The Bat Woman

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.

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.

The Batwoman is the campiest movie ever made and I say that with great respect and admiration. Movies that are so bad they are good are hard to find and this one has it all. The well-endowed Maura Monti is Batwoman who wears a very revealing 2-piece bikini and a cape through most of the movie. She is called Batwoman but there is no bat about her - she is ALL woman! Not only is she the crime fighting heroine but she is also a pro wrestler and police agent who fights mad scientists. And what is a mad scientist who does not have a faithful servant name Igor and calls him Master? Well, this film has it all. Our mad scientist has created a fish man who is also a wrestler and now he wants to create a fish woman and that woman shall be none other than our favorite batwoman. He plans on creating an army of fish men/wrestlers to rule the sea! I admire his ambition. But the big question is will he get his woman, er I mean his bat, to create the first fish woman? I highly recommend this movie. It is so bad that it is good and highly entertaining.

The sad thing is that "Batwoman" has all the ingredients for an entertaining luchador romp -- an alluring protagonist, a series of murders to solve, an exotic location, decent underwater scenes -- but wastes them with glacial pacing and a lack of exciting fight action. The supposedly athletic and clever heroine spends more time socializing than clue-hunting, then becomes all girly and helpless at the climax when she should be kicking butt. The film could be improved immensely by chopping it down to 45 minutes. That would at least progress the plot at a reasonable speed. Unfortunately it is decades too late to bring in one of the heroines from "Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy" to whomp up on some villainous goons. Yvonne Craig's status as Batgirl is safe.

"The Batwoman" ("La Mujer Murcielago") is a very strange film. It's part luchador film (a VERY popular genre in Mexican films of the era) and part knockoff of Batman (which was VERY popular on American TV at the time). I suppose DC Comics could have tried to sue, but why bother?

The film begins with yet another dead luchador (Mexican wrestler) being discovered in the water off of Acapulco. It seems it's the fifth such dead wrestler and each had their 'pineal juices' removed....if there is such a thing. I know there's the pineal gland in the skull. At a loss as to what to do next, the Mexican official contact the FBI and the FBI call in their secret weapon...Batwoman! Batwoman is a rich sexy lady who excels in nearly everything...including crime fighting and wrestling!

Seeing gorgeous Maura Monti running about in skimpy bikinis throughout the film is nicer than seeing the more rotund Santo or Blue Demon (popular luchadors in films in the 60s and 70s)....though it's just as utterly ridiculous. What also is utterly ridiculous is the mad scientist's creation using these pineal juices....a half-man/half-goldfish who is the scientist's personal killing machine!

So is this any good? No....though a I said before, Monti is quite lovely to look at (hence a score as high as I gave the film), but the story itself is weird and silly. It's good for a laugh or two but otherwise is an utterly ridiculous superheroine film.