Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		1.5

Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 23, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Aztec Mummy Collection.

Could you adequately describe the difference(s) between the Aztecs and the Mayans? There are a number of excellent online resources for anyone who might need a little, um, help, but there wasn't an internet in the early sixties (that we know of, anyway), and that may account for the somewhat hilarious fact that American producer Jerry Warren re-released a Mexican effort from 1957 called The Aztec Mummy that Warren had rejiggered for American audiences, renaming it Attack of the Mayan Mummy in the process, though the English language versions of The Aztec Mummy's sequels included on this disc are attributed to K. Gordon Murray. As Dr. David Wilt discusses in his interesting comments on the films included on this disc as a supplement, the first three Aztec Mummy films, the aforementioned one linked to and then The Curse of the Aztec Mummy and The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy included on this disc, were basically shot back to back (to back). It's somewhat hilarious, then, that while it is instantly obvious in watching the three films on this disc that The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy in particular utilizes footage from The Curse of the Aztec Mummy, in truth both of those films evidently utilized footage from the first film (which is not included on this disc). These were obviously quickie low budget productions that were probably made even more gonzo when the likes of K. Gordon Murray got ahold of them and "translated" them into English. The results are undeniably daffy, with fleeting glimpses of our raggedy anti-hero (whatever his "tribal" status may be), and the added attraction of everything from Luchadors to robots to wrestling women thrown into the mix for good measure.

Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy is the one putative outlier in this set for a couple of reasons. First of all, this production stems from 1964, some seven years after the first three Aztec Mummy were filmed together and then released over the course of a few months in Mexico, as is detailed by Dr. David Wilt in the supplement included on this disc. Second of all, while the back cover of this release makes the case that the mummy in this film is the same as the one in the other two films on the disc, mummy-ologists (?) may choose to disagree, since the mummy in this film is actually named Tezomoc (Gerardo Zepeda). There's also no Dr. Almada, Flora or Dr. Krupp this time around, though those who have a fondness for the Luchador called El Ángel (Crox Alvarado) from The Curse of the Aztec Mummy may be delighted to find out we're back in wrestling territory again with this outing, albeit on the distaff side of things this time around.

If the Luchadoras in this film provide a bit of visual interest, the actual Mummy in this film, while once again frustratingly hard to even catch a glimpse of, is decidedly vampiristic in a number of ways, something else that may differentiate this film from its supposed "siblings" on this disc. There's also a really weird set of villains in this film that give it a totally off the wall (ostensibly) "Asian gang" aspect, which when combined with a mummy that is alternately Aztec or Mayan and is either Popoca or Tezomoc, just makes things all the more hilariously incomprehensible.

Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Despite being the newest of the three films on this disc, this has the most problematic looking video on the disc. The element used is in much worse condition than the other two films for whatever reason, and there is some pretty noticeable damage throughout the presentation, including several pretty large and long lasting scratches. But this looks to me like it had some kind of video element in the workflow at some point, as it has a much more processed, digital appearance than the other two films on this disc. There also seems to have been some pretty aggressive sharpening (look at the guys' pant legs in screenshot 5 or the back of the suit jacket in screenshot 10 for some examples). Detail levels can still be at least decent in close- ups, and while this looks filtered, there is something resembling a grain field. The overall result is much more video like than film like, with what my hunch is will be too much digital tweaking for some ardent videophiles.

Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kind of oddly in the "fine print" on the back cover of this release, VCI claims this is the "complete and uncensored Spanish language version of the film, exactly as it was theatrically released in 1964," but unless my brain is somehow now magically automatically translating things for me, the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track on this sounded a lot like English to my ears. There's more noticeable damage and background noise on this track than on some of the others on this disc, and you can hear things like a low level hum at times. That said, while the sound continues to be thin and boxy, as with the two other films on this disc, dialogue is rendered cleanly enough to suffice. Optional English subtitles are available.

Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

VCI has packaged three of the Aztec Mummy films together on one disc, with the following sole supplement:

• The Mummy Films (HD; 24:38) is billed as a "video essay" but is in fact mostly the rather interesting Dr. David Wilt speaking directly into his monitor's camera about the films. He's obviously reading and probably will seem a little stiff for some tastes, but he has a lot of good information to impart, and there are some fun archival stills and snippets from the films included as he speaks.

Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Luchadoras are appealing, but this is another low grade effort that will provoke more laughs than anything. This most recent of the three films on this disc unfortunately has the least pleasing looking video presentation. The supplemental informational piece by Dr. David Wilt is enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.