What I Watched in August

I've been catching the Lucha Libre films that the El Rey channel has been running for the past couple of months and really enjoying them. Most of these I had already seen with subtitles as they were never dubbed into English but it was fun to see these new versions. It seems that El Rey has sprung for a new soundtrack for each film which provides a 2020 English dub to make the movies easier for casual fans to absorb. I don't think these dubs are very good - in fact they are little more than serviceable - but if it opens more eyes to the joys of El Santo and the Blue Demon (plus the female wrestlers) then they have done their jobs well.

The List 

CANDYMAN : FAREWELL TO THE FLESH (1995) – 6 (rewatch on Blu) (better than I remembered)

SANTO & BLUE DEMON VS DR. FRANKENSTEIN (1974) – 6 

PANIC BEATS (1983) – 7 (rewatch)

THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR (1970) -7 (rewatch on Blu)

THE WESTWARD TRAIL (1948) – 5 (standard PRC B western with Eddie Dean singing)

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1963) – 8 (rewatch on Blu – Italian version)

SAN ANTONIO (1945) – 7 (Errol Flynn western)

SANTO AND BLUE DEMON VS DRACULA AND THE WOLFMAN (1973) – 6 (rewatch of the newly dubbed version)

THE DARKNESS (2016) – 6 (well done but unremarkable horror film)

GASLIGHT (1940) – 8

RIDERS TO THE STARS (1954) – 6 (low budget near-documentary SF about getting to Earth orbit)

THE LADY KILLS (1971) – 5 (French rape-revenge film)

SPACE AMOEBA (1970) – 6 (Toho SF monster film)

A BELL FROM HELL (1973) – 8 (rewatch)

SHADOW OF THE CAT (1961) – 7 (rewatch on Blu)

BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT (2018) – 8 (animated adaptation)

SHE-WOLVES OF THE RING (1965) – 5 (lucha drama)

BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE (1958) – 8 (excellent Randolph Scott western)

NIGHTFALL (1988) – 6 (Interesting low budget attempt to tell this Asimov tale)

BLOODY SECT (a.k.a. Secta siniestra) (1983) – 6 (mad Spanish horror film)

SKINNER (1993) – 4 (serial killer film with an interesting cast)

SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT (1979) – 7 (rewatch of the long version on Blu)

DER ZINKER (a.k.a THE SQUEAKER) (1963) – 7 (krimi fun on Blu)

CENTRAL PARK (1932) – 7 (slight but good crime tale with Joan Blondell)