Last chance to see Lorena Velazquez on the big screen at the SDLFF. (UNAM)
If you weren't at the San Diego Latino Film Festival last Friday for the 1966 sci-fi cult classic El Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras/Planet of Invading Women then you missed seeing its star Lorena Velazquez in person. The statuesque Mexican actress still looked great at 68 and draped in multiple strands of pearls. In her comments after the film, she said that we need "the old Mexican glamour back." Well she certainly provided a dose of that glamour at the festival as she accepted an award from SDLFF founder Ethan Van Thillo. Although she will not appear at the festival again, you do have the chance to catch her in the 1960 film La Nave de Los Monstruos/Ship of Monsters Friday March 14 at 10pm. (Listen to her description of the film.) This film surpasses El Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras to deliver a delightful sci-fi romp complete with space babes in bathing suits, robots, assorted monsters and a singing Mexican cowboy. I had a chance to interview her before the screening.
shane from san diego
March 14, 2008 at 06:28 PM
what a cool lady... and black pearls!
i am amazed at the look of some of the special effects in last weeks screening... the action effects are a bit clunky (think original star trek) as with almost any film of the time, but things like the starry night sky are done in a charming, beautiful, inventive style that belies the miniscule budget and allows you to forgive its blatant unreality.
Hungry Hank
from San Diego, CA
March 16, 2008 at 07:59 AM
"Ship of Monsters" was a fantastic B-movie/sci-fi film. This had all the elements necessary to have made for the best fodder the MST3K guys could have hoped for.
It's a shame few people will get to see this and as you can't yet rent it on Netflix, I will assume seeing it anywhere but at events like the San Diego Latino Film Festival is near impossible.
And it's really sad how much more fun this campy, no-budget flick is than so many of the serious, huge budget variety that clogs the arteries of our googleplexes.
Beth Accomando
March 16, 2008 at 08:44 PM
Well said Hungry Hank! This film was such a delight. Yes it was cheesy and low budget but it also had a genuine sense of fun and humor. Where else could you find a Mexican song and dance number as the diversion a character uses in order to steal the space weapon from the Venetian vampire space babe!
aaron soto
from Tijuana
March 20, 2008 at 04:22 AM
Great, great, great piece Beth!
Thanks a lot!!
Carlos Sepulveda from san diego
March 27, 2008 at 03:32 AM
The film exceeded my expectations, sure it was cheesy and low budget but very entertaining. I went to watch the movie thinking i would see another horrible sci-fi film but i actually anjoyed it. Taking into consideration the year it was made and the money that was put into it, it was an okay movie. I liked the irrelevant special effects and funny outfits the aliens wore.
