One of the weak points of my horror fandom is Mexican Horror. I saw a few of the DVD’s that Casa Negra put out a long ways back (too bad they didn’t last), and the early Mondo Macabro titles, but not much else beyond that. However, it seems that Vinegar Syndrome is helping to correct the lack of Mexican Horror on HD formats by putting out some of Ruben Galindo Jr’s films throughout Fall 2020. The first of which is Grave Robbers an insane gothic-leaning slasher that makes a great intro to his work.
The film opens in a monastery in the 1800’s. A monk is preparing a sacrifice to his Lord Satan, but is caught, and since he will not repent has an axe driven into his chest (because that is what happens when you do not repent). As he dies, he swears to come back to sire a spawn of Satan, once the axe is removed. Sometime in the 1980’s the titular grave robbers of the title come to the cemetery where he is buried looking to make their fortune on ancient treasure, and in the process, pull out his axe, unleashing him upon the world for a wild Satanic killing spree.
Oh man, this is a body count film through and through. Not only that, but it is wonderfully gothic in design from the opening sequence in the monastery, to sequences within the cemetery, churches etc. The back of the disc describes it as fitting in with the latter Friday the 13th sequels, and I sort of see that as Jason was a supernatural entity in those, but having an over-familiarity with those, I found this a crazy, shocking and wild ride. Where Jason might kill 1-2 people at a time in those. In this it seems like there were full on sequences were an entire cast of characters would bite it within moments of one another. These would be the entire cast of a full slasher. Needless to say I had a blast with this one, and it will be loaded up for a rewatch soon.
Vinegar Syndrome presents Grave Robbers in a spectacular 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer. This looks amazing. The night photography which makes up most of the film has blacks that are inky and very deep, detail is excellent, colors are nicely reproduced. Audio is DTS-HD Mono in Spanish and sounds great. Extras include an interview with the director and a commentary by the Hysteria Lives. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.