Night of the Bloody Apes (1969) User Reviews

"Move the table over to the cage... and prepare the gorilla!"

[Doctor_Cheese · 5/10 · 12 October 2004]

This movie has EVERYTHING. Female wrestling. Gorillas. Open-heart surgery. A crappy-looking monster. Gratuitous nudity. Ridiculously fake gore. Bad dubbing. Retarded dialogue. Atrocious editing. In other words, all the makings of a masterpiece.

When a surgeon transplants the heart of an ape into his deathly ill son, the result is, of course, a guy in a stupid-looking gorilla mask running amok and attacking hot Mexican broads. I mean, duh, what else would you expect to happen when you mess with the laws of nature, or whatever.

Meanwhile, some chick in a red catsuit wrestles other women while her boyfriend watches. No, it's not what you're thinking. She wrestles in the ring and he sits in the audience. Why does this happen? I don't really know. But her boyfriend turns out to be the detective who tries to track the Bloody Ape Man of Death, so I guess it's all right.

After the requisite number of murders, the surgeon recaptures his homicidal son and transplants a human heart back into him, taken from the body of a woman he steals from the hospital he works at. But it's all for naught: Gorilla Boy just gets back up and rips more people's heads off. More chaos ensues until the chilling denouement.

Bottom line: this movie is apparent proof that Ed Wood had Mexican relatives. Which means it's safe for you to watch this crap.

Waiter, I'll take a grilled apeburger... with extra cheese. To go!

Oh come on! you can't be too harsh with this one.

[insomniac_rod · 6/10 · 4 July 2006]

Now, this is a really obscure Mexican Horror flick. It's almost impossible to find it even in Mèxico. I don't know if it's banned but it's worth searching. This is a movie with many clichès from Mexican Horror: we get wrestlers (now that they are popular), boobs, and creepy settings.

This movie has good cheesy gore. Don't expect a shocking exploitation movie. It's just an ultra low budgeter with guts.

The beast is not that horrid as the title says, in fact, it's kind of cheesy (in the likes of "Night Of The Demon") , but it delivers for the movie's tone.

I recommend this one for lovers of B-movies that can stand cheesiness through 90 minutes. There's some gore and violence but not enough to consider this one as exploitation.

Terrible but fun.

[gridoon · 5/10 · 9 February 2002]

I simply can't believe that "Night Of The Bloody Apes" was included in the notorious "Video Nasties" list. If you ever see it, you'll probably agree. This film is too stupid to be offensive. Oh, there is a lot of gore, to be sure, but most of the bloody sequences are so badly edited and inserted into the picture that either you don't even get a clear idea of what's going on (the heart transplant sequence, allegedly including real shots) or you simply laugh at the lame effects (the eye gouging). Terrible but fun picture, if you're in the right mood. (**)

P.S. There is also some brief but entertaining female wrestling footage.

Check it out!!!

[dmuel · 10 August 2001]

I must disagree with other critics here. This is a marvelous Mexican exploitation movie. One problem with the translated title, however, is that there is only one ape in the movie, not two, and he dies early on after having his heart transplanted to a human. Thereafter, a man-ape assumes the role of movie-monster, so he's not fully a gorilla. Apes?? Anyway, much of the movie was made to titilate Mexican male viewers in the era of the movie's release, 1972. The ape-man has a penchant for chasing voluptuous Mexican ladies and tearing their blouse and bra off. For some reason he also likes to rip the heads off of human males. Surely this is the consequence of his animal heart! The movie also features the obligatory masked wrestling women, the heroine in this instance having almost no connection with the ape-man or his evil scientist creator, but the dialogue makes for extremely bad/funny sequences. There is much red paint splattered about and some obviously phony gore scenes. A great and good laugh for the twisted soul such as myself.

NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES {Original Spanish-Language and Alternate U.S. Versions} (Rene Cardona, 1969) **

[Bunuel1976 · 4/10 · 13 October 2006]

This is another notorious Mexican horror film: however, while the original Spanish-language version is quite tame, all sorts of gore and nudity were inserted for the English-dubbed variant (prepared by Jerald Intrator - who did similar duties on THE CURIOUS DR. HUMPP [1967/71] - and, like the U.S. version of that film, had previously been available on DVD through Something Weird/Image)!

I watched the original first and, while no great shakes, it was fairly engaging - especially with a plot as familiar as this one was: a doctor goes beyond the call of duty in attempting to save the life of his terminally ill son; he even has a hulking, game-legged assistant (played by Carlos Lopez Moctezuma, who had essayed a strikingly similar role - though in a more sinister vein - in THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN [1961]). I know that several Mexican films mingled horror with the "Lucha Libre" (Wrestling) genre but I had never watched one myself; this element is present here - in fact, the heroine is a wrestler - but the two styles are, perhaps thankfully, kept apart (that said, the wrestling sequences are competently done, with some of the moves proving highly amusing).

