Moctezuma's tamales.

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s “lost” and just because someone has seen it doesn’t mean they’re lying about it. 

 “Lost media” is a term that’s thrown around a lot these days and I often wonder why can’t people just say “obscure media” or just say that it is “hard to find”. “Lost” is something that cannot be found ever again and in the case of Alimento Del Miedo, the movie isn’t even lost at all—it is just not readily available for public viewing. The film has been theatrically screened several times before, but just barely. 

Violation.

What’s to be another night going back home from work turns into a heavily traumatic experience for a young woman named Alma. A brute man called “Irak” (Eleazar Garcia Jr) & his hired goons follow Alma to her apartment and Irak brutally proceeds to get what he wants from her. What does Irak want from Alma? Irak is a twisted serial rapist & he takes much pleasure from sexually assaulting her and all while he listens to a Spanish-language cover of “Love Me Tender” sung by Patricia Maria (Valentin Trujillo’s real-life wife). With headphones on & tape rolling, Irak rapes Alma. 

Alma’s reporter neighbors Jose Garrido (Valentin Trujillo) and Sancho (Rodolfo Rodriguez) come about of what’s going on & fight Irak & his men just before the police show up and arrest them. As Alma files her report on the rape, she is unfairly blamed for it happening & when she’s gets examined, the forensics doctor apparently finds no evidence of it ever happening thus leading to Irak being freed from custody & no charges filed. Jose & Sancho truly want their reports to make stricter laws of rapes in Mexico and just as they try to make this happen, Irak continues his raping rampage around town & proceeds to get to Sancho’s fiancée & then Jose’s new wife Laura (Olivia Collins). The rape of Laura leads to Jose taking matters into his own hands because if the laws can’t stop Irak, then he’s going to have to do it himself—gun in hand & all. 

Violacion (translated as "Rape" or "Violation") is one of several well-known titles that Valentin Trujillo had made in the 1980’s and it is quite a memorable one for several reasons. For starters, Violacion can truly be labeled a crime-action thriller, but the film goes far beyond that with its social commentary on the lagging laws of rapes in Mexico. The film gives a glimpse on how lawmen handle rape cases so poorly & how these assaults lead to much trauma to its victims and their loved ones. All brutality in Violacion is provided by actor Eleazar Garcia Jr who was no stranger in playing bad guys in films and here he plays a very bad & twisted man. Next to brutality & a serious topic, Violacion also features peculiar comedic scenes that feel rather out of place for such a serious-themed film, but these scenes will probably still make you chuckle a little since these scenes are just amusing to see. For example, we have scenes featuring a coca-cola bottle shaped phone that gets way too much attention, a scene with a broken coffee dispenser that Sancho tries to clear up, Jose sleeping in his office at work & Jose bribing a notary to speed up his wedding. 

While I’ve yet to rank the best films of Valentin Trujillo, I will have to say that Violacion is for sure one of his best because it’s everything that Valentin had embodied during the 1980’s which consisted of a gritty story full of action and a whole lot of commentary & criticism of Mexican society and the people who are supposed to protect it. Was Valentin really trying to tell the audience how messed up the country & its ruling hands are? Yes. Was he also trying to entertain & profit from his admiring career? Yes.

Trailer:

Gossiping in the Hot Land.

In Hembras De Tierra Caliente (roughly translating as "Women of the Hot Land"), a lot of gossiping goes on in a small town in Veracruz. And while the gossip does consist of actual things happening, it is also full of exaggerations as well. 

Trash-Mex screening of Muerte En La Playa (Death on The Beach) (1991) at The Art Theatre on Wed, June 19th!

Trash-Mex is very happy to present the Mexican psychotic-thriller Muerte En La Playa (Death on the Beach) (1991) at The Art Theatre in Long Beach, CA on Wednesday, June 19th at 10PM.

(The film will be presented in Spanish with English subtitles) 

The Revenge of Maria.

 For as long as corridos have been around (since the Mexican Revolution to be exact), there have been many composed about revolutionary figures, well-doin’ bandits and many conflicts around Mexico & bordering towns near the USA. Later into the 20th century, corridos had become songs about drug traffickers, brutal criminal elements and stories of tragedies & revenge. Mexican music composer Julian Garza was one of the pioneers of corrido composition and has a lengthy discography to prove this & one of his most well-known corridos isn’t about a brute man nor is the woman in said song just a victim or a conflicting individual—the woman in this song takes matters into her own hands to fulfill her revenge against a powerful man who killed her father. This corrido is called “La Venganza De Maria” ("The Revenge of Maria") and it truly lives up to its name. 

Trash-Mex screening of La Mujer Murcielago (The Bat-Woman) (1968) at Gardena Cinema on Friday, May 3rd!

A whacked-out scientist is capturing wrestlers and using their spinal fluid to create an army of monstrous Gill Men. Two cops call in the masked luchadora/superhero The Bat-Woman to investigate this matter!

