MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical* Joaquin Cordero returned for the last outing of Doctor Satan, but not so director Miguel Morayta, who lent the 1966 b&w movie such strong atmosphere. MAGIC, the color-filled follow-up, was helmed by Rogelio Gonzalez, today best known for the daffy SF-comedy SHIP OF MONSTERS. Ostensibly the writing-staff was the same for both movies, so I don't know why one was really tightly constructed while the other dithers about with lots of talking head scenes for inconsequential characters. On the positive side, though, there's still no lame comedy relief here either.
At the end of the first film, Satan had been placed in a cell by Interpol, but he simply disappeared with no explanation. At the beginning of MAGIC, that little old zombie-maker has apparently descended to the infernal domain of his master King Devil. The setup loosely implies that Doctor Satan has died, maybe as a result of going to Hell, and that he expects to pass on to "eternal peace." (As in the first flick, the Devil King's sphere doesn't seem to be in line with one's expectations for Hell as a place of punishment.) King Devil informs Satan that he needs to complete a mission on Earth before he can know peace. A scientist has invented a way to transform any metal into gold, but another super-villain, name of Yei Lin (Noe Murayama), has stolen the secret and plans to use it to advance the cause of his master. The master's name is "Lucifer" in the dub I saw, and apparently no writer thought this could be a source of confusion for viewers, given the fact that Lucifer and Satan are interchangeable names for the Christian Devil. Anway, whatever Lucifer wants to do with the gold, King Devil wants Doctor Satan to prevent it by killing Yei Lin. The doctor rather reluctantly accepts his new mission, and in no time King Devil has apparently set up his minion with his own ritzy office in a swanky buidling. When we see Satan there, he's already turned a hot young woman into one of his obedient zombies, and after a short interview with a new employee, a second hot girl is added to Satan's ranks. These henchwomen are the only minions Satan gets, and they're not as obviously dead people compared to the villain's earlier servants. To be sure, the title character's opponent doesn't exactly have a pocket army either.
Yei Lin duplicates the main traits of Doctor Satan, being both a scientist and a user of black magic. In fact, Yei is also a vampire of the Stoker brand: he can walk around in daylight without consequence, but he only manifests vampire powers at night. In addition to three or four male henchmen, Yei also has Dea, a female assistant who's also a girlfriend-type. It's never clear how Yei and Dea will use the gold-making process to gain power, so I guess it's just the old standard: "whoever has the gold makes the rules." Yei and Satan spend the whole movie trying different gambits against one another until a climactic mano-a-mano combat at the end. Though the energy of the proceedings weakens sometimes, there are still some diverting scenes. Two standouts are (1) Yei gets the drop on Satan and simply shoots him to death, though Satan is preserved by King Devil's power, and (2) Yei infiltrates the room where Satan's zombie helpers lie in state, and when he bites them for the purpose of turning them against their master, he fails to have any effect on the two undead women.
There are also a few Interpol agents buzzing around in search of the stolen formula, but they never have any effect on the plot. Though this time viewers are in a brightly colored world with lots of mundane shots of people driving cars and the like, MAGIC still works pretty well because actors Murayama and Cordero put a lot of moxie into their villainous roles. And though Satan doesn't canoodle with his lady zombies as Yei does with Dea, the dour servant of King Devil does make sure to send the females on to their eternal reward when he Satan doesn't need their services. Not surprisingly, Satan doesn't remain unscathed after defeating his foe, and so he too apparently dies a real death-- which proves a fitting end, with no Fu Manchu-esqe predictions for recrudescence.
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