The doctor's son is transformed into a monster (looking like The Incredible Hulk with mud splashed over his face!) after having had an ape's heart transplanted into him - but, then, when this is replaced with that of a comatose female wrestler, he stays this way and grows a pair of fangs to boot (shouldn't he realistically have turned into a transsexual...though I guess that wouldn't have been very interesting)!! The climactic rooftop sequence in which the monster kidnaps a child and meets his demise at the hands of the police is reminiscent of THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942). My favorite unintentionally funny moments in the film, however, occur when the doctor, trying to comfort his son, tells him that he'll soon be cured - only to turn his back soon after on the verge of tears - and also the impatient look he gives his crippled assistant (as the latter staggers slowly into the car) when they're about to chase the monster who has escaped from the lab.

The alternate nude scenes work for the film (these were actually done by Cardona himself for a racier Mexican version entitled HORROR Y SEXO) but its reputation is largely based on the added material showing over-the-top violence, such as an eyeball being gouged out of its socket, a scalping and even a person's head being torn off. There are also several graphic operation inserts which, however, give rise to a goof: while it's made clear that only two people are involved in the operation, we see a third pair of hands constantly holding an oxygen mask to the patient's face!

The film is also said to be a loose remake of Cardona's own black-and-white horror film DOCTOR OF DOOM (1962) but, since I haven't watched that one, I can't say how much of it was actually pilfered for NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES...

"I acted against the dictates of God"

[bensonmum2 · 5/10 · 12 May 2006]

Night of the Bloody Apes is a bizarre little film. It features: bad acting, a ridiculous storyline, terrible special effects, inane dialogue, Grand Canyon size plot holes, a complete lack of logic, enough padding for two movies, an insane amount of blood and gore, a generous helping of nudity, some truly "unique" camera-work, and female luchadors. I generally hate this term, but it should be easy to see why I consider Night of the Bloody Apes "so bad its good". The movie is so full of excesses and poor taste that it's an absolute blast to watch. Night of the Bloody Apes may be a train wreck of a film, but I can't think of many movies that are this bad yet so fun to watch.

I could go on and on describing moments for Night of the Bloody Apes like the utterly boring masked female wrestling matches or the eye gouging scene that looked like someone was squeezing cottage cheese, but I don't want to "ruin" it for anyone. You need to see this one for yourself.

Gore Mongral's Movie Review: Night of the Bloody Apes/La Horripilante Bestia Humana

[ChiefGoreMongral · 5/10 · 14 September 2006]

Here is another review for all you horror craved Pygmies out there. Today I have a double review of sorts. It is on the Mexican Horror Film "La Horripilante Bestia Humana" and its more well known title "Night of the Bloody Apes", the cut for us here in the states. Lets take a look at the 2 and what the differences are.

Well first off lets get this straight..there is only one "Apes" and it is more of a Were-ape actually. The movie starts off with a little bit of female Lucho Libras action(thats that wacky crazy Mexicano wrestling for you cats not in the know). We have a female wrestler who injures another wrestler by throwing her outside of the ring. The girl is sent to the hospital with a skull fracture that has caused a piece of her skull to become embedded in her brain.

In comes Dr.Krallman who is an expert surgeon who also has a son Julio who has a rare form of Leukemia that is going to cause him to die within several days ... that is unless the good doc can find a way to remove his heart and blood and replace it with a good heart and new blood. With this thought in mind he decides upon an Ape heart which he retrieves from an ape in a zoo (or man in a monkey suit).

Little does the Dr realize that this is a tragic mistake as his son soon turns into a half man/half beast monstrosity that gets loose and causes chaos on the town. Luckily he is able to capture his man beast son and decides that the only way to get him to stop reverting from human to beast is to get another heart..the heart of the wrestler who was seriously injured. After kidnapping her from the hospital and performing the surgery the doctor assumes all is well..and its not. This leads to a final showdown between father, son, police and beast.

That a nutshell is the movie now what is the differences. Well first off "La Horri" (which I will use as the Mexican version abbreviation) plays out like an old-school monster flick with a man turned to monster story. Now I like my old school horror/sci-fi but this movie leaves a lot to be desired and other than a few nice quirky moments it really isn't that good. Fans of old school monster mashes can give it a go but I really think there is A lot more you can watch before moving down to this film.

