Armando, Joey and special guest Jaime Pinedo of
Rendezvous LA dig deep into the films & music of popular Mexican
music groups Los Bukis and Los Temerarios.
The Films:
Sueño y Realidad: Los Temerarios (1993)
The first film of Los Temerarios. A melodrama about the group’s rise to
fame & dealing with the drama that ensues along the way.
La Mujer De Los Dos (1996)
Second film of Los Temerarios. An erotic melodrama about the group.
Adolfo falls for a woman who belongs to another man and Gustavo falls for
a woman whose troubling past catches up to her.
Como Fui Enamorame De Ti (1991)
Los Bukis are on tour and along the way they clash with music piracy
& lead singer Marco Antonio Solis falls for a mysterious woman in red.
The only film of Los Bukis and directed by legendary Mexican filmmaker
Sergio Olhovich.
“El Charco” is a notorious brothel where a man can come in & have a good time all night long. El Charco is notoriously known by many people on both sides of the border and has been in control by an aging woman named Celia (Carmen Montejo) and it is always watched over by an older man whom always is outside.
After killing a drug dealer, morphine-addicted prostitute Alazana (Sonia Infante) commutes to El Charco in hopes of landing a job there & to hide out as well. Alazana is then taken in by Celia and her young companion Eleazar (Salvador Pineda)—a strong & charismatic man that Celia loves like a son; and like a lover as well.
1985 was a significant year in time with so many life-altering moments, memorable music being released, new products being introduced & of course many films being released that would be admired & remembered for years to come.
1985 introduced us to the favorable drink Cherry Coke and then “New Coke” made its debut and it didn’t last for very long because it fucking sucked. Also in 1985, singer Whitney Houston releases her debut album with much appraisal and her most popular song from the album “Saving My Love For You” was on the Billboard Hot 100 list for a week (at number 1). The iconic video game Super Mario Bros by Nintendo also made its debut in 1985 and everyone either had the game or wanted it badly. A big change in home entertainment happened because of this one video game.
In regard to films in 1985, films such as Back to the Future, Teen Wolf, Invasion USA, Demons & Silver Bullet graced the big screens. In Mexican cinema, Mexican films were now in “decline”, the quality of said films weren’t good enough anymore, but those making them didn’t give up and particularly the Galindo filmmaking dynasty were still actively working on making them. After finishing up film school in UCLA, director Ruben Galindo Jr was contracted by his father to make a horror film in the vein of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and this leads to one of the most admired Mexican horror films of the 1980’s being made—Cementerio Del Terror("Cemetery of Terror").
The Trash-Mex Podcast is now on to episode 3 and this episode entitled "Stuck In Hell's Trap" is all about Hell's Trap (Trampa Infernal) (1989) and with special guest Michael Aguirre of See It on 16mm. Stream the podcast on any streaming platform you prefer.
The Trash-Mex Podcast was invited to be part of the latest episode of "Punk Vacation": An Unofficial Vinegar Syndrome Podcast. Me and co-host/producer Joey Diaz discuss with host Chris Haskell the Mexican films released on Blu-ray's and other Vinegar Syndrome releases. The Punk Vacation podcast is available to stream on any podcast platform you desire.
You read the headline correct, folks. Trash-Mex will be doing not 1, but 3 screening events in October & just in time for the Halloween season!
First screening event will be with IE Based Production Company "Future/First" on October 6th from 5-10PM where they will feature short films (under the banner "The Reel Underground"), a special-fx class with Paris Chaney and then Trash-Mex closes the night with a screening of the 1983 Horror-Thriller "Terror En Los Barrios". Admission is free, but do get your admission via the Eventbrite page. Screening will be at The Garcia Center of the Arts in San Bernardino, CA.
2nd screening will be on October 18th in Brownsville, Texas with the CreArte Expo and we will be screening the 1985 slasher/zombie cult classic "Cemetery of Terror" (Cementerio Del Terror), which by the way was filmed in Brownsville, Texas. The screening will also feature a panel with yours truly on the film and what Trash-Mex is all about.
Pre-sale tickets will be for sale soon, so do check on the CreArte Expo website for all further info. Tickets will also be for sale in person on day of screening. Screening is scheduled for 8PM (subject to change).
3rd screening of October will be on October 27th at The Frida Cinema with the 1989 bloody-slasher Hell's Trap (Trampa Infernal). See the brand-new restoration from Vinegar Syndrome on the big screen! Tickets are now for sale. Screening will begin at 7:30PM.
After years of being asked about doing a podcast, I have finally dwelled into it with the newly-created Trash-Mex Podcast with co-host/producer Joey Diaz of the Los Angeles based DJ collective "Rendezvous".
Me and Joey are now 2 episodes in with the first episode being about the 2 first Mexican porn films and the second episode we discuss 2 action-crime films starring the legendary Mario Almada & Valentin Trujillo. Give the podcast a listen on any of your preferred podcast platforms. Please give it a subscribe, rating & review! Hope you'll enjoy this new format to explore Mexican genre cinema as a whole!
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.
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.
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 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)
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.
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 & vintageGardena Cinemaon 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)
