BootDigest
Such a frustrating disappointment
FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Scarecrow-88
A group of friends, in Mexico for a porn shoot, make the mistake of stopping into a ghost town, hunted by a luchadore(..some kind of experiment made from the bodies of other wrestlers to compete for his country in the Olympics of '68, considered a failure after attacking opponents in matches)who seeks to attain their faces(..the flesh from a face is considered a mask, in tradition, to remove the mask of your opponent is the highest form of humiliation)after subduing and harming them. Will any of them be able to remove his mask, once and for all retiring the psychotic luchadore? As lame as the synopsis would suggest with characters you could care less about. Built as a horror comedy with the camera lovingly capturing actress Leyla Milani's ass, in tight shorts(..or, eventually, panties) as she flees from her pursuer. It's hard to feel sorry for a group who defy a warning from a local, entering a forbidden town with a notorious history, La Sangre de Dios. Rey Misterio Sr(..a real luchadore, and father to the legendary Rey Misterio Jr)stars as El Mascarado, the luchadore who attacks the group, often growling as he follows after(..and vanquishes) them. Margaret Scarborough is quite yummy as Milani's lover Debbie. A nice role for Jeremy Radin as a nerdy camera operator, Steve, who services the plot as a fan of Lucha libre with knowledge of El Mascarado, understanding Spanish, informing others that to defeat him is to remove his mask. The violence does get graphic as El Mascarado throws his victims around like a rag doll(..Steve puts on his mask and charges towards him, with the result far from pretty)before breaking an arm or back, prying away their face flesh after he's through. The Mexican village is a great setting for a horror film and the premise of characters finding themselves lost in the middle of nowhere, in desert country, where help is far, far away, is a viable one, but there's no suspense or atmosphere..in a setting that should be spooky, brimming with menace, you can only fault the execution of a film such as this. It's also a bit too goofy, even with such a preposterous premise as this one has..but, I have a feeling many will judge this less harshly considering the fact that the filmmakers were never intending to create a scary horror film in the first place.
locohombre80
I've got to agree with other reviewers that this setup is nothing special. You've seen it a hundred times before. A group of kids get trapped in an isolated location and are hunted down by a maniac. The end.But this time there's a difference. These aren't just your average teenagers, they're amateur porn stars. And this isn't just any maniac. It's a Frankenstein wrestler sewn together from dead wrestler bodies (one of the goofiest backstories I've ever heard).Backstories aren't what people rent these types of films for, however. It's all about the murders and the sexy girls, both of which this movie has in abundance. It's also got a great location (a Mexican ghost town) and some good camera work, which keeps the film entertaining (even if there are a lot of moments stolen from better films).Overall, a great time waster and much better than many of this type.
alexpato
This movie should have gotten into the comedy/horror genre but somehow... it didn't... It turns out to be just "horror" but actually the viewers will have quite a lot to laugh about. A typical "B" movie but not so typical villain... You should watch this cause you rarely see someone get killed by a masked wrestler who actually turns out to be WWE star Rey Mysterio's uncle! What's scarier than being stomped and face-ripped by a 50-year-old-man... who can barely walk and grunts stupidly while attempting to skin his victim ? And if that doesn't make you laugh then this next fact is going to kill you(because of over-laughing)... It turns out that the only way to stop the WRESTLEMANIAC is by removing his MASK ?! Come On ! You gotta be kidding... but they're aren't! So there's this fat-hero-wannabe-guy (that I pretty much adore) who puts on a mask as well and faces the FRIGHTENING WRESTLEMANIAC IN A RING!!! The best part of the movie... and perhaps the funniest of all. Half-naked women go around and make out but that's not important... cause there's a Wrestlemaniac on the loose! Run For Your Lives!
ScarTrek
Insane Mexican wrestler brutalizes people before ripping their faces off with his bare hands. Really, nobody watching this expects Tolstoy. But for what it is, a lowbudget slasher flick, it's top stuff.First of all, the premise. Part homage to the ridiculous luchadore movies of Santo, Blue Demon et al, it's hilarious on paper. Yet in choosing Rey Misterio Sr. for the role, they've made an inspired choice. He's not a 7' monster who towers unbelievably over the protagonists, but a short, squat guy who looks like he really could snap your spine with his bare hands. Clever lighting make his mask highly creepy on top of that, leading to a genuinely menacing presence.Gorewise, this is a movie about faces being torn off. It's the movie's tagline, it's even on the front of the DVD case and the promo posters. You're teased with it, and when you finally see it, man it's nasty. Double thumbs up to the effects team, peeled faces haven't looked this good since Texas Chainsaw, though at a couple of specific points the blood seemed a little too light in tone and too opaque. It's highlighted further by the contrast with the rest of the movie, when it's that wonderous slick dark blood you expect from a horror these days. El Mascarado himself is pretty much permanently covered in great-looking gore. I'm surprised this movie walked away with only a 15 rating in the UK.The sets are really something else. Much of the time they're really bordering on the kind of quality expected from a bigbudget Hollywood horror. They get re-used with some consistency, but then considering the setting is a small Mexican town, that's somewhat forgivable.Acting, there's not much to say except that it's great. The characters start out as stereotypes, but they're really brought to life by a surprisingly solid cast. Unusual for the genre, but certainly not unwelcome. Troma this ain't.The quality of the directing is a touch inconsistent. Sometimes it feels like a homage to other B-grade slashers, with cheesy PoV shots, camera blur, and other fun clichés, but at other times there's proof that these guys are capable of taking it to another level of quality, with some great twists and unexpected, original scenes. Oh, and some gratuitous softcore thrown in too, and played entirely for laughs, which actually works. If they'd stuck with one direction or the other, this would have turned out a cult classic. A little too scary to be funny, a little too funny to be truly scary.Sound is the real department where issues arise. The music is fantastic, with authentic Mexican tunes on the DVD menu and across the opening credits, and the general score is mood-enhancing without being intrusive. But this is some atrocious dubbing. A constant re-use of El Mascarado growling, regular tinny sound effects, and people sounding far off and distant when they're supposed to be 3 feet offscreen, it's a bit of a shame, the sound lacks the kind of punch the action deserves.Still, this is definitely one of the better slashers I've seen in the past few years. It's silly fun in parts, crafts some great chilling moments and has more than it's fair share of gorebuckets thrown in. And really, who can resist seeing Rey Misterio Sr. as a murderous psychopath? If you like slashers, see this movie. I give it 8/10.
