The classy opening credits to Hell's Trap feature the strong use of large white typography on a jet black background, which initially made me think that this was going to be a pretentious art-house horror; it came as a bit of a (pleasant) surprise, therefore, when the film turned out to be a rather fun Mexican backwoods horror complete with mullet-haired hunks, lovely latino bimbos, and a cool killer sporting a creepy plastic mask and a mean set of Freddy Krueger-style finger blades.For much of its running time, Hell's Trap comes off a bit like a Spanish-speaking version of The Final Terror: both films use the remote natural environment to deliver plenty of atmosphere, and both film's killers use their familiarity with the surrounding area to allow them to stay hidden from view even when within spitting distance of their next victim.That said, Hell's Trap proves to be marginally more enjoyable than The Final Terror thanks to director Pedro Galindo III also finding time for some dumb trashy fun along with all the creepy stuff, including a pair of sexy señoritas in revealing swimsuits, bargain basement gore galore, and some ridiculously OTT machine gun action in the explosive finalé.

Rumour has it that around the time that ABBA – the multi-award winning Swedish disco favourites –'s star had reached its zenith, the band grew disillusioned with singing in English and yearned to perform in their native tongue. Soon after, problems began to emerge in the onetime-wed locked-watertight partnership and recordings became less and less frequent. The band dissolved, albeit unofficially, in 1982 and pop lost one of its most celebrated artists. Although they have never admitted that there's any truth in those rumours, the fact remains that ABBA would never have been so successful had they only recorded in their native tongue. If you want to appeal to the largest money-making media market in the entire world, then you must cater for English speaking audiences.It's amazing for me how such a small island that's located a stone-throw away from the European continent could have created perhaps the most recognised, although not most widely spoken, language in the world. Everyone speaks a little bit of English; whether it be simply 'hello' or a common swear word - you'll find an English speaker almost everywhere. Pedro Galindo obviously didn't agree, because Trampa Infernal was never subtitled for global consumption until it was released recently on budget DVD. That's a real shame, because it's actually a decent slasher movie that's a lot better than many of its English-speaking genre compatriots.The film launches in the somewhat unfamiliar territory of a pistol duel. Two unidentified characters are shown sneaking around a dilapidated complex searching out one another for the inevitable final showdown. After some suspense and a couple of near misses, one of the pistoleers emerges victoriously. Next we learn that they were only paintball guns and the two competitors are actually youngsters from the local town. Nacho and Mauricio are fiercest rivals and Mauricio is always trying to prove himself to be better than his soft-spoken opponent, but as of yet he hasn't succeeded.Later that night, whilst the victorious gunslinger celebrates his triumph with his girlfriend Alejandra and his buddy Charly, Mauricio enters the bar and says that he has one last challenge for his glorious nemesis. He says that this will be the competition that will prove to the town once and for all who deserves the uttermost respect. Nacho is at first reluctant because Alejandra warns him of the perils of continual competitiveness, but he eventually succumbs to the weight of peer pressure and agrees; much to the distaste of his morally superior partner.They plan to head out to the remote region of Filo de Caballo, because recent press coverage has reported that numerous people have been butchered by what locals believe to be a vicious bear. Mauricio proposes that whoever murders the animal can be regarded as the greatest and he also promises that it will be the last battle that he wages against his adversary.After visiting the armoury to stock up on weapons and ignoring the warnings of the elderly store-keeper, the group set out to the remoteness of the secluded woodland. Hunters become hunted as they learn that the 'bear' is actually a homicidal Vietnam vet who is still unaware that the war has ended and considers all humans as his enemy. What started as a competitive adventure suddenly becomes a battle for survival as they are stalked and slaughtered by the malevolent assassin.I picked up Trampa whilst studying in Madrid from a Mexican student who lived in the dorm room next-door to me. I remember that the copy I watched was faulty and the tape ended about 10 minutes before the final credits rolled, which meant I never got to see the final scenes. Thankfully I came across the budget DVD recently on Amazon and immediately added it to my collection. Gallindo's slasher is a surprisingly good effort that excels from its skillful direction and enthusiastic plot, which attempts to cover areas not usually approached by slasher movies. It is in fact so good that it reminded me on more than one occasion of the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic Predator. This is especially evident in the scenes that show the creepily-masked assassin jogging through the forest and stalking the panic-stricken troupe as they struggle to escape the maniac's playground.Despite Gallindo's obvious awareness of genre platitudes (the bogeyman even uses a claw-fingered glove a la Freddy Kruegar); Trampa also attempts to add something different to the standard template. Whilst the majority of the runtime plays by the concrete rules of the category, the final third heralds a significant step in individuality as the maniac arms himself with a machine gun and entices the hero to his lair for the final showdown. From here on, the film rapidly swaps genres and becomes almost an action film, which depending on your taste will either excite or disappoint you. The last slasher that tried to crossbreed the two styles was that shoddy eighties entry 'The Majorettes', which is not necessarily a good thing.As is the case with many Latin films (especially Spanish flicks by Almodovar and Amenabar), Trampa has a subtle undercurrent of a moral to its story, which is conveyed successfully without being rammed down the viewer's throat. Over indulge in the temptations of competitive masculinity and you may not always be the winner. It's a sugar-coated point, but it's handled delicately enough not to detract from the fun of the feature.Trampa may be cheesy, but it deserves to be seen and recognised as one of the better late slashers. The killer looks great in creepy army fatigues and white Valentine-style mask and the attempts at originality just about work. It may lack the gore that most sincere horror fans enjoy, but it has enough in terms of suspense and creativity to warrant at least one viewing.

