THE SHIP OF MONSTERS (1960)

THE SHIP OF MONSTERS (1960)

Tagline: Millions of Miles Through The Unknown Universe!

(Sci-Fi, Comedy, Vampire Chicks From Venus) [G]

Note: This movie was never given an MPAA rating, but it likely would have been a G.

Oh, brother, you’re an ugly one, it looks like they carved you out with a hatchet. 

In this one, some women from Venus need to get some men to procreate with and have the most amazing kids they can. Gamma (Ana Bertha Lepe), Beta (Lorena Velázquez ), and a robot named Torr, end up on earth and meet the sketchy but funny Lauriano (Eulalio González ) when they get to earth and visit Mexico. As it turns out the space rocket they came in is loaded with male alien species. Beta isn’t fond of men for the most part and basically turns into a vampire to feed on one. She then decides she wants to unleash death and terror on earth and other planets with the help of the male aliens she and Gamma captured. She also plans to have Lauriano help her, but he’s just not that into her. Will the villagers in the area help Lauriano and Gamma fight the monsters? Probably not, so he’s going to sing the story of his encounter with the male aliens and the women of Venus, to try and convince them. 

First off, I have seen a couple of Mexican sci-fi flicks and this one definitely stands out even when compared to the sci-fi genre as a whole. We’ve got a monster that is basically a cow skeleton and he just laughs “ha, ha, ha” every time he’s on screen. We have another monster that kinda looks like a furry cockroach, another one that looks like the monster from DAY THE WORLD ENDED but only has 1 eye that protrudes from its head. Then finally we’ve got a monster that looks like he got stolen off the set of INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN. It’s all pretty damn awesome and campy and glorious.

I am not crazy about subtitles but if you were smarter than me and learned to speak Spanish, you won’t need them. Outside of that this thing works well as both a crazy sci-fi flick in the vein of something Roger Corman would attempt and as a comedy. Partly because the monsters themselves are over the top, but also because there are a few random musical numbers in here and Lauriano has some pretty funny lines. I have seen a few mentions of this in online sci-fi groups lately and the attention on this obscure but amazing film is warranted. It does exactly what it set out to do and it’s very effective at bending the genres of sci-fi, western and musical all in 81 minutes. 

Mexican filmmakers at the time reveled in their low-budget effects and had zero issues with you seeing wires holding stuff up or any of that stuff. It’s almost like they had a few classes from TOHO’s filmmakers who seem to revel in the same exact things. 

Overall this is a blast of a b-movie not to be taken seriously at all. If you can walk into this at all looking for a good time you will find it. I have to give this one a 6 out of 7 for just being so brazenly balls-to-the-wall entertaining. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF PRODUCCIONES SOTOMAYOR AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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