Trash-Mex is proud to present the ridiculously fun Mexican cult classic The Bat-Woman (La Mujer Murciélago) (1968) at the fabulous & vintage Gardena Cinema on Friday, May 3rd at 8PM.

The film will be presented in Spanish with English subtitles! This brand-new restoration that you will see was made possible by Permanencia Voluntaria (https://mxfilmarchive.com)

Tickets for the screening are available to purchase here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trash-mex-presents-la-mujer-murcielago-bat-woman1968fri-53-800pm-tickets-867561950147

Trash-Mex's contribution to the Indicator Blu-ray release of Santo vs. The Riders of Terror/Los Leprosos y El Sexo.

 Happy to announce that I, Armando Hernandez of Trash-Mex has contributed to the Indicator Blu-ray release of Santo vs. The Riders of Terror/Los Leprosos y El Sexo with a video feature entitled "Cardona Bonanza". 

War in "Hell's Trap".

A finger knife glove & an AR-15 is all takes to rid of your threats in a Mexican forest. Welcome to Trampa Infernal (aka “Hell’s Trap”).

 Nacho (Pedro Fernandez) and his friend Charly (Charly Valentino) are always in competition with Mauricio (Toño Mauri) and his friend Javier (Armando Galvan). The 4 young dudes will find any way to compete with one another and after a silly session of shooting paintball, sore-loser Mauricio proposes a competition to Nacho in hunting down a wild bear that’s supposedly has been causing a ruckus in the forest. The 4 competitors then head to the forest alongside their female companions consisting of Alejandra (Edith Gonzalez), Carlota & Viviana. What is to be a hunting trip in the forest turns into a full-on nightmare when the recluse & psychotic Vietnam war veteran Jesse (Alberto Mejia Baron "Alfin") comes across these young hunters and goes after them in warfare style. Jesse has enough weaponry & skills to take on anyone he displeases, but his main choice of weapon is a homemade finger knife glove that’s ready for tearing up human flesh. 

Trampa Infernal is an obvious standout title in the ever so small Mexican-slasher category and it stands out because it’s all kills & no filler whatsoever. This stand-out slasher film features bloody kills with familiar sharp weaponry, a masked killer tormented by war and of course features the ever so obvious young adults trapped in a forest setting. Director Pedro Galindo III & everyone involved in the production truly did their homework with Trampa Infernal and that is what made the film a success & memorable for years to come. And what exactly makes Trampa Infernal so good? Well to begin with, the writing is very strong here and as simple as it seems, it’s still very detailed on its main topic & doesn’t fill up on anything else that distracts away from what’s truly happening—a psycho war veteran is on the loose and is going to hunt down & kill who he feels is a threat to him. The hunted are young adults just hanging out in the forest and when trouble arises, they have to take up arms and try to fight back in order to escape.

The psychotic Vietnam war veteran “Jesse” is intriguing & so brutal and when you learn of his origins, you understand why he’s the way he is & perhaps be even more creeped out by him. The mask he wears & all the weaponry he has on him adds-on more to his creep factor. The blank creepy white mask Jesse wears originated from Mexican visual artist Guadalupe García Vásquez and was given to the man who played him—Alberto Mejía Barón, also known as “Alfin”. In the genre film world, Alberto is known to play Jesse in Trampa Infernal, but there was more to Alberto than this one film—Alberto’s main work was in making beautifully-crafted puppets & masks. He was very well-known and renowned for this in Mexico. Unfortunately, Alberto passed away in 2009. His art and his role in Trampa Infernal is still very much remembered, thus keeping his memory & hard work alive. 

Pedro Fernandez’s role as lead protagonist “Nacho” is truly remarkable because he truly has a competitive streak and it works out with this troubling moment going on. Nacho knows he has to fight & outsmart Jesse despite what the others are thinking otherwise. Everyone else in the film wants to just run off, but Nacho’s motivation pretty much convinces everyone (even his competing peers) to just fight back first & then escape. Pedro Fernandez is of course a familiar face in the Mexican horror world with his main appearance in Vacaciones De Terror & later on its Pedro Galindo III-directed sequel. Pedro Fernandez stands out in both Vacaciones films and again here in Tramp Infernal—a role I feel is his most mature & the best of this era. 

Trampa Infernal is a stand-out Mexican slasher film and you shall not be disappointed by it all. Trampa Infernal delivers plenty of bloody kills from a very memorable & appealing psychotic protagonist & the overall plot is intriguing all the way through. I honestly can’t think of anything that let me down, but I do wish the film was longer than its runtime. I really wanted to see much more carnage from Jesse. Perhaps I’m being too spoiled though after getting so much good, bloody slasher madness already. 

New Trash-Mex t-shirt “Cazador De Demonios” is up for sale!

 Only 1 weapon can rid of the Nagual!

The “Cazador De Demonios” Trash-Mex t-shirt & Crewneck sweater are now available for purchase on my printify store page! 

The Demonios graphic is printed on a black-colored Comfort Colors 1717 t-shirt & heavyblend sweatshirt.

