The Skull Brotherhood is a secret society comprised of local landowners. The members wear monk robes and skull masks. All the members have vowed to never sell their land. Anyone who betrays the brotherhood is killed. Several people in the area have disappeared. Not getting any help from the locals, Fernando (Jaime Fernandez) calls the state for help. They send a female judge, (Flor Silvestre) to help in the investigation.
Julieta (Patricia Nieto) has been called back home. Her father has been away and Julieta has been tormented by strange dreams and blood curdling screams. Her aunt, Clotilde (Elvira Lodi) tells her that it is Julieta’s grandmother screaming because her spirit is not at peace. Her uncle, Don Alvaro (Crox Alvarado) says that, according to some tradition, her grandmother’s corpse was walled up in one of the walls in the house. Alvaro agrees to have her taken out of the wall and interned properly.
Don Alvaro gets permission to take the grandmother out of the wall and bury her. The Judge and Fernando show up to have Alvaro sign official paperwork and observe the demolition of the wall. Alvaro is missing and has been missing for several hours. Since Julieta and Clotilde are also family members they sign the paperwork. When the wall is taken down they find the body of Alvaro in it and not the grandmother.
The mystery deepens when a headless cowboy shows up to defeat the monks and a disembodied hand is seen wandering around the house.
“El jinete sin cabeza” AKA “The Headless Rider” AKA “The Headless Horseman” was released in 1957 and was directed by Chano Urueta. It is a Mexican Horror movie, subgenre weird west. It was the first film that was part of a three-part serial called the "Headless Rider" series. The other two films were “La marca de Satanás” or "The Mark of Satan" and “La cabeza de Pancho Villa” or "The Head of Pancho Villa".
The special effects are primitive, but for the most part effective. There is a disembodied hand that adds some creepiness to the movie but comes out of nowhere and is never explained. There are lots of inconsistencies in the film. The reason the society exists is also not explained. The members vow to never sell their land. Why?
Other highlights include several musical numbers, tedious comic relief in the form of Pascual Garcia Pena and some really big hats. Although there is no official luchador in the film it does have Fernando Oses as one of the members of the Skull Brotherhood. The musical numbers are standard fare for Mexican films. The two main stars of the film, Luis Aguilar and Flor Silvestre are not only actors but singers and recording artists as well, so singing is a given. The sudden appearance of the Mariachi band in the jail cell is poetic license.
All in all, the movie is a bit odd but effectively haunting and a lot of fun.