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Los Chicos Cero

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trampa infernal hell's trap 1989

TRAMPA INFERNAL

3 Stars  1989/77m

A.k.a. Hell’s Trap

Director/Writer: Pedro Galindo III / Writer: Santiago Galindo / Cast: Pedro Fernandez, Edith Gonzalez, Toño Mauri, Charley Valentino, Armando Galvan, Marisol Santa Cruz, Adriana Vega, Alfredo Gutierrez, Alberto Mejia Baron ‘Alfin’.

Body Count: 7

Prior to this, the only other Mexican slasher film I’d seen was Don’t Panic, directed by Rubèn Galindo, Pedro’s grandson, way back in the mid-90s. Suckfest.

Fortunately, Trampa Infernal - ‘Hell Trap’ – is a far more interesting little cut n’ shut of The Zero Boys and The Final Terror, with a bit of Elm Street thrown in.

I can read and speak enough Spanish to get by, but the tempo at which it’s spoken often leaves me lagging, so I was happy to find that I could translate the subtitles on the video into English, presenting me with some awesome stuff about Aimee Teegarden, one million peso horses, Barack Obama, and all manner of confused sentences of the “scattered rainfall has admitted that very good principle and raped the last video viaduct” quality. Amazing.

trampa infernal 1989

It mattered not, the subs were just about decipherable enough to work out the basic plot: Big-haired Nacho (!) and Mauricio are paint-ball enemies. Yeah, that’s a thing. So pissed is Mauricio that Nacho beats him during their last round, he challenges him to a hunt-off: A bear that has slain a few hunters in the woods is the target – first to kill it has the biggest balls ever, etc. Nacho’s girlfriend Alejandra is against it, but goes anyway, as does his tubby pal Charly, and Mauricio’s buddy, plus their ditzy girlfriends.

Naturally it soon transpires there is no bear, but an insane war-vet who wears a mask not a million miles removed from Michael Myers’, and stalks the woods with a razor-fingered glove (!!), guns, and other teen-obliterating items.

trampa infernal 1989

The subtitles ceased to exist once the teens reached the forest, but it was pretty simple to follow that they started getting wasted – ditzy girls first – and then when escape proved futile, fought back, numbers dwindle more and so on and so forth, until the predictable ones are left to save themselves and stop the killer, who it seems is named Jesse? Ooh, frightening.

In spite of its dire lack of originality, there’s still some good stuff going on here. Bad-ass opening credits come with a mock ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma sound effect; The murder in the truck is well done and quite brutal; And you can’t help but laugh as a girl wanders about the trees yelling ‘Nacho’ over and over. Plus clocking in at 77 minutes means it doesn’t get boring.

trampa infernal 1989

I doubt I’ll remember much of this one in a decade, but as far as pass-time A-Teamy Mexi-horror goes, this is a fun romp.

Music to Murder Teens By

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Slasher films don’t often come with killer soundtracks – budgetary concerns – but there are some really awesome scores around.

Here are my favourite choons I’ve found thanks to this lovely genre:

White Sister: April – from Killer Party (1986)

Typical 80s glam rock: Melody up front, big hair, lots of synth.

*

SoHo: Whisper to a Scream – from Scream (1996)

One of the few slasher films with its own soundtrack album. This awesome tune (a cover of a much less interesting 1983 original by The Icicle Works) plays over the end credits. Sure, it’s totally 90s, but that guitar solo and electro-beats are amazing.

*

Shinedown: Devour – from The Final Destination (2009)

What genre is this? Emo-rock? Who cares, love the growl of the singer’s voice and the relentless percussion. I like this one loud on road trips.

*

Vixtrola: Gunboat – from Darkness Falls (2003)

More heavy guitars and growly angst, and possibly the best aspect of the film from which it came!

*

Benjamin Bates: Two Flies – from Killer Movie (2008)

Another better-than-the-film track. Lyrically it’s a tad repetitive but I like the effects going on here.

*

Dokken: Dream Warriors – from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (1987)

A classic spandex rock classic from German band Dokken. The fact Freddy is defeated by the lead singer’s high-pitched wailings is just sensational.