Purchase the shirt & sweatshirt here: https://trash-mex-official.printify.me/products

Read my review of Cazador De Demonios (1987), from where the shirt graphic is based from:https://www.trash-mex.com/2023/10/Cazador-Demonios-1987.html

New Trash-Mex t-shirt “Hermanos Asesinos” is up for sale!

Graphic designed by yours truly. "Hermanos Asesinos" is a Mario & Fernando Almada t-shirt with a song-lyric caption from the epic corrido "El Asesino" by Los Cadetes De Linares.

The graphic is printed on a white-colored Comfort Colors 1717 shirt & fulfilled by swiftpod via printify.

Don't miss out and purchase one asap! 

Purchase shirt here: https://trash-mex-official.printify.me/products

Make Them Laugh Till They Cry.

At an antique doll shop called “The House of Dolls”, resides a woman named Julia (Erika Carlson) alongside her teenage son Lawrence (Benny Corral), whom is very creative in the arts. Lawrence does small theatrical shows at home with his sole friend Margaret, but sadly can never seem to get anyone to attend them. Lawrence looking for more inspiration & props for his show—finds a large trunk locked away in a storage room that contains a very old ventriloquist doll. Lawrence asks his mother if he can use it for his next show, but she forbids him from doing so. After some nagging & showing very erratic behavior—Julia allows Lawrence the use of the doll and it is here we learn of the doll’s origin. 

In a note pinned to the doll (whom was brought over by Lawrence’s late father), the doll hails from Europe and was once a court jester for a royal family from a long time ago—the jester was named Yermo. Yermo’s imagery (supposedly not his corpse) had been preserved in porcelain by a perverse queen. 

Lawrence’s bullying from his classmates worsens, he becomes sexually frustrated & his mental health seems to be deteriorating which then leads to him being institutionalized for a foreseeable time. Lawrence is allowed to bring items from home to the mental institution and the doll Yermo just happens to be one of these items which he then uses for a deranged stage show for the institution residents & staff. Later on, Yermo has come to life and attempts to rape a nurse & kills her with a ventriloquist dummy head and this of course leads to the escape of Lawrence from the institution. Yermo & Lawrence hide out near The House of Dolls where they both laugh in depravity & plot their next act of deviancy. It seems now that Lawrence has become like Yermo or thinking that he is just like him—a sexually-deprived & misunderstood joker. 

A film so peculiar that even its origins & various releases are just as peculiar.

 “Muerte Infernal” is the title that everyone knows this film by, but according to writer, producer & co-director Roberto Guinar—it is actually an unauthorized retitling & release. Back in 2021, I inquired to Mr. Guinar about the film and he told me that it was shot in English in Mexico City alongside New York-based screenwriter & co-director Ronald Werthein (who’s only known credited work is an episode of the Mexican horror anthology series "La Hora Marcada"). “Demond Doll” is the real title of the film and it was not just another videohome (Straight to video film) as most have claimed it to be. The film had been vaguely released theatrically in the US during the late 1980’s and ended up on Spanish home video in the early 1990’s. Mr. Guinar again claimed this wasn’t a legitimate home video release and when I asked about the 2010’s DVD-R release under the title “Hell Doll”, he too said it was an unauthorized release despite having his name credited on the release. The interesting part of this so-called unauthorized DVD-R release is that it contains several scenes not featured in the Muerte Infernal release & it also features the original English language sound. Surely material that only a producer/former rights holder would have.. 

Whatever you want to call the film, Demond Doll is an interestingly weird & deranged film like no other. Demond Doll is a film that wants to be the weirdest & most unsettling that it can be and it succeeds in doing so with its incestuous/hyper-sexual references & bizarre murders. The hyper-sexual references all consist from the ever so creepy doll Yermo and he is not only a hyper-sexual funny man-doll, but he’s also sick in the head by taking deep pleasure in killing after getting his jollies off—or trying to at least. Yermo was played by the little Mexican actor Aurelio Perez and what an amazing job Aurelio did here with his doll-like mannerisms & perverse demeanor. The make-up & attire Aurelio wore in the film is so unsettling which gives the film’s creep factor a much high rating. 

Another creep factor of the film is the portrayal of Lawrence by Mexican actor Benny Corral who does an amazing job playing the unsettling teenager Lawrence whose sexual frustrations take ahold of him mentally. Benny Corral also provides the eerie & weird music in the film. The film’s theme/closing credits song “The Joker” is a catchy & weird track with clever lyrics: “Make them laugh till they cry, Joker..” 

And of course I can’t leave out the wonderful acting from Erika Carlson who plays Lawrence’s mother Julia who’s very lonely & misses her husband so much that she begins to attach herself too closely to her own son. Surely a huge factor in Lawrence’s mental breakdown. 

Demond Doll has always been difficult film to acquire aside from its sole VHS release, very poor pirated copies that are no longer around & that DVD-R release from Amazon is no longer around as well. If lucky, it’s best to view the DVD-R release since it’s the true copy of the film with its original English language track & features unrestored scenes of a “human” Yermo killing a woman in the past.