As far as the American version goes well it is at its roots the exact same movie however the movie goes from a moderately tame monster romp to an exploitation film. you see the movie is pretty much the same except for about 5 minutes of alternate footage that includes Gore and Nudity not seen in the Mexican release. A prime example would be the heart transplant scene when they actually show a "real" heart transplant as oppose to a cut away with no footage at all of the surgery like in "La Horri". Also the attack sequences on woman turned from him just attack them in "La Horri" to him ripping off there clothes and ravishing them Ape-Style in "Apes"!!! The American release has a little more going for it and is worth more of a look than the original as the movie is pure schlock to begin with. The American version plays off of that and makes this film worth a look for fans of old school gore (nothing we haven't seen done better) or fans of exploitation. In conclusion the movie is really not much to write home about in either version but is definitely an interesting piece to view as it was one of the films that helped to the success and rise of the exploitation explosion of the 60's and 70's.

La Horripilante Bestia Humana: 4/10 Below Average Night of the Bloody Apes: 5/10 Average Nothing special here but with a group of friends "Apes" can be a bit more fun. "La Horri" on the other hand isn't nothing to write home about but if you would like a more family friend version of "Apes" this is the way to go, just don't expect anything great.

Several releases of "Apes" has reached DVD however "La Horri" has never has a release that is until the release on the Crypt of Terror Double DVD release (Along with "Curse of the Doll People" (aka "Munecos Infernales")). It is in a full screen format and seems to be a fair to good print quality. Some of the scenes move up and down on the screen in certain areas and make things a bit annoying but overall it seems to be OK. If you haven't obtained a copy of the film at this point you may want to get this copy as it will give you a chance to do your own comparing between the 2 versions as well as the addition of the 2nd film listed above which actually has both the Mexican and American versions as well. Its really a quadruple band,bang,bang,bang for the buck at $10.00. You really cannot go wrong. Definitely keep your eyes on future releases from this company (Deimos Entertainment).

Thats it for now but remember Female Lucadores have bad tempers,do not stand them up for a date or they may give you a fracture...somewhere else.

They are Apes...They are Bloody...And Lady Wrestlers, too...

[masercot · 7/10 · 5 December 2004]

What can I say about this movie? If you are seeing it, you've already heard about it. If you've heard about it, you know what to expect. It is a gory, sleazy and silly movie...

And, I mean that in a good way. The actors don't seem to know that they are in a low budget movie. Some even seem unaware of the fact that they cannot act and TRY anyway. It is beautiful in its way.

The makeup and special effects are pretty bad. The ape-man looks as if someone slapped a mud pack on a professional wrestler. Later, cheesy looking fangs are added, possibly to show that his heart had been replaced again...possibly to show that the makeup man had a very short train of thought.

The biggest waste in this movie is the lady wrestler who is contemplating retirement after putting an opponent into a coma. She is on the periphery of the plot...a plot where, for example, in the Santos movies, wrestling could've played a large part. I was unhappy not to see her in action against the ape-man...

The actors are generally sincere. The doctor does an excellent job. The zaftig nudity of a lady wrestler is also a welcome change from the anorexia we are forced to consume in today's sleaze.

But this movie is BLOODY. Many scenes are simply stock footage taken from heart operations. But there are gougings, scalping's, detoothings and squishings. None of these injuries look particularly authentic; but, the thought of them might be offensive to some. Definitely, this is an adult movie...

For sheer fun, I gave this movie a seven. If you like sleaze and cheese, see it...

Good low budget horror movie...

[MovieGuy01 · 5/10 · 12 October 2009]

I enjoyed watching Night Of The Blody Apes,I found it to be quite a funny sort of horror film. This was a cheap Mexican horror film. Female masked wrestler Lucy beats an opponent a wrestling lady with a red costume like Catwoman. she hurls her opponent from the ring. A mad scientist (Dr. Krellman) attempts to cure his son's leukaemia by doing the first 'ape-to-human' heart transplant. He decides to put a gorilla's heart into the lad There is footage of a graphic open heart surgery inserted in the ape operation scenes. this causes the boy to turn into a big ape. He becomes deformed and mutated, as he grows facial hair and immediately goes on a bloody rampage, tearing clothes off women and faces off men. I found this to be quite a funny horror to watch at time

Truly Incredible Exploitation Flick

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 12 July 2014]

This cheap Mexican horror film is a remake of Rene Cardona's "Doctor of Doom" (1962), spiced with nudity, medical footage, women wrestling, and cheap gore shots.

Where the title comes from is anyone's guess. There is plenty of blood and gore (and nudity), and at least one ape, but there is nothing in the film that could be summed up by this title. But, who can complain when what you get is every bit as wild as that name? This is worth watching, and probably one of the better films on the notorious "video nasty" list (besides, you know, all the Fulci and Argento). For sheer entertainment value, this is top notch.

