Thousands of years in the past, an alien visits Earth and becomes a God to the reverent Aztecs. The alien then fathers a son with cat-like reflexes and (inexplicably) the ability to fly. We then fast-forward to modern times where an Aztec ceremonial mask has been unearthed and allows the wearer mind-control abilities. Dr. Kobras (Donald Pleasence) wants to use the mask for evil purposes and wears it to create an army of mindless slaves. The only man who can stop him is Pumaman, the son of the original Aztec God now disguised as a mild-mannered paleontologist named Tony (Wlater George Alton).The Pumaman is a low-budget Italian action fantasy that quite frankly has no reason to exist. It's dubious production value, phoned-in acting and unfathomable storytelling leads one to believe that the film may have been created as a money-laundering scheme of some kind. Such ludicrous examples of filmmaking laziness includes using Greek ruins as an Aztec temple and hoping no one would notice, the villains inexplicable plan to flush out Pumaman by throwing random men off of constructions sites and extended flying sequences that likely inspired Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010).What's worse is, despite some inspired moments of sheer filmmaking stupidity, the film is ultimately too boring to even recommend as Z- grade midnight screening fodder. There's nothing tethering the separate, unequal parts of this film to a larger whole. It's all so put together at the last minute and too ugly to really look at for too long. In the words of one of the supporting characters, "You are the worst I have ever seen, but you are the Pumaman."

I thought that I would really like "Puma Man". Not because I thought that it would be a high quality piece of cinema, but because of its combination of being low budget and made by Italians - a combination that has made some of the funniest unintentional comedies I have seen in my lifetime. Sadly, the end results of this particular combination aren't that much fun. I think the main reason for that is that the movie is directed in a fashion that gives off very low energy. The movie is so slow and so without passion that the viewer is lulled into sleep instead of being constantly hit with powerful craziness. Oh, there are some unintentionally amusing bits that come up here and there, like some truly bad special effects and a plot that often doesn't make that much sense. But the amusement quickly drains out when these particularly silly things are repeated over and over without any variation or support from new and plentiful crazy material. If you are determined to watch the movie despite what I've just said, I recommend you seek out the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version - it does add a few more laughs to the enterprise.

Bad news is: it's awful. Good news: it's hilarious. When I watched it I was howling with laughter for most of its running time.The Puma Man has to be the most ridiculous superhero ever seen. In this uproarious origin story, milquetoast Tony Farms meets Vadinho, Aztec shaman with the unusual habit of defenestrating people to find a superpowered individual able to fly. Together, hero and sidekick face villain Kobra (a badly slumming Donald Pleasence), who controls a powerful ancient relic.The funniest scenes occur when the Puma Man uses his powers and flies (why should a *Puma* Man be able to fly, I cannot say) with an exceptionally cheesy visual effect and a ludicrously inappropriate heroic music, and also when he is repeatedly saved by his strangely competent sidekick, who seems to be vastly more proficient at fighting criminals and saving the world. One has to wonder why Vadinho bothered to find the Puma Man at all.This one deserves a 1/10, but laughs redeem it to an extent.2/10

I saw this one years ago on KYW-Channel 3 (Philadelphia) "Saturday Night Dead" with "Stella", one of the last of the old local "horror host" programs. One thing I look for in "bad" movies are flashes of talent and snippets of dialog that actually are intelligent and witty. The three I remember from this movie are the shaman's disgusted observation to his charge "You are the worst I've ever seen" but then like a strict and unyielding DI with an inept recruit, he's going to make him learn what to do, no ifs ands buts or arguments. When the reluctant hero finally accepts his fate he asks the shaman "Do these powers include invulnerability?" and is told simply "No." There's a scene where the Pumaman grabs one of the villain's henchmen and hoist him up into the sky. The villain threatens to the shoot the Pumaman who calmly tells him "Look down. You shoot me, who's going to catch you?"