El Escapulario + Ladron De Cadaveres — El Escapulario + Ladron De Cadavere (Blu Ray)

Here we have a Blu-Ray bringing together two Mexican horror films from the 1950s and 1960s. Featured is Ladron De Cadaveres aka The Body Snatcher, which is a mad doctor horror meets noir touched wrestling picture. And  El Escapulario aka The Scapular, a Ghost story set in the Mexican Revolution, focusing on a religious medal- that is either charmed or cursed. This release from VCI Entertainment/ MVD Visual features HD prints for each film, and a few extras
 

So up first we have The Body Snatcher (aka Ladrón de cadavers) this is from 1957, and was directed Michoacan, Mexico-born Fernando Méndez. In all he had thirty-nine feature-length credits to his name- these date from between the 1940s and early 1960’s- with his output going from the likes of western La leyenda del bandido (1944), onto comedy romance La hija del ministro (1952), through to bloodsucking horror of El vampire (1957), and western horror The Living Coffin (1959).
 
The Body Snatcher is a blend of noir thriller, wrestling drama, and mad doctor camper- in that order. And unlike some of the Mexican wrestling films, this is a very straight and largely serious affair with not a hint of the camp, normally found in Santo-related film work.
 
The whole thing opens in prime horror gothic-ness, as we see a cloaked figure in a thunder stormed graveyard- with the help of a hunched figure he’s removing a sheeted body from the ground. As we move forward, and for the next hour or so of the film- we settle down into a blend of police investigation and wrestling drama. Key to the film is sleek, brill-creamed, and neatly moustached Capitán Carlos Robles (Crox Alvarado), and his just come-into-town buddy Guillermo Santana (played by the wonderful named Wolf Ruvinskis). Guillermo is keen to get into wrestling in Mexico, so the Capitán puts in a good word, and from here he meets the raven-haired beauty Lucía (Columba Domínguez)- who becomes the films love interest.
 
As things unfold the Capitán is investigating the worrying trend of wrestlers disappearing, and then turning up dead. We find out that sometimes dressing in disguise doctor El profesor, don Panchito (Carlos Riquelme) who is taking the wrestlers- either dead or alive, to switch their brains with those of killer animals- with a focus on trying to create controllable super soldiers. As mentioned early on the Mad Doctor elements of the film are played down- with most of the film taken up by shadowy, to smoky investigating and at times fairly lengthy wrestling matches.

The horror side of things only really fully kicks in the last twenty or so minutes of this one-hour twenty-minute film- and when it does it’s a good blend of deranged doctor action, and on-the-rampage creature feature fare- which is nicely executed with some nice tense moments. The rest of the film is rewarding enough, with its blend of noir-tipped police investigation, and wrestling drama- with fleeting touches of romance. Overall, I’d say The Body Snatcher curio crossbreed between noir, sport action, and horror film- and I think you have to enter it expecting that, and not a pure horror film, as it’s not.
 

The second film here is 1968’s El escapulario (aka The Scapular). It was directed by Veracruz, Mexico born, who had eleven feature-length films to his name- these went sentimental drama Yanco (1961), onto desert adventure Black Wind (1965), family drama-comedy What Colour Is The Wind (1973), thriller-drama El elegido (1977).

Though it was made in the late 1960’s the black and white captured El escapulario feels more like a film from the ’50s than the 60s. The film runs one hour and twenty-nine minutes, and is a period set blend of moral drama and ghost story- with some generally eerier and creepy moments along its unfold.
 
The film tells of Maria Pérez viuda de Fernández (Ofelia Guilmáin) an old woman on her deathbed relating to priest Padre Andrés (Enrique Aguilar) how The Scapular has impacted the lives of two of her four sons. So the film structure features two separate tales, with a wrap-around relating back to the old woman. The first story is set right in the middle of the Mexican Revolution battle- as one of her sons becomes captured on the mist-shored battlefields, and his life seems to be saved again and again by the Scapular. The second story is set in small-town Mexico, where her other son - a simple shop tender has become besotted one of the daughters of the town’s richer family- and it’s unsure whether the Scapular is charmed or doomed.

Over the two stories we get some great moody-to-lightly skin-crawling moments, the first story uses the hazed landscape to great eerie effect. And the second has a few effective moments, most memorable of these being a creepy night-time hanging tree scene. The warp-around story has a creepy little twist in its tail too, and this is revealed towards the end of the film.
 
El escapulario pacing and plotting is a little uneven, at points confused in places- and it does feel like maybe some tidying up/ editing down here and there. But, it’s an effective little period drama come moral ghost story, and at points, it very much recalls the more creep/ chilling side of Mario Bava’s 60’s output.
 
Moving onto this recent release- and it’s a region A Blu Ray. Both films' HD prints feature the original Spanish language track- with switch on and off subtitles. The first film looks fairly good throughout, though the second film does have one issue- sometimes when the score/ effects come in the sound is muffled/churned up, though this never affects the dialogue track. On the extras side we get two video essays by Mexican film historian/ expert Dr David Wilt- first is Mexican Horror and Lucha Libre, this runs 28.57- and focuses on The Body Snatcher. He starts off talking about the horror genre in Mexico in general, and how the film really started it off. He gives bios for the film's director/ important crew members. He talks about some of the sleek, almost Hitchcock-like elements in the film, and how the wrestling element in the film was a later addition. He discusses the film's key cast, other films they appear- and much more.
The second visual essay is entitled Relationships in Mexican cinema- this runs 22.57 mark, and of course, focuses on The Scapular. He begins discussing the film's shooting schedule, and the main town location which was used in a few other pictures. He talks about the use of black and white stock, and how it enhances the film. He chats about the films original release, and how it’s become a low-key cult favourite. Moving on he talks about the work of the director- which included his feature-length film work, and his work making non-fiction films for the Mexican government. He discusses the directors often creative use of shots/ moody effects, the origin of the story/ screenplay, and much more. Both essays are well worth a play, and give a wonderful/ informative insight into the Mexican film industry in the 50s and 60s.
 

It certainly is wonderful to see VCI Entertainment/ MVD Visual releasing these two Mexican horror films- and I do hope there are more releases planned in the near future. With the disc featuring two rather interesting extras, and (largely) good prints for both films.