Wrestling Women Vs The Aztec Mummy/Review
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
< Wrestling Women Vs The Aztec Mummy
Hola Fight Fans!! Pull on your tights and get ready to rumble as you’re about to see two of Mexploitation cinemas strangest names grappling for screen-time in one mind-boggling adventure. Fighting for truth, justice and the Mexican way are Las Luchadoras; those shapely Queens of the Ring, enemies of many a Doctor of Doom and angry ape-man. And fresh from the crypt and mighty pissed its The Aztec Mummy; a national treasure to some, a somewhat crumbly but none the less threatening supernatural menace to others. But enough chat; let’s hit the mat!
‘Black Dragon’s Gang Murder Archaeologist’ scream the headlines, ‘Professor Van Dyne Disappears’. The Black Dragon is a sub-Fu Manchu ‘yellow peril’ with a pair of scary judo expert sisters and a henchman called Mao who looks like a cross between Charlie Chan and Mr Spock. He has been kidnapping and torturing to death a group of archaeologists who have stumbled across some encoded documents which reveal the location of an ancient Aztec treasure. Fearing for his life one of the archaeologists seeks the assistance of famous lady wrestlers, and part-time crime-fighters, Loretta Venus and Golden Ruby. The man is silenced by a poison blow dart from one of the Black Dragon’s gang but not before he reveals to Loretta that her fiancé’s uncle is also on the evil Asian’s hit list.
Las Luchadoras hook up with Loretta’s fiance Mike, his terminally unfunny sidekick Tommy, Mike’s Aztec expert uncle Professor Tracey and Charlotte Van Dyne, orphaned daughter of another of the murdered archaeologists, to investigate the mystery, assemble the encrypted documents and dig up the treasure. Their movements are monitored in secret by The Black Dragon who uses various nefarious means to try and get the better of the gang including enslaving Charlotte to his will using a hypnotic serum.
When Mike threatens to burn the final piece of the encrypted treasure map The Black Dragon suggests a winner-takes-all tag match between the luscious Luchadoras and his chop-happy sisters. The gals go at it in a 3 round bout of crotch grabbing and hair pulling but the end result is never really in doubt.
Professor Tracey deciphers the codex pages and recounts the story of a powerful witch doctor who was buried alive in the tomb of an Aztec princess and the obligatory curse which will befall any Lara Croft wannabes. “I’ve never heard anyone talk such utter nonsense” spits the Black Dragon while the audience is treated to an epic flashback courtesy of recycled footage from an earlier Aztec Mummy movie. Of course everyone ignores all warning of a curse and races down to their local Aztec pyramid where they start poking around and sure enough disturb the slumbering sorcerer who proves to not only be bullet-proof but able to turn himself into a large rubber bat. The Aztec Mummy has risen and neither Las Luchadoras nor the The Black Dragon’s gang is going to stand between him and the treasure which he is cursed to eternally protect.
The simple fact that a film exists with the title ‘Wrestling Women Vs. The Aztec Mummy’ fills my heart with joy; it’s without doubt one of the most marvelously mad monikers in all moviedom. In all fairness it would be more accurately described as ‘Wrestling Women Vs. The Black Dragon’ as the faux Manchu is the main villain and the Aztec Mummy a third act guest star. Presumably his bandages and fright wig had been left lying around at Churubusco-Azteca studios after his own trilogy of films had climaxed in 1958 with ‘The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy’.
Screenwriter Alfredo Salazar is well known for recycling plots from one screenplay to the next and ‘Wrestling Women Vs. The Aztec Mummy’ bares an all too obvious resemblance to the El Santo adventure Santo In The Treasure Of Dracula also directed by prolific Mexploitation specialist Rene Cardona. In the Santo film we get the Black Hood instead of the Black Dragon but many other elements are identical including the villain’s suggestion of a bout between the heroes and his familial side-kicks to settle their dispute over clues to the location of a buried treasure.
The film’s threadbare production values are as to be expected from Lucha Libre movies of the period which rattled off the production line at a frantic pace in order to urgently provide fans with their next fix of man-on-man, or in this case lady-on-lady, action. The female spin on traditionally masculine occupations allows for a refreshing transgression of the usual gender stereotypes but in all other respects its business as usual for the genre with its Saturday morning serial style mix of mad science, gangster antics and fist fights.
Ruby and Loretta are truly Amazonian, statuesque and imposing, their bouffant hairdos towering over the majority of their male co-stars and they frequently rescue the men when they succumb to danger. The actresses engage with their athletic roles admirably although stunt doubles are hilariously obvious in certain shots when Loretta suddenly appears to have shrunk several centimeters and gained about 40 pounds to her rear end! As role models, sports women, monster hunters and crime fighters these gals are every bit the equal of their more famous male counterparts such as El Santo and Blue Demon. And they look a hell of a lot better wearing tights and capes too!
Narcan is the GCDb's esteemed UK contributor. As a youth his earliest exploitation film experience was a My Bloody Valentine/The Funhouse midnight double bill. Grindhouse icons that he holds in highest regards are Christina Lindberg and Frank Henelotter. Two of his favorite exploitation genres include Nunsploitation and Lucha Libre.
