In the annals of schlockploitation films of the 1960's to the early 1980's,no one was more adept on making films that were based on current controversial news topics in an exploitational manner than Mexican film director Rene Cardona Jr.,(1930-2003),son of famed Mexican low budget exploitation film director/producer Rene Cardona Sr. who made some of the famed cult Mexican horror genre films such as WRESTLING WOMAN VS THE AZTEC MUMMY(1965),SANTO Y LA INVASION DE LOS MARCIANOS (1965), DOCTOR OF DOOM(1964). Finally after being assistant director in various of his father's films in the 1960's, his father finally gave Rene the opportunity to direct his own films such as the spy films. S.O.S. CONSPIRACION BIKINI(1966) and it's sequel PELIGRO, MUJERES EN ACCION(1967) starring Julio Aleman as a Mexican James Bond as well as two spy films in the popular Santo the Masked Wrestler series such as OPERACION 67 (1967)and EL TESORO DE MOCTEZUMA(1968). But it wasn't until 1972 that Cardona Jr.had his first international hit with his schlock horror classic LA NOCHE DE LOS MIL GATOS aka NIGHT OF A THOUSAND CATS(1972) starring Hugo Stiglitz as a mad playboy who fed his girlfriend playmates to his carniverous cats.Then in 1974, Cardona Jr. struck gold by directing a film version about the amazing true story of the Uruguayan soccer team that crash landed in the Andes Mountains and were forced to eat the human remains of their dead companions in order to survive before being rescued by a search party. That film,LOS SOBREVIVIENTES DE LOS ANDES(1975) was a box office hit not only in Mexico and Latin America but also in America when Paramount Pictures released the film under the title SURVIVE (1976) dubbed in English where it also became a big box office hit.That hit permitted Cardona Jr. to do international co-productions for the next few years either based on notorious news items or catering to current movie trends like disaster films in films such as TINTORERA(1977), THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE(1978), CYCLONE(1979), GUYANA, CRIME OF THE CENTURY(1980), TREASURE OF THE AMAZON (1981) and BEAKS(1082) most of these films starring Cardona's favorite leading man,the German/Mexican actor Hugo Stiglitz. But by the early 1980's,exploitation films went out of favor, especially the ones Rene Cardona Jr. directed and so the Mexican director went back to his native Mexico to direct films for his Hispanic audience such as raunchy sex comedies,violent crime melodramas and musical comedies intil his death in 2003. But Cardona Jr's son, Rene Cardona III who is also a film director in Mexico like his father and grandfather,has continued with his famous relative's reputation in making exploitation films in Mexico.
1.SOS CONSPIRACION BIKINI(1966)
2.LA NOCHE DE LOS MIL GATOS(1072)
3.LOS SOBREVIVIENTES DE LOS ANDES(1975)
4.TINTORERA(1977)
5.THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE(1978)
6.CYCLONE(1979)
7.GUYANA, CRIME OF THE CENTURY(1980)
8.TREASURE OF THE AMAZONS(1981)
9.BEAKS(1982)
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