Gory Mexican trash exploitation is good for a laugh

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 6 September 2016]

It's difficult to fathom why this outrageously shoddy exploitation quickie ever made the "video nasties" list in the first place; the film is packed with ludicrously fake gore scenes of rubber body parts being ripped and torn apart, so unrealistic as to be downright amusing. It's a wonder that our so-called government ever decided that this film could harm casual viewers and drive them to committing copycat crimes...

Saying that, it's a lot of fun to just marvel at the sheer ineptitude on display here. The bare plot is served up as an excuse to have lots of graphic murders be committed, where the victims are mainly women who are always unlucky enough to get their tops ripped off while being attacked. Over and over again we go through the routines: scientists operate, monster escapes and kills people, monster is recaptured, scientists operate, monster escapes, ad infinitum. It's not a particularly awful premise, but the trouble is it never deviates from the expected route, which is strictly the norm.

The gore is blatantly phoney, with bright red paint splashing about, although the makers certainly don't shy away from the violence, preferring to show heads being torn off in full glory. The biggest laugh comes where somebody has their eye poked out and a load of stuffing comes out along with it! Along comes an old woman who sees the body and runs down the street screaming "Argh! A dead man! A dead man!". It's hilarious.

The acting is nondescript, the actors poorly dubbed. There are no sympathetic characters and the short running time is padded out with shots of masked women wrestling in a ring, those crazy Mexicans, huh? Although the monster is just a man in a mask, I will say that the mask is pretty effective and looks good, even if it's obvious that it is indeed a mask. In the supposed operations we get treated to footage of real-life open heart surgery, just the same as you can see when you turn on any hospital documentaries on BBC1 such as Children's Hospital. The most amusing thing is that the film cuts to these scenes with obviously three or four surgeons working on somebody, then cuts back to the actors playing the scientists... and there are only two of them! Definitely a discrepancy with the number of hands there. NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES is definitely one of those so-bad-it's-good kind of films, and the best thing I can say about is that it's good for a laugh. Otherwise, if you're looking for a moving and serious piece of entertainment, forget it.

"Perhaps you have been seeing on your television too many pictures of terror."

[haildevilman · 9/10 · 15 July 2006]

An incredibly successful combo of the Mexican 'Lucha Libre' genre with 70's style horror. And a dash of 'Mad Scientist' cliché's tossed in for spice.

The original Mexican title was 'Horror y Sexo.' Tell me it doesn't fit perfectly.

Great chase scenes.

The gorillaman's make-up was horrible in both senses of the word. It ended at the neck. But it WAS ugly. And like a lot of classic horror films, it did make you nervous during the night scenes.

The Mondo style heart surgery footage was a tinge gross. It didn't hurt the film, it didn't help either.

Graphic (and I do mean GRAPHIC) violence will put some of you off. But I still liked it.

Night of the Horny Turd-Man

[Vomitron_G · 2/10 · 10 October 2007]

The following "review" is one from the wrong side of the tracks, meaning two things: You will hear nothing but praises coming from me and don't be fooled by my rating. I also could tell you that this review contains no spoilers, but technically... that's a lie.

Well,... Screw the review. I'm just going to ramble a bit. It has been a while since I had so much fun with such a bad film. And if you cannot enjoy this piece of utter drivel, then you simply have no sense of humor. First off, this movie was meant to be taken seriously, and that's the main aspect were the fun is coming from. The story? A doctor's son is terminally ill. Daddy-Doctor decides that a hart-transplant must be the only way of saving his son. So, in true mad-doctor-style, he decides that the heart of a gorilla will do the trick. Of course, the gorilla-heart is "much too potent for a human", so sonny-boy transforms into this hideous Ape-Man that immediately breaks free and goes on a killing and raping spree (because that's simply what any horny beast would do, isn't it?). The make-up of our Ape-Man is hilarious. There's simply no other way of putting it: The guys' face looks like a turd! I'm talking human excrement here, the solid brown kind! Beautiful! The gore in this flick is wonderful too: Aside from real footage of an open-heart surgery, we also have incredibly fake (but quite nasty) looking blood & gore effects: a decapitation, an eye-gouging, a throat-ripping, the scalping of someone's skull,... It's hilarious, and indeed it's quite incomprehensible why NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES ever made it to the notorious UK Video-Nasties list, because all of the nasty things portrayed in this film are simply too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Oh, and there's only one bloody ape running around in it too, by the way. So, needless to say that LA HORRIPILANTE BESTIA HUMANA is a much more accurate title for this terrifying and convincing tale of science gone horribly wrong.

