Mexican made lunacy with a difference: it’s a sci fi-western-vampire movie! Such a combination, I feel, can’t not be fun, and THE SHIP OF MONSTERS (LA NAVE DE LOS MONSTRUOS; 1960) is indeed fun. As with South of the Border anti-classics like THE AZTEC MUMMY and BRAINIAC, it’s an exotic concoction that riffs quite consciously on 1950s era American-made horror and science fiction fare.
It begins on Venus, which is suffering a lack of males. Gamma and Beta, two hot chick Venusians (played by Ana Bertha Lepe and Lorena Velázquez, both of whom were former “Senorita Mexico” crownees), are selected to pilot a rocket whose interior looks like an even cheaper variant on the cardboard sets of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, to collect male specimens from other planets. Along for the ride is a bulky robot named Torr that resembles a walking aerosol can.
On their way back, having collected several goofy looking male creatures from various planets (including a talking skeleton and a cyclops) that are now in frozen hibernation, engine trouble forces an emergency landing on Earth. There, in Chihuahua, Mexico, a goofy cowboy named Laureano runs into the gals and, after explaining to them how things apparently are (“On this planet the male takes charge!”), they freeze him.
But then Beta reveals herself to be a vampire, and in so doing unfreezes the monsters, who she wants to help her take over the Earth. She also has Torr use his powers to teleport Laureano onto the ship, but this complicates things, as both Gamma and Beta are in love with him.
Everything in this film is excessive, from the outrageously skimpy outfits its protagonists wear (which don’t seem too appropriate for interstellar travel) to the monster costumes, which in direct contrast to the timid approach taken by Hollywood (whose monsters often took until the end of the movie to be revealed) are given a plethora of revealing close-ups.
Yet despite all that THE SHIP OF MONSTERS evinces a self-awareness that’s unusual in this sort of fare. As is evident in the cartoony music cues and plainly visible wires and metal braces that underpin the special effects, the filmmakers were fully aware of the ridiculousness of the material, and that’s not an entirely good thing. B movies, then as now, always work best when played straight.
One rather severe miscalculation is in the portrayal of Laureano. Played by Eulalio González, one of Mexico’s top stars of the 1960s, the character is evidently supposed to be much funnier and more endearing than he is, as a great deal of screen time is devoted to his antics, which include an early recitation of his macho exploits (to a disbelieving crowd) and a climactic music number that may have enchanted Mexican viewers in 1960 but nowadays accomplishes nothing outside of slowing things down.
Vital Statistics
THE SHIP OF MONSTERS (LA NAVE DE LOS MONSTRUOS)
Producciones Sotomayor
Director: Rogelio A. Gonzalez
Producer: Jesús Sotomayor Martínez
Screenplay: Alfredo Varela
Cinematography: Raul Martinez Solares
Editing: Carlos Savage
Cast: Eulalio González, Ana Bertha Lepe, Lorena Velázquez, Consuelo Frank, Manuel Alvarado, Heberto Dávila Jr., Mario Garcia Hernandez, José Pardavé, Jesús Rodríguez Cárdenas