Neutron vs The Death Robots
Entry updated 12 May 2025. Tagged: Film.
Mexican film (1962; original title Los Autómatas de la Muerte; vt Neutron the Atomic Superman vs. the Death Robots). Estudios América, Producciones Corsa S.A. Directed by Federico Curiel. Written by Federico Curiel and Alfredo Ruanova. Cast includes Julio Aleman, Rosita Arenas, Wolf Ruvinskis and Jack Taylor. 80 minutes. Black and white.
The film opens with a television reporter helpfully recapping the events of the first movie in this series – Neutron, the Man in the Black Mask (1960; original title Neutrón, el Enmascarado Negro; vt the misleading Neutron vs. The Black Mask), in which our hero Neutron (Ruvinskis), a black-masked Mexican wrestler, defeated the white-masked Mad Scientist Dr Caronte (Aleman) and prevented him from using "secret formula 008" to create a neutron bomb. Caronte is presumed to have died in an explosion at the end of that film.
But he did not, and is seen greeting his midget assistant Nick and entering a secret laboratory to check on some experiments. Aside from creating humanoid Robots or Androids who look and behave like Zombies, he has stored away the bodies of three Scientists who died in the previous film. His intention is to remove their brains, then link them so they reveal the secret formula which was lost in the explosion; but for this he will need (as he exultantly cries out) "Blood, lots of blood!!", as a regular supply of red blood cells is required to keep the brains alive. Nick and the robots duly perform murders and drain their victims' blood.
Caronte succeeds in electronically joining the three enslaved scientists' brains (see Brain in a Box) "into one massive intellect which obeys me" – whether an actual Hive Mind is formed is unclear, as he speaks to them individually – and each shares their portion of the formula. Robots are now dispatched to steal chemicals required for the bomb; Neutron and the police follow one, hoping to track it back to its master, but Caronte learns of this and instructs the robot to kill itself, whereupon it tears off its own head. Meanwhile, Nick and other robots are attempting to kidnap Professor Thomas (Taylor), the only person capable of building the bomb: initially Neutron sees them off with a flamethrower, but is later impersonated by one of the robots, who abducts both the professor and a friend, club singer Nora (Arenas) – with the police believing the real Neutron is responsible. When Nora is held over a pit of hungry zombie robots, the professor agrees to build the bomb; on completion Caronte departs with it to blackmail the authorities. Neutron arrives and rescues the captives, but before they go the professor kills the three brains, so they will find peace.
The bomb, set to explode in a matter of hours, is hidden in a suitcase at the airport, but is accidentally picked up by a recently arrived couple: it is eventually recovered by Neutron, who takes it to the professor to defuse, only to find him tied up and Caronte lying in wait. A long fight ensues, with interruptions: the first has Neutron finding time to free the professor, who defuses the bomb; in the second the two combatants get into a car chase, racing to Caronte's laboratory where fisticuffs resume. Unable to overcome Neutron, Caronte orders Nick to pull a giant switch so "then we'll all die": Nick eventually does so (it is a big switch) and the laboratory collapses. There is much dust and we hear Caronte scream.
Mexican Luchador (which see) or Lucha libre films feature a masked wrestler as a Superhero figure who fights evil, but also finds time to engage in professional wrestling bouts. Neutron is unusual in that we do not see him in the ring, though Ruvinskis himself was a professional wrestler. Neutron vs The Death Robots also has a romantic subplot carried over from its predecessor where three men are courting Nora; its only relevance to the main plot is that Professor Thomas believes one of them to be Neutron. The film is not good and suffers from lazy plotting: Nick is told to guard the professor and Nora, but then walks off; Neutron's rescue essentially consists of escorting them out of the building. Then Caronte simply leaves the bomb in an airport, where the police would have found it if the couple had not been careless. The English dub acting is half-hearted; the Spanish original seems livelier. However, Caronte is a reasonably entertaining example of the mad scientist and the climactic fight is lively.
Ruvinskis appeared in many Luchador films, five times as Neutron, the first three films comprising the Dr Caronte trilogy: Neutrón, el Enmascarado Negro (1960), Los Autómatas de la Muerte (1962) and Neutrón Contra el Doctor Caronte (1963; vt Neutron vs Doctor Caronte). The last opens with a spy seeking the neutron bomb formula and blackmailing Caronte when he discovers his real identity (he is one of Nora's three beaux); the spy ends up buried alive. Caronte, using both alchemical texts that teach the Magic of Merlin, and parapsychology ("that amazing science that deals with Telepathy and clairvoyance – and besides, the transmutation of souls"), is able to perform Identity Exchanges, faking his own death and taking over Professor Thomas's body, but eventually dies. The other two Neutron films were Neutrón Contra el Criminal Sádico (1964) and Neutrón Contra los Asesinos del Karate (1965), whose sf content is secondary or absent. [SP]
links
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Internet Movie Database – Neutrón, el Enmascarado Negro
- Internet Movie Database – Neutrón Contra el Dr. Caronte
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