Here is another review for all you horror craved Pygmies out there. Today I have a double review of sorts. It is on the Mexican Horror Film "La Horripilante Bestia Humana" and its more well known title "Night of the Bloody Apes", the cut for us here in the states. Lets take a look at the 2 and what the differences are.
Well first off lets get this straight..there is only one "Apes" and it is more of a Were-ape actually. The movie starts off with a little bit of female Lucho Libras action(thats that wacky crazy Mexicano wrestling for you cats not in the know). We have a female wrestler who injures another wrestler by throwing her outside of the ring. The girl is sent to the hospital with a skull fracture that has caused a piece of her skull to become embedded in her brain.
In comes Dr.Krallman who is an expert surgeon who also has a son Julio who has a rare form of Leukemia that is going to cause him to die within several days ... that is unless the good doc can find a way to remove his heart and blood and replace it with a good heart and new blood. With this thought in mind he decides upon an Ape heart which he retrieves from an ape in a zoo (or man in a monkey suit).
Little does the Dr realize that this is a tragic mistake as his son soon turns into a half man/half beast monstrosity that gets loose and causes chaos on the town. Luckily he is able to capture his man beast son and decides that the only way to get him to stop reverting from human to beast is to get another heart..the heart of the wrestler who was seriously injured. After kidnapping her from the hospital and performing the surgery the doctor assumes all is well..and its not. This leads to a final showdown between father, son, police and beast.
That a nutshell is the movie now what is the differences. Well first off "La Horri" (which I will use as the Mexican version abbreviation) plays out like an old-school monster flick with a man turned to monster story. Now I like my old school horror/sci-fi but this movie leaves a lot to be desired and other than a few nice quirky moments it really isn't that good. Fans of old school monster mashes can give it a go but I really think there is A lot more you can watch before moving down to this film.
As far as the American version goes well it is at its roots the exact same movie however the movie goes from a moderately tame monster romp to an exploitation film. you see the movie is pretty much the same except for about 5 minutes of alternate footage that includes Gore and Nudity not seen in the Mexican release. A prime example would be the heart transplant scene when they actually show a "real" heart transplant as oppose to a cut away with no footage at all of the surgery like in "La Horri". Also the attack sequences on woman turned from him just attack them in "La Horri" to him ripping off there clothes and ravishing them Ape-Style in "Apes"!!! The American release has a little more going for it and is worth more of a look than the original as the movie is pure schlock to begin with. The American version plays off of that and makes this film worth a look for fans of old school gore (nothing we haven't seen done better) or fans of exploitation. In conclusion the movie is really not much to write home about in either version but is definitely an interesting piece to view as it was one of the films that helped to the success and rise of the exploitation explosion of the 60's and 70's.
La Horripilante Bestia Humana: 4/10 Below Average Night of the Bloody Apes: 5/10 Average Nothing special here but with a group of friends "Apes" can be a bit more fun. "La Horri" on the other hand isn't nothing to write home about but if you would like a more family friend version of "Apes" this is the way to go, just don't expect anything great.
Several releases of "Apes" has reached DVD however "La Horri" has never has a release that is until the release on the Crypt of Terror Double DVD release (Along with "Curse of the Doll People" (aka "Munecos Infernales")). It is in a full screen format and seems to be a fair to good print quality. Some of the scenes move up and down on the screen in certain areas and make things a bit annoying but overall it seems to be OK. If you haven't obtained a copy of the film at this point you may want to get this copy as it will give you a chance to do your own comparing between the 2 versions as well as the addition of the 2nd film listed above which actually has both the Mexican and American versions as well. Its really a quadruple band,bang,bang,bang for the buck at $10.00. You really cannot go wrong. Definitely keep your eyes on future releases from this company (Deimos Entertainment).
Thats it for now but remember Female Lucadores have bad tempers,do not stand them up for a date or they may give you a fracture...somewhere else.
Well first off lets get this straight..there is only one "Apes" and it is more of a Were-ape actually. The movie starts off with a little bit of female Lucho Libras action(thats that wacky crazy Mexicano wrestling for you cats not in the know). We have a female wrestler who injures another wrestler by throwing her outside of the ring. The girl is sent to the hospital with a skull fracture that has caused a piece of her skull to become embedded in her brain.
In comes Dr.Krallman who is an expert surgeon who also has a son Julio who has a rare form of Leukemia that is going to cause him to die within several days ... that is unless the good doc can find a way to remove his heart and blood and replace it with a good heart and new blood. With this thought in mind he decides upon an Ape heart which he retrieves from an ape in a zoo (or man in a monkey suit).
Little does the Dr realize that this is a tragic mistake as his son soon turns into a half man/half beast monstrosity that gets loose and causes chaos on the town. Luckily he is able to capture his man beast son and decides that the only way to get him to stop reverting from human to beast is to get another heart..the heart of the wrestler who was seriously injured. After kidnapping her from the hospital and performing the surgery the doctor assumes all is well..and its not. This leads to a final showdown between father, son, police and beast.
That a nutshell is the movie now what is the differences. Well first off "La Horri" (which I will use as the Mexican version abbreviation) plays out like an old-school monster flick with a man turned to monster story. Now I like my old school horror/sci-fi but this movie leaves a lot to be desired and other than a few nice quirky moments it really isn't that good. Fans of old school monster mashes can give it a go but I really think there is A lot more you can watch before moving down to this film.
As far as the American version goes well it is at its roots the exact same movie however the movie goes from a moderately tame monster romp to an exploitation film. you see the movie is pretty much the same except for about 5 minutes of alternate footage that includes Gore and Nudity not seen in the Mexican release. A prime example would be the heart transplant scene when they actually show a "real" heart transplant as oppose to a cut away with no footage at all of the surgery like in "La Horri". Also the attack sequences on woman turned from him just attack them in "La Horri" to him ripping off there clothes and ravishing them Ape-Style in "Apes"!!! The American release has a little more going for it and is worth more of a look than the original as the movie is pure schlock to begin with. The American version plays off of that and makes this film worth a look for fans of old school gore (nothing we haven't seen done better) or fans of exploitation. In conclusion the movie is really not much to write home about in either version but is definitely an interesting piece to view as it was one of the films that helped to the success and rise of the exploitation explosion of the 60's and 70's.
La Horripilante Bestia Humana: 4/10 Below Average Night of the Bloody Apes: 5/10 Average Nothing special here but with a group of friends "Apes" can be a bit more fun. "La Horri" on the other hand isn't nothing to write home about but if you would like a more family friend version of "Apes" this is the way to go, just don't expect anything great.
Several releases of "Apes" has reached DVD however "La Horri" has never has a release that is until the release on the Crypt of Terror Double DVD release (Along with "Curse of the Doll People" (aka "Munecos Infernales")). It is in a full screen format and seems to be a fair to good print quality. Some of the scenes move up and down on the screen in certain areas and make things a bit annoying but overall it seems to be OK. If you haven't obtained a copy of the film at this point you may want to get this copy as it will give you a chance to do your own comparing between the 2 versions as well as the addition of the 2nd film listed above which actually has both the Mexican and American versions as well. Its really a quadruple band,bang,bang,bang for the buck at $10.00. You really cannot go wrong. Definitely keep your eyes on future releases from this company (Deimos Entertainment).
Thats it for now but remember Female Lucadores have bad tempers,do not stand them up for a date or they may give you a fracture...somewhere else.