When not trying to shock with poorly staged acts of bloody violence or random portrayals of female nudity, this movie manages to be highly entertaining with ingredients like nonsensical dialogues, cheap cardboard sets, plot stupidity and incredibly bad acting. Just a few random examples, maybe? About the sets: One can clearly see that the set-designers just used the same walls, doors, windows (etc.) over and over again to be build various different interior sets (e.g.: One side of the hospital room - the window side - where the unconscious wrestling girl lies, looks suspiciously similar like the window side of the basement-laboratory from where Ape-Man escapes; The set-designers also took one of the side-windows from the laboratory, made it a bit larger and just placed it in the conference-room of the hospital; All the walls in any building are the same grey-ones;...). Then there's the setting of the park. Clearly shot in a studio, you can see (on several occasions) that the grass is loose. Whenever there's some struggling/fighting/raping going on, the grass just shifts and shuffles and you can see the grey concrete from the studio-floor beneath it.

Just a few random lines that come out the actors' mouths:

-- In the conference-room where all the doctors are debating the disappearance of Unconscious Wrestling Girl (a disappearance that would of course mean bad publicity for the hospital), Daddy-Doctor intelligently utters "We find ourselves in a situation that is difficult".

-- During that same debate a colleague-doctor cleverly remarks "A sleepwalker! Any sleepwalker gets up.", hereby providing a solid excuse for the disappearance of Unconscious Wrestling Girl.

-- After our investigating detective, through the amazing process of his own logical deduction, concludes and tells his superior that the murderer must be a half man/half beast, his superior answers that it's absurd, adding the line "It's more probable that of late, more and more, you're watching on your television many of those pictures of terror"... Truly one of the best lines of the movie.

Other sources of laughter:

-- The two scenes were Daddy-Doctor and his Igor-like assistant kidnap the gorilla from the zoo and Unconscious Wrestling Girl from the hospital - these well thought-out acts of abduction are like taking candy from a baby.

-- Daddy-Doctor speaks to God a lot, doesn't he?

-- Sonny-boy calling Daddy-Doctor "Papa" on more than one occasion.

-- An old lady screaming "Aaargh!!! A dead man! A dead Man! A Dead Man!! A DEAD MAN!!!".

-- The plot periodically stops to wallow in scenes of women wrestling, only to go on again and do nothing with that concept. Sure, Daddy-Doctor replaces Sonny-Boy's gorilla-heart a second time with that of Unconscious Wrestling Girl, but do you think something spectacular happens after that? Like Ape-Turd-Man growing breasts or something, trying to rape men this time? Our leading living wrestling beauty (Norma Lazareno) doesn't even go into a climactic wrestling contest with Ape-Turd-Man near the movie's finale... But Ape-Turd-Man does start to show some motherly love near the end... almost (and I say "almost") in true KING KONG-style (i.e. the top of a building and people on the ground pointing and screaming).

Okay, I think that's enough now. I chipped in more than my two cents here. Vomitron's Rational Rating for this sleazy piece of hilarious dreck: 2/10. Vomitron's rating From the Wrong Side of the Tracks: 8/10. Go see this film, people. It is well worth it!

Um, wow

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 1 January 2020]

Oh René Cardona. Here you are remaking the lucha libre movie you did back in 1962, Las Luchadoras Contra el Medico Asesino, or The Wrestling Women vs. the Killer Doctor or Doctor of Doom, as it was called in the U.S.

While this was made in 1969 as La Horripilante Bestia Humana, or The Horrible Man-Beast, this one didn't play in the U.S. until 1972. With alternate titles like Horror y Sexo and Gomar - The Human Gorilla, this is a fine blend of ladies wrestling with apes and, well, human heart surgery footage.

Rene is also known for his films Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy, the incredibly baffling Santa Claus and Survive!, a movie all about plane crashes and cannibalism.

Female masked wrestler Lucy dresses like the devil and wrestles at the arena - dare we say Arena Mexico? - every Friday, where she often knocks out other girls who dress like cat girls. She wants to retire for a life of leisure - and less stress - with her cop boyfriend.

However, Dr. Krellman (Jose Elias Moreno, who was Santa Claus in the aforementioned film where he battles Patch the demon) wants to cure his son from leukemia. So he does what doctors have always said would work - he puts him a gorilla heart inside his boy. As we all know from health class, this turns his son into a deformed and murderous man-ape with the craziness of the organ donor to boot.

You won't be bored, what with the nudity, real open heart surgery and rampant murders. A monkey man that rips off dudes' faces and the clothes of girls? Si, muchacho.

This made the Section 1 video nasties list, probably because its VHS cover art was had a bloody surgeon's hands holding a scalpel with the words "Warning: this film contains scenes of extreme and explicit violence."

Where were the other Apes?

