Crypt of Terror Collection (2006)

Mex Mix

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Night of the Bloody Apes/Curse of the Doll People on DVD

BCI Eclipse and Deimos DVD has released this collection of Mexican horror films in two separate double-feature packages. The first, containing Night of the Bloody Apes (1968) and Curse of the Doll People (1960), is by far the best. Each movie comes on its own two-sided disc, and each disc features both the Mexican cut and the significantly different American cut. In the case of the black-and-white Doll People, the dubbed American cut is shorter, so the Mexican version is the one to watch. It tells the story of a bunch of adventure-seekers who steal a sacred idol and incur the wrath of a witch, who sets out killing them one by one with "doll people," i.e. little people wearing doll masks.

Night of the Bloody Apes may actually be an anomaly in the history of movies: the American version is actually longer and has added in more violence and more nudity. It tells the story of a scientist who tries to save his leukemia-ridden son by transplanting him with the blood and heart of an ape. Of course, he turns into a rampaging monster (a human with an ape mask). For some reason, there's also a masked lady wrestler who turns up every once in a while. I was hoping for a showdown between the two, but no such luck.

DVD Details: The second DVD contains one, two-sided disc with Cemetery of Terror (1985) on one side and Grave Robbers (1990) on the other, both chintzy movies of little interest.

Starring: Norma Lazareno, José Elías Moreno, Carlos López Moctezuma, Agustín Martínez Solares, Ramón Gay, Elvira Quintana, Quintín Bulnes, Roberto G. Rivera, Alfonso Arnold
Written by: René Cardona Jr., René Cardona Sr., Alfredo Salazar, etc.
Directed by: René Cardona Sr., Benito Alazraki, Paul Nagle, etc.
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Language: English, Spanish with English subtitles
Running Time: 165 minutes
Date: August 19, 2006