one of the very best zombie makeups the genre has to offer, and (basic premise understood as a “given”) there’s a studious avoidance of the cloning of bet- ter-known titles. The distinct na- tional personality of Mexican horror has been in evidence throughout the BCI collection (the slavish HELL’S TRAP stand- ing as the exception), but GRAVE ROBBERS has it all. Blood and gore are frequently exploited, but sex is kept to an almost-chaste suggestion (there is no nudity to be found anywhere in the set). Most importantly, however, the belief in good is given equal weight when contrasted with the powers of evil. Blessed relics fre- quently come into play, the Catholic faith is treated with rev- erence and respect, and when essentially virtuous lead charac- ters find themselves sucked into magic mirrors, swallowed up by


the earth or even fatally impaled during the climactic goings-on, they usually receive mortal sal- vation when Satan and his min- ions are ultimately put paid to (the occasional sequel-hook “stinger” notwithstanding). No- where is such faith more evident than in GRAVE ROBBERS, which gives us Roberto Canedo as Pa- dre Jeronimo, who survives a su- pernatural beating and carries on bloodied but unbowed, summon- ing the townspeople to powerful prayer while the final showdown rages on out of their view. Ladrones de Tumbas was mis- leadingly identified as “Accione” in my local video store—it took the recommendation of a knowl- edgeable friend to turn me on to this unjustly-obscure item. Hope- fully, the subtitled rendition will earn it the wider audience it de- serves. CEMETERY OF TERROR and GRAVE ROBBERS were


previously offered as a “Crypt of Terror” double bill by BCI—inci- dentally, both films feature the engaging Edna Bolkan as a character named “Olivia.” Also included but mentioned nowhere on BCI’s packaging is THE DEMON RAT (La Rata Maldita), a retitling of Galindo, Jr.’s direct-to-video 1991 thriller Mutantes del ano 2000. This title was originally slated to ap- pear in Volume 2 of the “South of the Border” collection but managed to pop in early and unannounced on Side B of Disc 3. The then-future Mexico, as depicted here, has essentially lost the war for the atmosphere: toxic fog shrouds the entire outdoor world, forcing the populace to wear gas masks, removable only in structures equipped with special air purifi- ers. In this miserable situation, we find schoolteacher Irina


It’s possible for romance to bloom even under the unlikely auspices of GRAVE ROBBERS.


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