[[e-mail] · 3/10 · 4 April 2006]

This film was a Mexican made horror film from the late 60s. It's not that good, but really not so bad either. There is plenty of schlock and it is padded pretty heavily with nudity and violence, but it had a plot and at least tried to keep to it (even if the plot was the same damn Frankenstein inspired "don't tamper in God's domain" b-movie fare). There was some padding mixed in with the female wrestling, but it was made in Mexico and wrestling does seem to be popular in Mexico.

The plot is that a doctor wants to save his son, who is dying from leukemia. The other doctors have given no hope for the poor guy, but dad has the idea of transplanting a gorilla's heart for his son's to save his life (I don't know, I'm a lawyer not a doctor). The transplant works, but sonny-boy ends up becoming a man-ape who terrorizes nude women and kills anyone who gets in his path. There's also a subplot involving a cop and his girlfriend who is a wrestler (this really didn't add too much, but if they wanted to throw in some masked female wrestlers here's a good reason to do so).

The film was kind of cheap, but not too bad for a b-movie of the day. The plot was basically just recycled and there were a few things that weren't tied in that well. However, this film is kind of fun in its own way (I don't know why, maybe because it's a Mexican horror film and sticks out in my normal bad movie diet). I guess it may be because it's a mix and mash of some very weird things.

Watch it if you like cheesy foreign films, nudity, and female wrestlers.

Huh? This was an infamous "Video Nasty?

[Coventry · 3/10 · 21 December 2004]

Cult purchasers are unquestionably familiar with the term "video nasties". This was a notorious British list containing all the films that could bring 'damage' to society if viewed by irresponsible audiences (dramatization). For gore buffs, this is an excellent checklist as it contains inhumanly cruel and disturbingly realist movies (Faces of Death, Cannibal Holocaust, Driller Killer) as well as outrageous and ultra-sick horror films (The Burning, Nightmare City, The Toolbox Murders). Keeping this in mind, it's quite unusual to see "Night of the Bloody Apes" listed among the other "nasties". It sure is gory…but the blood and violence are so poorly presented I can't imagine anyone would be offended by it. And the silly plot (about a desperate doctor transplanting a gorilla's heart into the chest of his dying son) isn't exactly what you would call disturbingly real, neither. All that remains is a fairly amusing pulp-horror flick with awful acting and pointless sleaze. The man-ape make up effects are laughable and there's no tension or atmosphere to detect anywhere. Enjoyable only if you're in the right mood, in other words. The few sequences showing detailed matches of lady-wrestling (which one of the lead-actresses does for a living) are very cool.

Highly entertaining Mexploitation with one bloody ape only

[fertilecelluloid · 7/10 · 30 December 2005]

The Mexican Ed Wood, Rene Cardona, struck again, and how!, in "Night of the Bloody Apes", a Mexploitation classic. Let's get a few things straight first. There is one bloody ape, not several. He's not even an ape. He's a half-ape suffering from incurable leukemia. The son (Agustín Martínez Solares) of a surgeon, he is close to death when Dad (Armando Silvestre) decides to kidnap a local ape and replace his brain and blood with that of the ape's. Things don't work out as planned, so Mr. Half Ape goes on a modest rampage where he rapes and kills. After he is caught by Dad and Goyo, a Mexican version of Dr. Frankenstein's Igor, son returns to his former state while Dad figures out what to do next.

The film is totally incompetent, stuffed with ludicrous dialog, unbelievable situations and graphic, amateurishly shot violence. There is real surgery footage, copious and gratuitous nudity, a wrestling sidebar, a scalping that Lustig's "Maniac" later mimicked, eye gouging that Fulci would have been proud of, and a crazy, overused "wipe" between scenes.

The Bloody Ape mumbles and has protruding fangs. In one scene, he chases a female wrestler/detective's girlfriend in his pajamas. In another, he takes pity on a little girl and carries her to the edge of a building. The music is repetitive, set to "Hysterical" mode most of the time, and the performances waver between awful and barely believable.

The entertainment factor is high. "Apes" is never less than amusing, is not slow, and has a certain innocence and warmth about it.

Experience it for yourself.

One of the worst Horror movies about heart-transplants, killer apes, and womens wrestling that I've ever seen

[Tromafreak · 3/10 · 23 July 2010]

One would assume that a 60's gore-fest, with the words "bloody" and "apes" in the title, which also features a sub-plot involving women's wrestling, would be at least mildly entertaining. Not so. Not even a little. I hate it when this happens. With a rad little title such as Night Of The Bloody Apes, it's all a gore-hound can do is have high expectations. But then it hits me... Oh yeah!! Mexican B-Horror. You see, no one is to blame for my boredom but me. I was well aware how terribly dull low-budget Horror is from down there. Believe me. This won't happen again. But now that I've started this review, I guess you expect me to keep on typing a while longer, so I can tell you about it... *SIGH* Alright, fine...

