DR. SATAN Y LA MAGIA NEGRA (1968)
aka Dr. Satan and Black Magic
Article 4446 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-10-2014
Directed by Rogelio A. Gonzalez
Featuring Joaquin Cordero, Sonia Furio, Noe Murayama
Country: Mexico
What it is: Weird fantasy-horror

The Devil King revives his human acolyte, Dr. Satan, and gives him the mission to defeat a vampiric black magician named Yei Lin, who is trying to usurp his throne by stealing a formula that can convert base metals into gold. Dr. Satan creates mini-skirted female zombie minions to help him out. Who will win the battle of wits, and will Interpol catch the winner?

I have to admit that I have a weakness for movies with truly bizarre plots, and I’ve noticed that Mexico seems to be a good source for them. The main battle in this movie isn’t between good and evil; it’s between two different evil factions, and since the Interpol subplot mostly remains in the background, you really don’t have a good guy to root for. Nonetheless, you may end up rooting for Dr. Satan, if for no other reason that he seems the more vulnerable of the two antagonists, and his own situation is sad enough that he generates a certain amount of sympathy. It also helps that he is very well acted by Joaquin Cordero, who underplays nicely. Still, the whole movie is freaky and bizarre enough that I found it all rather engaging, and it has some great moments; my favorite shows us Yei Lin’s reaction when he tries to but the vampire bite on Dr. Satan’s minions. This is a sequel to DR. SATAN, which I’ve also seen, but fortunately, this one has English subtitles so I could understand it better.