Plot: What’s it about?
The nefarious Dr. Arana (Jackie Cooper) has a secret lab out in the Mexican deserts, where he conducts some very unusual experiments. Inside his lab, Arana creates mutant spiders and even dabbles in dwarves, but his main focus is on a much more important project. He seeks to inject some beautiful women with a potent spider venom, in the hopes that he can create powerful sexual predators, which seems like a keen idea to him. As fate would have it, it seems as though Arana has been able to succeed with a specimen, which could spell bad news for the outside world. So Arana’s plan seems to be on track, until he shares his ideas with a normal scientist and then, all hell breaks loose. The good scientist, Dr. Leland Masterson (Harmon Stevens) refuses to help Arana and escapes into the desert, where he eventually reaches civilization again. Now he wants to lead a team back to the mesa, but can even an entire team of people stop Arana and his sexually charged spider women?
Ever want to see television’s Uncle Fester on an island with a ton of lethal, but beautiful spider/woman mutants? If so, then Mesa Of Lost Women is a film you have to see and thanks to Image Entertainment, the film now rests on one of those wonderful, shiny little discs. This is about what you’d expect from a shoestring budget movie with little talent involved, but there are some very cool moments, which save the movie in the end. You still have to appreciate films like this to enjoy Mesa Of Lost Women though, so don’t think this one stands above the crowd by any means. The special effects are fun, but corny and the spiders are by far my pick as the movie’s highlights. This isn’t classical filmmaking at its best, but this movie is a lot of fun, if you’re into this type of cinema. The video and audio on this disc are adequate, but no supplements or subtitles were included, which lowers the overall value somewhat. Still, if you’re a fan of this film and ones like it, then this is a disc you will not want to miss.
As I mentioned above, the television actor who played Uncle Fester (on the Addam’s Family) is present here and he ends up being the base of the film’s cast. He is Jackie Coogan (The Shakiest Gun In The West, Sex Kittens Go To College), who really shines here and that’s impressive, as the writing is pretty dismal for the most part. I wouldn’t give Coogan an award for his work here, but he does turn in a terrific performance, given the nature of this motion picture. The rest of the cast isn’t as solid, but when you consider the material involved, at least they managed to keep a straight face. Others present here include Lyle Talbot (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Jail Bait), Harmon Stevens (Has Anybody Seen My Gal?), Mary Hill (Outlaw Women, Playgirl), Allan Nixon (Siren of Atlantis, Prehistoric Women), and Tandra Quinn (Problem Girls). Mesa Of Lost Women was directed by Ron Ormond, who also helmed such films as Untamed Mistress, The Monster and The Stripper, The Eternal Question, The Black Panther, and Frontier Woman.
Video: How does it look?
Mesa Of Lost Women is presented in a full frame transfer, which preserves the film’s intended aspect ratio. This film is over forty-five years old, so I think this transfer is pretty good, even though a few problems surface. The contrast looks solid on this black & white image, so no detail is lost and the visuals come off as they should. The flaws fall onto the source material, which sports a lot of debris and grain, though some scenes are cleaner than others. So I am displeased that there is so much damage to the print, but I can’t knock the score much, since the film is pretty old and the low profile nature doesn’t bode well for a restoration.
Audio: How does it sound?
The original mono track is used and seems more than adequate, no real problems to report. There is a slight amount of harshness, but not enough to lower the score, so no serious harm in the end. This film was made in 1953, but it shows few signs of age and that’s impressive, especially when you figure in the nature of the picture. The music is clean and effective, while the sound effects are as sharp as the mono format allows. No problems with the dialogue either, each word could be heard in crisp form and with no volume errors. It might not push your home theater at all, but this mix is more than enough for this material.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes the film’s theatrical trailer.