There seems to be a lot of this "transplant Horror" from this era, and the decade before. I can't remember ever being this bored by one of these. About a Surgeon desperately trying to save his ailing son, Julio's life by replacing his bum ticker with that of an orangutan. And don't forget the routine, surgery, stock-footage. Not bad. And of course, Julio now turns into a Gorilla-person. Doing only what a Gorilla-person would do. Julio goes on rampages, ripping women's clothes off, and perform random acts of brutality. Not to worry, as he doesn't stay like that. It's kind of an on and off thing, like a werewolf, I guess... Oh yeah!! And there's also chicks rasslin'. A quality which seems to serve no purpose. No tie-in to the main story or anything. Or maybe that is the main story. Who knows?

I know what you're thinking, but trust me, it's not nearly as good as it sounds. absolutely all of this manages to come off completely flavorless. It really is a shame. A total waste of an awesome title. Dare I say it's even worse than Cheerleader Autopsy. The son of the guy that directed this bloody letdown, would go on to make a movie about killer cats, entitled Blood Feast. That's right. Blood Feast. As far as the one about the Apes goes, my advice to you would be to forget you ever heard of this lousy flick, and its glamorous title, and spend your money on something worthwhile like Brain Of Blood, or TeenApe Goes To Camp. At the very least, Night Of The Bloody Apes had a choice to give us some "so bad it's good" humor. It couldn't even give us that. Shame on you, Bloody Apes 3/10

Female wrestlers, a monster, and plenty of nudity!

[rosscinema · 6/10 · 29 August 2005]

You can just tell when a certain film has that special quality and seems deemed to end up a cult favorite and with this gem I was tipped off just by the title alone because the word "Apes" is wrong since there is only one! I couldn't wait to watch this after seeing that! Story starts out with a female wrestler named Lucy Ossorio (Norma Lazareno) who critically maims another woman during a match which prompts her to consider retiring which pleases her boyfriend Arturo Martinez (Armando Silvestre) who's a cop.

*****SPOILER ALERT***** Meanwhile, one Dr. Krallman (Jose Elias Moreno) needs a heart for his dying son Julio (Agustin Martinez Solares) so with the help from his gimp assistant Goyo (Carlos Lopez Moctezuma) they steal a gorilla from the local zoo and use it's organ. Not long after the operation Julio transforms into a half beast half human monster that breaks free and starts a murderous rampage of killing men and tearing the clothes off of women. Krallman and Goyo use a tranquilizer gun to stop him and bring him back but they also go to the hospital and abducts the female wrestler that was injured and they use her heart. They think everything will be fine after removing the gorilla heart and replacing it with one that's human but that darn monkey blood has still remained in Julio's system and he once again turns into the beast!

This low budget Mexican horror flick was directed by Rene Cardona who is part of the infamous Cardona family and along with his son they together have made several entertaining exploitation films such as this. Where do I begin with my observances? First off, this film is very bloody and boasts scenes involving decapitations, eye gouging, throat ripping, and stock footage of a real heart transplant that gives this some sort of weird credence for fans of gore. But let's face it, this is one of those "it's so bad it's good" efforts that even got the title wrong considering there is only one ape and I couldn't help but notice the shot of a real orangutan before the phony shot of the guy in the worst ape costume I have ever seen. This film is also horribly dubbed with mouths moving in one direction and words obviously muttering something else but they also had the English voices incorrectly pronouncing the letter "J" with Julio being pronounced with the American "J" and not like an "H". It's also hard not to notice that the half beast half human monster wouldn't hesitate for one second to kill every man it came into contact with but with the women his priority was to get their clothes off! It's hard to hate a monster for that reason and I guess even half beast half human creatures get horny too! Obviously that's the human side of him but it also makes me think that if you take a beast that's 99% ape and 1% human that would be enough of a human side to make it horny for naked women. There's two other things that I couldn't help but notice like the police car that almost hits the crowd of people at a murder scene and the fake grass that moves from a woman fighting with the monster revealing the floor of the soundstage! If your looking for a cheap exploitation film than you don't have to look any further because this effort delivers the goods and has plenty of gratuitous nudity and cheap gore to entertain those who enjoy this genre.

