Night of the Bloody Apes

Lucha libre has a limited audience.  It rules the day in Mexico, but here in the land of opportunity (try to stifle your laughter), it's a flighty side dish.  It's gaga, Daddy-o.  Hell, its abettors don't take it as seriously as Mexican patrons.  Myself, I see all professional wrestling as a giant b-movie, although I do respect the passion that funnels into it.  On a purely cosmetic level, lucha seems to incorporate b-movie trappings.  I mean, look at it.  This film was produced and released after Psycho, after Night of the Living Dead, after Rosemary's Crotch...it's safe to say that writer/director Rene Cardona wasn't aiming for the vault of heaven.

It was fairly common at the time to break your movie up with wrestling matches.  The bouts were used as points of transition, and hey, they were entertaining.  Bonus!  In 1969's Night of the Bloody Apes, buxom Lucy is a popular luchadora.  After an alarming accident nearly kills an opponent, she approaches her handicraft with timidity.  She might retire, but before she can even have a proper retirement match, she gets roped into a wacky scheme.  Granted, the scheme isn't so wacky to Dr. Krallman.  His son is besieged by leukemia, and at present, blood transfusions haven't kept the disease from spreading.  Plan B?  A heart transplant.  Oh, and it's a gorilla's heart.

If you're thinking of sipping from this beaker of bile, I hope you're down with heart surgery.  Y'know, like how Naughty by Nature is down with O.P.P.?  There are two scenes that exploit footage of an actual open-heart surgery.  I wasn't bothered, but those rushes were enough to append Bloody Apes to the prolix list of Video Nasties.  The gore isn't confined to sterile bits of a xenograft, however.  Our monster man scalps victims with his bare hands.  Pretty metal, eh?  We also see naked female flesh, and while these actresses have well-built bodies, context is key.  You won't find any wank material, unless you're stiffened by crying.

The dubbing is laughable.  The actors don't get out unscathed with the exception of Jose Elias Moreno.  It would have been easy for him to sleepwalk through this absurdity, considering this was a single paycheck out of 190 (!) screen credits.  But no!  He gives Dr. Krallman a poignant pathos.  I actually felt bad for the guy when his son expired before him.  I better not receive catty messages on social media in response to the spoiler I just detonated.  If it peeves you that much, I promise that you will live.  Bloody Apes isn't the most suspenseful picture I've seen.

Overall, I had fun with this cult spectacle.  It was meant to be seen in a crowded theater cramped with carnage connoisseurs, but regrettably, you won't get that chance anytime soon.  Night of the Bloody Apes is far from perfect.  This is a grindhouse feature you'll have to meet halfway.  Do meet it, though.  It's bonko.