The Bat Woman

Yeah. The Bat Woman, I suppose, passes off as a Mexican knockoff of the campy 60's TV series. Do I need to say it? (Ouch, from the director of Santa Claus (1959))!

So, a mad scientist (who gets a massive facial scar, due to Bat Woman throwing acid in his face) is killing wrestlers, to steal the fluid in their Pineal gland, in order to, somehow, create a... fish-man (half-man, half-goldfish). He laughs like a madman, and muses he could create hundreds, or even thousands of them. To do what? I'm not sure. Let's say, to take over the world. Hm, this seems real impractical. Maybe take over every seaside town? And man, the wrestling pool can't be THAT deep, even all the famous luchadores in Mexico. Why? Will any wrestler do? Alright, I'm done.

Enter Bat Woman, who parachutes in onto an Acapulco beach. Apparently she's the only woman for the job. I'd like to point out she's captured by the bad guys twice in the first 39 minutes. The Bat Woman goes deep undercover as a wrestler... "The Bat Woman." Say what?! In a country of the sport known for its masked wrestlers, you can literally hide behind any identity you want! (Fun fact: Women in Mexico City at the time were banned from wrestling). Yeah, she leaves the practice facility in full Bat Woman garb, hops into her convertible mini-Batmobile, and sneaks ou... No, wait, the villains immediately spot her.

This movie reminded me of some of Ed Wood's work. Not technically incompetent, actually it features some beautiful scenery, but in terms of being super hokey, and, well, just plain dumb. Also, there's a guy in a rubber suit. So there's certainly an audience for a movie like this... Lovers of bad cinema. It is kind of a fun diversion.

Clearly the star of the show is Bat Woman herself, the beautiful Maura Monti. Running around kicking and karate-chopping in little more than a skimpy bikini and a cape, she is a sight to behold. There's plenty of eye candy, between the star and the locale, but brain-dead on all other fronts. Count myself as a lover of women's wrestling, but even the (stunt-double) luchadora scenes are incredibly dull.

Basically just a Santo movie with a female wrestler in the lead nipping like Santo in a sports car about the glamorous backdrop of Acapulco without ever attracting the attention of traffic cops or the public. Currently dropping in is the diabolical Dr Eric Williams (what kind of name is that for a mad scientist, even if he does have an assistant called Igor?), who travels the world in a yacht called Reptilicus harvesting wrestlers to provide components for his prototype fish-man Pisces (who rewards his master by putting more effort into clobbering Williams' goons than fighting The Batwoman).

Crime-fighting heroine Gloria is supposedly a millionairess who moonlights as the masked superheroine The Batwoman; keeping herself in trim when not fighting bad guys as a pro woman wrestler. (The bodysuit and trunks she wears to wrestle being far more becoming of a superheroine than the beach party bikini and cape she adopts a couple of times in the movie - and for the poster- as The Batwoman.) Like Yvonne Craig in the TV series, Maura Monti is far tastier without that stupid cowl covering her hair; and in the film's best (and probably most expensive) sequence she does battle underwater with Pisces wearing just a one-piece, after which Dr.Williams and Igor both get a good look at her without her mask without anyone being remotely concerned.

To wrestle she uses a Bat-suit. Only to save the world she wears the smallest bikini...

A mad scientist (who else?) tries to breed a mutant being between fish and wrestlers!!! To see how it works drops a Ken doll in a fish tank where a goldfish swims happily and nothing happens. Of course nothing will happen, he need to use real people in his experiments, not dolls!

As more and more experiments fail, mutant dead bodies are found on the beach and this is the time for the bat-signal! Bat-woman with her statuesque body, brief bikini and lethal karate moves will take care of that crazy Doctor Frankenfish...

Mr. René Cardona only wanted to take advantage of the Bat-craze during the Batman high peak, with his version of the hero in the shape of a beautiful woman, Maura Monti... and he got it.

This is one strange little movie.Happened to pick up an english subtitled version of this one.It is known as Batwoman and was released during the Batman craze.Somehow DC comics didn't sue for the use of the name. Maybe because it was never really released in the USA.

Anyway a mad scientist is wanting to create a race of super gill men.He uses the glands of wrestlers because they are "perfect".I don't write them I just watch them.Wrestlers are winding up dead all over Acapulco so the call goes out for that mysterious crime fighter BATWOMAN!

She has the Batman cape, cowl and boots. Only Batman doesn't wear a bikini.I kept waiting for her to pop out of it during all of the violent fight scenes.No such luck guys.

The doctor succeeds in creating a gill man. Batwoman tosses acid in the scientist's face.He wants revenge and wants to make her into a gill woman.Will he accomplish the dastardly deed?Tune in tomorrow!Same bat time, same bat channel.

This is an average movie.Best thing to do is just turn your brain off, enjoy the local Acapulco scenery and while away 90 minutes watching this.

Batgirl is a rich woman that fights crime disguised with a mask in order to hide her secret identity. OK, you know that story, it's the same as Batman's. Indeed, her mask, cloak and car are very similar to the ones that Adam West wears and uses in the classic TV series. Though, this Batgirl is neither Barbara Gordon, commissioner Gordon's daughter, nor any other heroine created by DC Comics. This one is a Mexican pro wrestler! You can call her "Mujer Murciélago", "Bat Woman" in Spanish. Few people knows the true identity of this marvelous crime fighter who lives in Mexico City and works as a special agent for the police. As many luchadores are being mysteriously murdered in Acapulco, local police calls a special agent who contacts her as a partner to solve the case. Off course this is not a great film and does not have an innovative plot, but it is certainly not bad either. As a matter of fact, it is not very different from the stories of Batman's adventures from the 60's, as it is intended to get a ride in its success, although it is much less campy than Batman & Robin series or feature movie from that decade. In Mexican "La Mujer Murciélago", there is an archvillain who is a mad scientist with a dire laugh who lives in a yacht called Reptilicus - very cartoonish, isn't it? Guess what is the name of his assistant: Igor, the same used in many Frankenstein films! During the movie, the mad scientist, Dr. Williams, acquires a Two-Face appearance while fighting Batgirl, but not the coin-flipping craziness. While analyzing this movie, it is unavoidable to mention that Maura Monti, the Italian actress who portrays the heroine with big breasts and long eyelashes, is extremely beautiful. Unsurprisingly, there is some exploitation in the movie, showing her in bikini very often - yes, a masked Batgirl in bikini! -, but at least there are no nude or sex scenes, which are common in sexploitation B movies. The masked heroine, besides her wrestling skills, is also a super athlete and a diver. She also has gadgets and is very clever, like Adam West's Batman, being able to find solutions unrelated to her fighting and athletic abilities. Among the movie's flaws, I may mention that soundtrack is very bad and acting is not the most inspired. Piscis, the amphibious monster created by Dr. Williams, is quite ridiculous (though, not more than the monsters from Japanese "tokusatsu" and "super sentai" TV shows), basically a red version of the Sleestak from "Land of the Lost". The stuntwoman in the wrestling scenes has a very different body from Maura Monti, not convincing that she is the same person, in spite of the face being hidden by the mask. And the last but not least: come on, it is nonsense that a super heroine screams and faints in panic when she sees the monster (who she had already known!)! The final scene is also silly and sexist, but the film is overall amusing, much better than one may initially expect.