise. Part homage to the ridiculous luchadore movies of Santo, Blue Demon et al, it's hilarious on paper. Yet in choosing Rey Misterio Sr. for the role, they've made an inspired choice. He's not a 7' monster who towers unbelievably over the protagonists, but a short, squat guy who looks like he really could snap your spine with his bare hands. Clever lighting make his mask highly creepy on top of that, leading to a genuinely menacing presence. Gorewise, this is a movie about faces being torn off. It's the movie's tagline, it's even on the front of the DVD case and the promo posters. You're teased with it, and when you finally see it, man it's nasty. Double thumbs up to the effects team, peeled faces haven't looked this good since Texas Chainsaw, though at a couple of specific points the blood seemed a little too light in tone and too opaque. It's highlighted further by the contrast with the rest of the movie, when it's that wonderous slick dark blood you expect from a horror these days. El Mascarado himself is pretty much permanently covered in great-looking gore. I'm surprised this movie walked away with only a 15 rating in the UK. The sets are really something else. Much of the time they're really bordering on the kind of quality expected from a bigbudget Hollywood horror. They get re-used with some consistency, but then considering the setting is a small Mexican town, that's somewhat forgivable. Acting, there's not much to say except that it's great. The characters start out as stereotypes, but they're really brought to life by a surprisingly solid cast. Unusual for the genre, but certainly not unwelcome. Troma this ain't. The quality of the directing is a touch inconsistent. Sometimes it feels like a homage to other B-grade slashers, with cheesy PoV shots, camera blur, and other fun clichés, but at other times there's proof that these guys are capable of taking it to another level of quality, with some great twists and unexpected, original scenes. Oh, and some gratuitous softcore thrown in too, and played entirely for laughs, which actually works. If they'd stuck with one direction or the other, this would have turned out a cult classic. A little too scary to be funny, a little too funny to be truly scary. Sound is the real department where issues arise. The music is fantastic, with authentic Mexican tunes on the DVD menu and across the opening credits, and the general score is mood-enhancing without being intrusive. But this is some atrocious dubbing. A constant re-use of El Mascarado growling, regular tinny sound effects, and people sounding far off and distant when they're supposed to be 3 feet offscreen, it's a bit of a shame, the sound lacks the kind of punch the action deserves. Still, this is definitely one of the better slashers I've seen in the past few years. It's silly fun in parts, crafts some great chilling moments and has more than it's fair share of gorebuckets thrown in. And really, who can resist seeing Rey Misterio Sr. as a murderous psychopath? If you like slashers, see this movie. I give it 8/10.

• Mexican surprise with double cheese.

  theNomadz2007-06-06

  A group of teens go on a trip to film a porn film in Mexico, on the way they encounter a 'your doomed' style gas attendant who tells them the story of El Diablo Negro and warns them not to pull up till they get to the next gas station. Don't you know the pesky teens stop to shoot in a run down bar only to be hacked down by a psychopath in a wrestling mask. Nobody watches films like this for plot which thankfully is a good job cause there's not one. Feels more Full Moon than Troma which isn't saying much. But that said its fun and well paced with nicely done action scenes, gore and the odd flashed top rack. All in all better than average 6/10 from me.

• A predictable horror

  ormessi2013-07-12

  The "wrestlemaniac" is another slashers movie, the story is about a group of young people who want to go to a town in Mexico, but instead they get two a place with a local legend about crazy wrestler from the 60s. The acting was amateurish, there was no deep script but all of these are not the real problem of this movie, the real problem is the fact that we have already seen movies like this before, a group of teenagers/young people that get lost and mistakenly find themselves running away from a local maniac, this movie just gives you the feeling that you know what is going to happened next. The "wrestlemaniac" does not bring a story we have not heard before. In summary, I did no like "wrestlemaniac", this movie is expected, and the worst thing is that the movie does not frightening as good horror movie should. for another reviewes: http://imdb.com/user/ur44998795/comments