Four macho rough'n'tumble guys and three sexy gals venture into a remote woodland area to hunt for a bear. The motley coed group runs afoul of crazed Vietnam veteran Jesse (an effectively creepy portrayal by Alberto Mejia Baron), who not surprisingly doesn't take kindly to any strangers trespassing on his terrain. Director/co-writer Pedro Galindo III relates the gripping story at a steady pace, creates a good deal of nerve-rattling tension, and delivers a fair amount of graphic gore with the brutal murder set pieces (a nasty throat slicing and a hand being blown off with a shotgun rate as the definite gruesome splatter highlights). The capable cast all give solid performances, with especially praiseworthy work by Pedro Fernandez as the nice, humane Nacho, Edith Gonzalez as the feisty Alejandra, Charly Valentino as the amiable Charly, and Tono Mauri as antagonistic jerk Mauricio. Better still, both yummy blonde Marisol Santacruz and lovely brunette Adriana Vega supply some tasty eye candy by wearing skimpy bathing suits. Antonio de Anda's slick, agile cinematography, the breathtaking sylvan scenery, Pedro Plascencia's robust, shuddery, stirring score, the well-developed characters, and the pleasingly tight'n'trim 76 minute running time further enhance the overall sound quality of this bang-up horror/action hybrid winner.

After hearing that several hunters were killed by a "bear", a group of macho Mexican mullet-heads and their fashion-victim girlfriends go off in the woods to hunt for it. The "bear" though turns out to be a creepy-looking homicidal guy with self-fashioned finger claws. Due to the villain's weapons some would probably tag this movie as a rip-off of "A Nightmare on Elm Street", but it is actually more similar to rural massacre/slasher movies like "Just Before Dawn" or "Hunter's Blood", or even, given the whole homicidal "bear" thing, "Girls' Nite Out". The problem though isn't that this movie rips-off any American movie all that much, but conversely that it deviates too much from the formula of a successful slasher movie and turns into a particularly brain-dead Latino sub-Rambo action movie about halfway through.The killer is effectively scary-looking, but instead of being content to pick his victims off one-by-one in typical slasher-movie fashion, he tries to take them all on, even though there's five of them and they have rifles while he has finger-knives. But then, out of nowhere he whips out a sub-machine gun, and the movie descends rapidly into complete stupidity. It isn't just that I personally hate action movies (which I certainly do), but the filmmakers don't really have the budget to effectively make even a low-budget American-style action movie.There's also a sorry lack of gratuitous nudity. Mexico is a slightly more conservative country than the US, but if you've ever spent five minutes in a Mexican strip club, you know it's not that hard to find pretty girls to take their clothes off for a little bit of money. The two best-looking girls here though do little than model their 80's-style bikinis before they are violently dispatched, and its the other homelier, more portly girl who gets kidnapped by the killer. I wouldn't complain about this though if the movie had otherwise lived up to its initial promise. This movie isn't entirely bad, but it is pretty disappointing.