Hugo Stiglitz, probably best known to horror fans as the hero of Italian zombie flick Nightmare City, battles the undead once again in Cemetery of Terror, a low-budget Mexican mish-mash that borrows heavily from several successful US horror hits.

The film opens in Halloween mode, with lumbering serial killer Devlon gunned down by the police after a bloodthirsty rampage. The Evil Dead is the obvious inspiration for the introduction of a Satanic book that is discovered by a group of partying youths, whose idea of fun is to steal a body from the local morgue (no prizes for guessing whose corpse they make off with),and then perform a life-giving ritual during a rainstorm in a creepy cemetery.

With Devlon resurrected (I said there were no prizes!),the film enters Friday the 13th territory, with the dumb kids bumped off one by one by the undead killer. Last but not least, the film becomes a Night of the Living Dead-style fight for survival in a creepy run-down mansion, as a group of young trick or treaters are terrorised by zombies, brought back to life by Devlon's supernatural Satanic powers. Stiglitz plays the occult expert who holds the key to permanently putting Devlon to rest.

Cemetery of Terror is extremely dumb and utterly chaotic nonsense from start to finish, with not a lick of logic and unremarkable performances all round, but energetic direction from Rubén Galindo Jr. (who was also responsible for US-style slasher Don't Panic),lots of bargain basement zombies, and quite a fair bit of crude gore (a torn out throat, guts pulled out, an axe in the head) mean that there's still some fun to be derived from this random slice of South American schlock.

Fans of cheesy '80s horror will also enjoy the frequent appearances of the boom mic or its shadow, some nasty fashion (including a shiny, multi-coloured jacket with a skier printed on the back),an impressively staged zombie resurrection scene 'enhanced' by an excess of smoke and coloured lights, and one of those 'WTF?' final shots that were so prevalent among cheap horror films of the era.

I was hunting for the perfect movie for this issue of Drive-In Asylum. My goal with each thing I write for this twisted tome is to discover something new. A film that perhaps people have missed. And certainly one that no one is talking about.

Cementerio del Terror is the perfect movie to answer all of those needs and more.

Directed by Rubén Galindo Jr., who also helmed the utterly baffling Don't Panic! and Grave Robbers, this película de terror combines so many influences and films that it feels like the best DJ mix you've never heard of Evil Dead, Halloween and a children's film while still boasting all of the grisly rojo gore that you crave.

Set in Texas, filmed in Spanish and utterly unconcerned with things like good taste or common sense, this movie appeals to every level of what I demand in cinema. Let me set it all up for you, muchacho: Dr. Cardan (Hugo Stiglitz, whose half-century movie career has led to roles in beloved junk like Tintorera...Killer Shark, Guyana: Cult of the Damned and Nightmare City) has left behind the scientific method to become a religious maniac determined to stop Satan himself from resurrecting the dead.

Then there's Devlon, who has just killed seventeen people and his parents before being stopped by the police. Dr. Cardan knows that this is the exact body that El Diablo needs to begin his nefarious scheme, screaming "He's not a man like you and me - he's a demon!" as if he's the Loomis to Devlon's Miguel Myers.

If only six hard-partying teenagers armed with a book of spells didn't steal the body of said serial killer. If only they hadn't taken it to la casa junto al cementerio. If only they hadn't accidentally raised the living dead.

This is the leap in logic this movie demands that you make: These sexy ladies were promised a rock 'n roll concert by these moronic men and they make due with the body of a dead convict and rituals in a graveyard. These women were promised a rock concert and a jet set party and are instead rewarded with a bearded zombie who uses his fingernails to massacre every single one of them.

Everyone dies in the most bloody fashion possible, but only after they drink and dance to some of the worst disco you've ever heard, which makes this movie even better.

Just when you say to yourself, "The entire cast of this movie is dead!" a bunch of kids, led by one in a Michael Jackson tour jacket, enter the house and comically discover the disemboweled bodies of every one of the Satanic teens before they face off mano y mano with Devlon himself.

Throats are slashed. Blood is sprayed. Axes find their way into faces. Entire rooms get possessed. Kids goof around and hide behind tombstones as the film wildly shifts tone and becomes the goriest episode of Scooby-Doo ever.

Cementerio del Terror is unbridled joy, made by someone who it feels like got to play with all the toys that he always dreamed of owning. It shamelessly steals from so many films that it makes you throw up your hands and enjoy the ride. I mean, how many movies start off with buckets of crimson viscera and end with little kids saving the day before tossing in a shock ending?

There is no cynicism here, no winks to the camera that horror needs to be elevated and escaped from. That's why I seek out stuff like this. These kind of flicks are a drug that I try and mainline into my veins at any opportunity. I suggest you do the same.

Six teenagers decide to have a Halloween party at a spooky old rundown abandoned house located nearby a cemetery. When the party threatens to become dull, the carefree teens steal the corpse of recently deceased evil satanist Devlon from the morgue and hold a black mass. Devlon comes back to lethal life as a murderous zombie and embarks on a gruesome killing spree. It's up to no-nonsense Dr. Cardan (Mexican horror icon Hugo Stiglitz in properly stalwart form) to stop Devlon before it's too late. Writer/director Ruben Galindo, Jr. does an adept job of creating and sustaining a supremely creeped-out skin-crawling midnight-in-the-graveyard brooding gloom-doom atmosphere and keeps the pace bumping along at a steady clip before pulling out all the stops with a gloriously wild and exciting all hell's breaking loose climax depicting a hostile bunch of shambling zombies bursting forth from their graves with malign intent. Moreover, Rosalio Solano's rough, but agile cinematography, the grimly serious tone, enthusiastic acting from an attractive and engaging cast (gorgeous brunette Edna Bolkan in particular makes for a really fetching and appealing damsel in distress),the ever-popular have sex and die cliché, Carlos Savage's spirited shivery'n'shuddery synthesizer score, a handy helping of graphic gore, and a fiercely no-fooling open season on everyone take-no-prisoners harsh attitude all give this film a certain deliciously macabre charm. This movie earns bonus points for gleefully placing five obnoxious little kids in considerable jeopardy. Nice downbeat ending, too. Good, ghoulish fun.