*

Pseudo Echo: His Eyes – from Friday the 13th Part V (1985)

This is the song Violet is robot-dancing to before she’s done away with. I’m not normally a fan of this new-wave sound, but this song has become awesomely naff over 30 years of exposure.

*

Syreeta: Happy Birthday to Me – from Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Creepy-voiced Syreeta chirps her way through this unsettling original, which benefits from its minimalism. That clarinet? -shudder-

*

Divinyls: Back to the Wall – from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 (1988)

The film’s evident MTV-leanings made for a good soundtrack, from which this was my favourite, with great opening lyrics: “We’re living in desperate times, these are desperate times my friend.” Divinyls were best known for their 1990 hit I Touch Myself. The lead singer sadly died a few years ago.

*

Alice Cooper: Teenage Frankenstein & He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) – from Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)

The link between slasher films and (what was then deemed to be) heavy metal was put to good use in Jason Lives with Alice Cooper’s originals for the soundtrack. Lyrics about full moons, lovers lake etc just spell out everything that is Friday.

Love is pain

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prom night iii last kiss 1989PROM NIGHT III: THE LAST KISS

3.5 Stars  1990/18/96m

“Alex thinks he’s died and gone to heaven. He’s half right.”

Directors: Ron Oliver & Peter Simpson / Writer: Ron Oliver / Cast: Tim Conlon, Cyndy Preston, Courtney Taylor, David Stratton, Jeremy Ratchford, Dylan Neal, Brock Simpson, Juno Mills Cockell.

Body Count: 9

Laughter Lines: “Experts agree his psychotic killing spree could be the result of bad dietary habits, rock n’ roll lyrics, and too many horror movies.”

Despite being as far removed from the original 1980 film as humanly possible, this second outing for prom queen from hell Mary Lou Maloney (now played by Taylor) actually ranks as a witty and often hilarious Elm Street Xerox.

After escaping from hell once again, Mary Lou sets her sights on high school Mr Average Alex Grey, who complains to his brainiac girlfriend, Sarah, that he’s average height, with average shoe size, and will most likely live on a street named after a tree (Elm Street, perhaps?) This feeling is compounded by his guidance counsellor telling him he’ll never get into med school.

But then it’s a case of Hello Mary Lou, Goodbye Heart. Or rather, goodbye various staff and students, as she goes to the zany place of psycho in love and begins offing anybody who threatens his success of their deranged love affair. Krueger-inspired sequences include killer ice creams, a blender in the mouth, exploding pacemaker, a battery acid bath, and the football toss from hell.

prom night 3 1990

As ever in these man-falls-for-demon-woman opuses, Alex eventually realises Mary Lou’s predilection for murder is a road to hell and tries to rid himself of her and get back with Sarah, but ML won’t give up easily and sets about framing Alex for murder after bodies buried on the football field are unearthed, and turning up everywhere to remind him of her power.

It wouldn’t be a Prom Night without a prom, though it’s almost an afterthought as Alex breaks out (and kidnaps a cop played by series-regular Brock Simpson) to rescue Sarah, which culminates in both of them taking on Mary Lou in hell. Out to save her man, Sarah encounters zombies, and the jukebox from hell, which fires 45s at lethal speed.

The incidental music from the original creeps in during one scene, which provides a brief echo of the central death-at-the-prom motif as a victim-to-be totters naively away from supervision to investigate a strange sound.

prom night 3 1990

The Last Kiss succeeds where the previous film faltered with a mix of sarcastic and goofball comedy, Conlon’s appealing Bruce Campbell-esque charisma, a good dose of 50s nostalgia and tunes, and the establishment of Mary Lou as a fitting female counterpart to Freddy. The film went to video outside of Canada and the storyline was abandoned for a return to slasher fundamentals for Prom Night IV two years later, but by the 90s things were looking bad even for Freddy, so it’s likely for the best they laid Mary Lou to rest hereafter.

Blurb-of-interest: Courtney Taylor was in 1999 cheapo flick Camp Blood.

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