In the wild world of weirdo film a handful of movies are so truly bonkers and bizarre they become beautiful and inspiring. This is one of them. A Mexican musical-horror film for kids, Caperucita y Pulgarcito contra los Monstruos is the third in a series of Red Riding Hood movies that made little Maria Gracia a big star in her native land. Sort of a Mexican Shirley Temple. For added box office appeal, series creator Roberto Rodriguez threw in pint-sized Cesaro Quesadas, star of Rene Cardona's Tom Thumb (1957), and somehow created this extraordinary hybrid of wacky fairytale and grotesque gothic horror.
Deep in the Haunted Forest, high atop a mountain inside a creepy castle, all the monsters of the world gather and pay homage to the Wicked Queen (Ofelia Guilmain). They include Count Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, Bluebeard the pirate, the hideous Carrothead, super-breath wielding Mister Hurricane, and cannibalistic Siamese twins, "2-in-1". World domination is what they’re after, but first the Wicked Queen commands they capture those good-hearted heroes: Little Red Riding Hood (Maria Gracia) and Tom Thumb (Cesaro Quesadas). As bait she holds the children's beloved friends, Ferocious Wolf (Manuel "Loco" Valdes) and the Red-Headed Ogre (Jose Elias Moreno), whose capture is witnessed by plucky sidekick, Stinky the Skunk (El Enano Santanon).
He runs to tell Red Riding Hood, who is out picking flowers with her loyal friend, Dog. After summoning titchy, forest hero Tom Thumb, Red heads for help from her nearby village only to discover the Wicked Queen has poisoned the local water supply. Her horrible curse transforms grownups into chimpanzees and children into white mice. Even Red's mother has become a monkey. With a little help from the Good Fairy (Elvira Lodi), Red, Tom Thumb and friends journey through the Haunted Forest, facing not just famous monsters of film-land, but scary animal-men, the deadly Killer Robot, and a fearsome, fire-breathing dragon.
Youngsters who caught this on the kiddie matinee circuit must have thought they were in monster movie heaven. Rodriguez’s outrageous fantasy has an "anything goes" vitality akin to a campfire tale concocted by over-imaginative children. The film has literally everything: a pure-hearted, singing heroine; animals performing fancy tricks; a slapstick clown in a wolf costume; an exploding robot; a beautiful fairy; ghosts, skeletons and vampire bats; and a near-apocalyptic ending where the Wicked Queen turns into an atomic bomb! While Ferocious Wolf's outfit is rather shoddy, the makeup and costumes of the Stinky the Skunk and the animal-men are of a high standard. It's a surprisingly evocative production, with its gothic castles and spooky forests evoking the work of Mario Bava or William Cameron Menzies. Rodriguez balances out the nightmare ambience, with fairytale innocence and elements lifted from Bambi (1942) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). Gracia's Red makes an appealing heroine, while Ferocious Wolf and Stinky were so beloved by children they took centre-stage for the fourth film in the series, The Queen's Swordsmen (1963).
American distributor K. Gordon Murray (who made his fortune with Mexican fantasy films, including The Brainiac (1961), Santo vs. the Vampire Women (1962) and Puss 'n Boots (1962)) dubbed in some songs that are out of tune, out of sync and packed with silly lyrics ("Sing and let the world see how gay you are!"). The atonal squealing proves painful at times and poor Red has been dubbed with the singing voice of a forty-something soprano. Murray also worked in allusions to a concept that reoccurs throughout his fairytales, "The Fifth Dimension" - a quasi-metaphysical/pseudo-scientific/occult universe from whence the child heroes draw spiritual guidance and strength. This slight mystical allusion caused some to accuse Murray of being a Satanist, which is less than likely seeing as he was more a William Castle-style self-promoter/showman than a child friendly Anton LaVey. In fact, as with most Mexican children's movies, Catholicism figures heavily throughout. Red's all-forgiving heart prompting various second-string baddies to change their ways, but this movie is really all about hair-raising escapes from memorably freaky monsters.
