Chabelo y Pepito contra Los Monstruos - DVD review

A very Mexican Phantasm meets Monster Squad meets Die Monster, Die.

It is hard to say how the Chabelo phenomenon came to be. Chabelo was already old when I was a kid. But I guess the US equivalent would be sort of a novelty Nightclub/Vaudeville comedy act in which a baby faced adult with a high pitched voice plays a kid.

While it is common for many comedians to be child-like, Lou Costello, Jerry Lewis, Pee-Wee Herman and Rowan Atkinson have done it, it is less common for them to play actual children.

There have certainly been instances in which US adult comedians played children. Stan and Ollie did it. Martin Short did it.

Chabelo is just such a comedian. As far as I know he has played a kid all thru his career. A familiar face on Mexican sitcoms, and some movies, the Chabelo y Pepito movies are probably his best work. He may have started in radio, but I think he is more of a nightclub performer than anything else. Even now, in his seventies(?) he's still doing the same kid act.

In the early 1970's he was teamed up with a little kid called Pepito for a series of films. Pepito is typically the name of the kid in Mexican jokes, so it's an apt name. Every single kid protagonist of a Mexican joke, dirty or not, is named Pepito. Just imagine as if the name Bart Simpson has been used, time immemorial, in every kid joke.

In Chabelo Y Pepito Contra Los Monstruos Chabelo and Pepito are cousins. Chabelo is actually younger than Pepito, but is what is commonly known as a glandular case. He is constantly eating and when he is not eating he is loudly complaining that he will die of hunger.

Chabelo and Pepito are boy scouts and they go on this camping trip.

News reports of a vicious gorilla escaping a zoo are seen on TV.

Pepito's older sister (Silvia Pinal's daughter, Silvia Pasquel) tags along as she is dating the troop leader. None of the boys are happy about this female intrusion, but they can do nothing about it.

The boys help a man in a cart and he warns them not to go the the Devil's House, which is nearby. The man has a curious deformity. This is one of those freaky scenes I remember even though I pretty much did not remember anything else about the movie.

Chabelo and Pepito are so upset about Pepito's sister that they secretly take off in the morning to investigate the Devil's House...

The troop notices they are missing and tracks them to the caverns below the Devil's House...

Lots of strange goings on, some very creepy moments, a few very funny lines, with one an absolute classic, and ultimately a kind of happy ending.
To say more would be to spoil some of the surprises.

But you do meet lots of monsters as listed on the title, no cheats at all (well, cheats of a sort, but genuine chills and thrills.) You will see death and actual red blood on screen, plus a few disturbing off-screen deaths.

This is a very fun movie that goes from one thing to another without a wasted moment.

Yeah, the adult-as-kid is strange if you are not familiar with Chabelo, but it fails to get to Michael Jackson creepy territory, though there are a couple of opportunities for that.

Wait to see the aged Chabelo on TV for that!

Some non-PC seventies Mexican macho culture humor, the English subtitles don't quite capture the flavor of the jokes, but are definitely PG-13, not cleaned up at all!
Still, family fun if you can accept a different culture and a different time.

Recommended!!!

The other two movies I remember are Chabelo y Pepito y la Lampara Maravillosa (The Magic Lamp,) and Chabelo y Pepito, Detectives. Those I don't even remember as well as this one, other than a pirahna pool in one of them.

Chabelo y Pepito, Detectives is a direct sequel to Monstruos. In the last scene of Monstruos C & P have been deputized by the police to help them investigate other cases.

The movie starts with a destruction and mayhem scene worthy of Msrs. Laurel and Hardy. C & P meet with the police and are asked if they are willing to go undercover to investigate a rising in kid crime and some child disappearances. C & P participate in some set-up thievery in a local Mercado Sobre Ruedas, get away with the loot and are soon contacted by a ciminal kid gang.

They agree to join. The get trained by the gang and soon graduate to another, more sinister organization...

Where Monstruos focused on Gothic Horror, this entry is their Science Fiction episode. This movie is now a blend of Los Olvidados, Enter The Dragon, Village Of The Damned plus a caper film of your choice.

Yeah, for a monster kid it is not as much fun as the horror episode. The laughs don't come as often, yet they are still there. I think I laughed more at this one than the other one, however.

Chabelo's big appetite is still there though more subtle. You really wouldn't want this to be simply a copy of the other one.

So here you got your basic Mexican science fiction conspiracy caper comedy.

Recommended if you got kids. My kids are now hooked and they want me to get Lampara Maravillosa for them, which is the Fantasy chapter in the trilogy.


As a side note, I heard rumours that Chabelo had recently been a victim of a kidnapping in Mexico City, and when the kidnappers recognized him, they let him go!


Mmmmm, chuletas de vampiro!