Just about what you would expect from an exploitation film

[preppy-3 · 4/10 · 16 May 2009]

Dr. Krellman wants to save his son Julio who's dying of heart disease. He decides a heart transplant with an ape will cure his son (no--I'm not kidding). He does the transplant and (somehow) his son changes from a frail guy into a muscle-bound man with a dime store mask that (sort of) resembles an ape! Naturally he gets out, kills men, tears the clothes of women and wreaks havoc. This is all inter cut with the boring romance of police lt. Arturo Martinez and lady wrestler Lucy Ossorio. We also get pointless female wrestling sequences that add nothing to the plot. It all ends by copying the end of "King Kong"! This is (obviously) a pretty stupid movie. The plot makes little sense, there's the gratuitous female nudity (a staple of any exploitation film) and VERY graphic gore that looks laughably fake (except for the open heart transplant). Still this does have merit. The whole cast takes everything dead serious and actually aren't too bad as actors. Also the dubbed in dialogue was (for a film like this) well done and interesting with surprisingly good dubbing. Also I saw an excellent DVD print with bright strong color (which helps). We're not talking a classic here but an OK exploitation movie.

Prepare the gorilla.

[stupid_fresh · 10/10 · 11 September 2002]

(Contains spoilers)

Night Of The Bloody Apes is a very special film. Special in a way that a mother could love. I can't really express my feelings for this film - I feel protective about it, as if watching over a child who is unable to look after itself. Excuse me for being inconsistent, therefore, in my appraisal of the film (below). Sometimes I feel paternal, others nauseous, when I think about what I have seen.

The film is a very cheap Mexican 'horror' with real life heart transplant footage edited into it during the operation scenes. This is pretty grim. Although, they can't possibly have done this operation for the film itself, so I don't really consider that to be too tasteless. And really, the rest of most of the film is so comic book and likeable, dammit, that you can forgive the rather shoddy idea of using said footage as a main point of sale. Far more interesting are the scenes where a woman wrestles another woman in what initially seems to be a pointless subplot. Have faith viewers, it is NOT a pointless subplot, but a cunning and subtle plot development. Even when the film appears to be going nowhere it IS. God bless writer/director Rene Cardona. I love the actress who plays the wrestler, too - especially when she looks straight into the camera and smiles to us, her loyal viewers.

The other section of the plot sees a man has leukaemia and his (doctor) father transplanting a gorilla heart into him. Well, the gorilla could be a man in a gorilla suit from the way he moves about in the cage prior to his tranquilisation. And hang on, how can the doctor shoot the gorilla through the wire mesh that fences him in? Anyway, the son then turns into a gorilla. Actually, he wears a gorilla mask and then terrorises the neighbourhood. Periodically, as he keeps fading (literally) between 'man state' and 'gorilla state'.

There are many, many amusing lines in the dubbed version. My personal favourites are "Prepare the gorilla" (before the first operation) and "I prepared for everything, but I didn't prepare for this" (after the doctor's son dons the simian mask and begins his terrifying rampage).

People say that really bad films are funny to watch _because_ they are so bad. I have only found this to be the case with one film before now, and that was Death Wish 3, but now Night Of The Bloody Apes has become one of my pet films. A desert island treasure.

For entertainment value, this gets 10/10. Recently I have been unable to watch films all the way through, due to my deteriorating attention span, but this kept my attention for its duration, even to the extent that I couldn't look away from the TV. Take my advice and watch this masterpiece.

Prepare the gorilla.

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 3 October 2008]

This was one of the infamous video nasties banned in Britain and released with approximately 1 minute of pre-cuts in 1999.

The quality of the DVD was excellent and really made the film enjoyable. Even the dubbing was good.

A doctor (José Elías Moreno) whose son had an incurable disease tries to save him by transplanting a gorilla heart. Of course, the son (Agustín Martínez Solares) turns into gorilla man. If he didn't have an ugly gorilla face, he could easily be in the top five for Cosmo's bachelor hunt.

He searches out victims and manages to rip some flesh from one man's neck, pop out the eyeball of another and decapitate a third in his quest that left six or eight dead.

I have absolutely no idea why the Luchadoras are in this movie. It switches from the doctor's operations to wrestling. The wrestling has nothing to do with the story, but it was fun to watch.

Eight boobies, three boobies, and, of course, one dead gorilla.

Night of the bloody apes.

[michaelRokeefe · 2/10 · 30 January 2007]

Acclaimed Argentine horror director Emilio Vierya directs a script from Jack Curtis and Antonio Ross. Cheesy and ridiculous are in the mix for the method to the madness. A doctor's son is nearing his early death, until his desperate father transplants an ape's heart into his chest. As expected, things are going to get weird; when this young man turns into a mask wearing monster and roams the beaches scouting out nice looking party girls to make his slaves. When heroin is injected, his beauties become zombies. The monster summons his dazed minions with strange organ music. So bad...well...it's just bad. In the cast: Jose E. Moreno, Alberto Caneau, Mauricio De Ferraris, Gloria Prat and Gina Moret.