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Just in case you aren't all mummied out from that high-tech waste of time starring Brendan Fraser, the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House has dug deep into their vaults and unearthed a film guaranteed to satisfy the cravings of those of you who love films about guys wrapped in toilet paper. Or flicks featuring professional wrestling. Or badly dubbed Mexican movies from the early '60s. Or films with really tall women who know how to kick ass. That's right -- The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy is a hybrid of all those sweet, wonderful things.
Aztec Mummy tells the story of a crazy genius named The Black Dragon (Ramón Bugarini) who is killing off members of an archeological group in order to obtain missing pieces of a codex that, presumably, will lead him to a secret treasure and all the power he'd care to wield. Only one archeologist remains alive -- Dr. Tracy (Víctor Velázquez), who just happens to be the uncle of Mike Henderson (Armando Silvestre), who just happens to be romantically involved with Loretta Venus (Lorena Velázquez, Víctor's real-life daughter), who just happens to be one-half of the country's favorite women's tag-team wrestling duo.
The BD and his henchmen have several battles with Tracy, Henderson, Venus and a handful of other characters, including the obligatory Lou Costello/Shaggy character (played by Chucho Gómez). It all culminates in a ten-minute scene that pits Venus and her partner, The Golden Ruby (Elizabeth Campbell), against The Dragon's Judo champion twin sisters. The winner takes control of the codex pieces.
You're probably wondering when the Aztec Mummy factors into the story (I know I was -- he doesn't show until the last 20 minutes). The reformed codex pieces tell the story of Tezumuc (Gerardo Zepeda), who was buried alive to protect the breastplate of an Aztec Princess, said breastplate containing a map that leads to untold riches. The film doesn't really get campy until Tezumuc is brought to life when the Princess' breastplate is stolen, but, brother, those final 20 minutes are a smorgasbord of terrific, B-movie horror.
Tezumuc is supposed to be a mummy, but he walks and sounds like Frankenstein and can change into a bat like Dracula. He resembles Jim Carrey's Fire Marshal Bill from In Living Color more than anything. Other unintentionally funny incidents occur thanks to a stationary hidden camera that can pan across a room, zoom in for a close-up and, apparently, see through walls (Mexican technology has really taken a few steps back since the early '60s). The wrestling scenes involve stunt doubles that look nothing like the primary actors they're replacing, and several of the women's hairstyles change within scenes. It's all so fantastically awful.
Despite the title, there's a surprising lack of Wrestling-Women-on-Aztec-Mummy action, and the ending doesn't quite resolve anything. It's hard to believe, but these characters say even dumber things than the crap that flew out of Brendan Fraser's pie-hole in The Mummy Returns (they could blame it on the bad dub job, but Monkey Boy has no excuse).
Aztec Mummy is actually a sequel to 1962's The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Ape, and it's far from the only Mexican horror flick to feature the titular Aztec Mummy. Writers Guillermo Calderón and Alfredo Salazar also penned The Curse of the Aztec Mummy, The Aztec Mummy vs. the Human Robot, and Attack of the Aztec Mummy.
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