Friday, October 30, 2015

Mexican Charlie's Angels Vs. The Rose Strangler & Cult Followers.

Mexico City. 1990. A woman is walking in a small neighborhood minding her own business. All of a sudden, a man in all black follows her and strangles her. Her lifeless body is left on the ground and a yellow rose is left next to her by the killer. Clearly a psychopath is on the loose and its up to Paola (Susana Dosamantes) to capture him. She's gonna need help though and that is where Rebeca (Imperio Vargas) and Laura (Rosario Escobar) come along. Paola and Laura are brunettes and Rebeca is the blonde. Clearly the 90's Mexican versions of Charlie's Angels!

So, Charlie's Angels head out into the night searching for the killer. They beat up some thugs at a pool hall and question various people. No luck so far because the killer is still out there strangling women and leaving yellow roses behind. Once the Angels get closer to the killer, it becomes something more than just one guy doing bad deeds. The movie takes a weird turn by having an evil cult involved in all this! The movie ends with a message that makes total sense but seems irrelevant to what's just happened. I think.


First saw El Estrangulador De La Rosa (aka "The Rose Strangler") on TV back in like 2011 or 2012. I dug it then and still dig it today. I consider this a Mexi-Giallo because of the killer and I love me some Mexi-Giallos. They're always so much fun to watch. Even the silly ones like this one! Why call it silly? Well, the whole evil cult thing is pretty damn silly. A little too silly honestly. It seems the producers just wanted more than just having a killer on the loose in the movie. They had to have a cult of men worshiping some unknown evil entity and have it all set in a cave. Also the men had to carry machine guns in the cave because that's what real evil men do. The silliest thing of all is the message we are left when the movie ends. A major character dies and a title card reads: "In the permanent fight with crime, Male & Female police officers have lost their lives on the line of duty. This story is in honor of them".

A silly low-budget movie is a great honor for fallen police officers. Apparently.



El Estrangulador De La Rosa is one of many of the silliest movies I've seen. It's a fun watch for a lazy day at home or late night. 4/10.