This slapped together spoof is so sloppy it shouldn’t work — yet, it manages. Poking fun at cheesy cross-genre Mexican horror films, cheesy spaghetti Westerns, and the cheesy clothes of KFC’s Colonel Harlan Sanders, “Esta Noche We Ride!” is too loosely made, even for a zero-budget spoof. Yet, somehow, things stay lively enough to stave off the smell of rotting queso.
The plot, such as it is, concerns the efforts of a growing posse of oddballs to fight off a horde of invading “space bats” and a menacing extraterrestrial — actually a cross between a Chupacabra and a badly constructed chipmunk. Led by a Southern gentlemen who, I guess, we’re supposed to think is the young Colonel Sanders (he’s constantly licking his fingers…get it?) and his pancho-wearing former enemy, our heroes include several tough cowgirl types and a faux-Asian martial arts expert. (Folks, it’s now officially time to retire the out-of-sync-talking-Kung-Fu master gag!). Eventually, this group gets around to battling the creatures, but not before engaging in a evening of peyote-like psychedelic visions. Many chuckles and a moment of real hilarity eventually ensues.
I could complain, but with the rocking music of Los Mexpistols del Norte and a couple of great jokes, “Esta Noche We Ride!” is close enough to the spirit of the wonderful-horrible Mexican horror flicks of my couch-potato childhood that I can’t help liking it.
Note: I did a little research to try to find the names of some of those lost classics. I didn’t come up with any horror-westerns, but it did yield some great titles. In particular, if anyone out there has seen “Dos Fantasmas y una Muchacha” (“Two Ghosts and a Girl”), please write in…. Could be a great sitcom: “Dos Fantasmas, una Muchacha y un Pizzeria”
