THE ROBOT VS THE AZTEC MUMMY (1958)
Tagline: A monstrous nightmare - Terror turned loose in a fight to the Death!
(Sci-Fi, Horror, Mad Scientists With Insane Laughs) [PG]
Note – Slapped a PG on this thing just to give you an idea of what it might have been rated. It was never given an MPAA rating. \
In this one, a mad doctor or mad scientist named Dr. Krupp who has had an evil laugh for the ages, is building a robot. The whole point of the robot is to steal an Aztec treasure guarded by an Aztec mummy. Because why else would you build a robot?
First off this flick is part of a 3 movie series. The first one is THE AZTEC MUMMY and the second was THE CURSE OF THE AZTEC MUMMY. Most of the opening of this movie is simply a recap of the other 2. When we finally do get to some new material it’s too late. This movie is already so jacked out and nonsense-filled that it’s almost incoherent. Oddly some of the acting isn’t horrible. Raymond Gay is actually pretty solid as Dr. Eduardo Almada and in spite of Luis Aceves Castañeda’s crazy laugh, he is genuinely sinister in this for the most part.
If I am making a budget flick for like 25 bucks, I am definitely throwing in a huge climactic fight between my two main characters. I mean, I am getting the best of that bunch of rags and that crazy robot suit. Not this movie though. Sadly the robot is barely in this thing and the fight is brief and freakin decisive.
If you are going to both with this series or this movie I don’t want to give too much away, but don’t expect a lot of robot in this robot movie. I do like that in most older flicks there was still a reverence for God. In one part the mummy is warded off by a cross. In this case, it’s more a nod to Mexico’s heavy Catholic population. Some have pointed out that a centuries dead Aztec mummy would be unlikely to recognize a cross, but I am kind of wondering if it was just more meant to convey that the power was in the man of faith holding it. It’s very unlikely the mummy could actually see anything. I mean after centuries of being dead the eyes would have completely rotted out unless they are saying they were re-constituted like in THE MUMMY. Overall I think that is one of the points where suspension of belief just has to come in for any mummy or zombie movie to work.
Even after they gave this thing a fantastic title, it didn’t fix the fact that we’ve got a really boring, really terrible movie here that leads to a quick but I guess, “decent” final fight between the two title characters. With hundreds of 1950’s sci-fi and horror flicks out there, I can NOT recommend seeking this one out. It’s pretty freakin bad. The music is rough, the sets are rough, the acting is okay, but none of it's something I will be running to again anytime soon.
Overall I give this movie a 2 out of 7. It was never trying to be great. These films were low-budget and repackaged for an American audience. Some fans of this type of stuff will get a few laughs.
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