The Ship of Monsters

At a glance this title may not stand out, but it's worth your time, being a bit of a rare treat: a decently made B-flick with a sense of humor. That humor hasn't been lost in translation or obscured over time, either.

The premise: After many wars, Venus needs men, so they dispatch Gamma and Beta to scrape the bottom of the galactic barrel for any males they can manage to collect. (Seriously, any.) Next stop is Earth, where they meet a romantic, singing cowboy who's much less revolting than the others, but romance may be the least of the threats about to send the mission into chaos.

Beyond those basics, try to go in as unspoiled as you can manage. This movie has a handful of twists, and they really are more effective and funnier that way. The Ship of Monsters will certainly hit the B-sci-fi-horror spot with its black-and-white low budget aesthetic and wacky effects, but the film knows what it's doing, and entertains all on its own. Refreshing if you're used to uneven or lackluster old productions that need riffing to get through.

This Mexican sci-fi movie is a must-see simply because it's so strange. Plus, it has a good heart and never takes itself seriously! The story is very similar to "Abbott & Costello Go to Mars"...combined with a monster movie! It begins with some super- hot Venusian ladies and their incredibly silly robot announcing that they are in search of men, as the last of their died off recently. So, they have accumulated a really bizarre menagerie of goofy looking monsters from various planets--and you assume these hotties are planning on breeding with these male creatures. However, before they can get their galactic groove on, they become stranded on Earth--which is fortunate because these Venusians thing human men are super-mega-hot! They are particularly infatuated with a singing caballero in a cowboy hat!

Later, the plans run amok when the nice sexy hot Venusian realizes her sexy leader is actually....a vampire!!!! Then the sexy vampire takes over, as her plan is to bring 'a wave of death and terror' on the Earth....along with her menagerie of nasty (and very silly looking) monsters. Can our super-mega-hot caballero possibly tame this she- devil or is the Earth doomed?

Where to begin?! Everything about this film is silly--from the space suits the Venusians wear (just bathing suits are all they need in space, apparently), the robot, the monsters and the plot...which is just insane! Still, there is a certain silliness about the film that make it worth seeing--particularly if you like insane movies!! And, this is pretty insane! Plus, the production values, while silly, are occasionally better than you'd expect from such a film. Not terrible....but very weird.

A low-budget Mexican science fiction movie with 'borrowed' Russian special effects about two Venusian women in space-bathing-suits (and their robot) who are searching for men to help repopulate their planet PLUS a singing cowboy, a vampire, space monsters, and a hint of interplanetary miscegenation - what more could anyone want?! The film stars Mexican comedian Eulalio González and despite some grisly scenes (at the expense of the very improbable looking monsters) is played strictly for laughs. Some of the special effects (such as the space-walk) were lifted from the excellent Russian futurist documentary 'Doroga k zvezdam' (1957), the rest are strictly bottom-of-the-barrel (except an oddly effective glimpse of the 'vampire' in flight). 'Ship of Monsters' is weird stuff but it is entertaining enough in a singular way and deserves to be better known in cult-film circles.

A Mexican Sci-fi/Western starring the late but always great Piporro and Ana Bertha Lepe. This is a sui generis movie because the b-movie market in México during the late 50's was really poor in production values mainly but this movie is the exception. This is probably the best of it's kind. I mean, the best b-sci-fi flick Mexican movie of probably 50 years. It's no wonder this movie it's ahead of it's time mainly because it's heavily influenced by American productions but still the effort is recognized. GREAT f/x and art direction. This is a likable, entertaining, cultural movie.

An earth Mexican cowboy is the only hope for humanity to confront four monsters that have been commanded to destroy: animals and humanity mainly. The monsters are really cool and you can see the effort of the production. There is a cyclops monster in the likes of "Clash Of The Titans", a short martian with a gigantic brain, an ape type gigantic monster, and a skeleton in the likes of "Sinbad and his 7th Voyage". All of them are menacing but Piporro faces them with his comedic Norteño attitude and his gun. After a first encounter with them, he goes to a local cantina (bar) and with the aid of a beer and Tequila he recovers his strenght and faith and faces the monsters for once and all. Oh and there's also room for some Norteño singing! Piporro delivers a comedic performance that relies on his on-screen charisma and his over the top Norteño attitude. He is supposed to be the brave cowboy but he gives the character his own charm.

Lorena Velázquez is really beautiful and sexy and delivers a great performance as the aspiring Mars Queen. She's always great and this is no exception. She looked gorgeous and sexy with his one-piece outfit. Hot. And her dialogs are very evil! There's always a room for cheese and in these performances there wasn't exception.

I love all Lorena Velazquez movies ( and she has quit a few! ), but this one is so special because of all the assortment of male monsters this two beautiful women from another planet had been collecting across the whole universe.

1) When Ana Bertha Lepe and Piporro use the elevator to get inside the spaceship, she has a dress in a different shade of gray than when she is actually in. The color changes during the elevator trip.

2) When the spaceship leaves the earth, you can see the planet earth with the actual lines around and from north to south like if they had used a Globe to make the scene.

See it! You will have a good time!