The Batwoman

                
                
Director:  Rene Cardona
Year:  1968
Rating: 5.5
Country: Mexico
Aka - La Mujer Murcielago  - murcielago being the Spanish word for bat.

Some times you willingly open the door and jump into a large bowl of melting cheese because something in your brain - way down deep - is sending messages that this is what you are in the mood for. That this oddity will caress your pleasure zone. Why? Nobody knows. And pretty much any Mexican "Lucha Libre" film or Wrestling super heroes (El Santo being the most famous appearing in loads of films) guarantees that it will be trashy and cheesy and fun - if you are in the mood. A steady diet of this would wear thin quickly. But they have managed to gather a large fan base. Why? Nobody knows.



I know absolutely nothing about this genre of film but I am always willing to learn. This first one seems like a good place to start. It reminded me a bit of the trashy films Turkey was putting out at the time. But this film has wrestling for no reason that I could see, a heroine displaying some quality cleavage in her bat outfit, a mad scientist, a plot to take over the world and a creature that looks somewhere between a giant lobster and a grasshopper. Only Batwoman can stop it!



A mad scientist is doing the usual stuff. He even has an assistant named Igor and is based on a ship named Reptilicus. You have to give the guy bonus points for naming his ship after a Danish giant monster film. He is sending out his minions to capture wrestlers because of how fit they are (not from what I saw) in order to draw out that old devil moon better known as Pineal Gland Juice. Not normally served at your local Mexican restaurant. This is as we all know the main ingredient in making fishmen. And with hundreds of fishmen he will control the oceans and seas. And lakes maybe? Ponds? Not sure. Anyway with these dead wrestlers coming ashore they call for Batwoman! Batwoman! She needed a theme song but didn't get one. Or a signal in the sky at a minimum. Too cheap.



Batwoman's secret identity is Gloria, a wealthy woman who uses her money to fight crime. And to drive around in her bat costume. Even like down to the local grocery store. If you look as good as she does, why not. She joins a wrestling gym to go undercover but how undercover can you be if everyone knows you are Batwoman? Batwoman can wrestle, shoot, ride horses, do judo and karate, scuba dive, lick her lips and fight giant fishmen. Holy Batwoman! Exactly, what I have been looking for in my life. Eventually, the film becomes The Creature from the Black Lagoon and that's when it gets quite fun. He needs a fish woman. Guess who? How does a country develop a genre like this I wonder. But that's what makes movies so great.



Batwoman is played by the lovely Maura Monti - Italian born - who appeared in what must be other classic films that I need to see - Planet of the Female Invaders, Blue Demon: Destructor of Spies, The Vampires, Alien Terror, License to Kill, Dangerous Dolls and a couple films with El Santo. But apparently no more as Batwoman. The world grieves at this lost opportunity. Up on YouTube with subs.