NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (March 2024): Indicator have transferred René Cardona's The Panther Women to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "2K restoration from the original negative". It is credited as "Picture and Soundtrack Restoration by Peter Conheim" Peter is a longtime DVDBeaver friend and subscriber. We reviewed VCI's Double Feature of Panther Women and The Batwoman HERE and have compared captures below. The VCI was flawed with sequences of heavy compression (see sample below) described as "black levels pulsate and turn into a muddy blob, losing all detail". An obvious example of the VCI transfer weakness is HERE. The Indicator 1080P is a revelation by comparison. The VCI Blu-ray was a bastardized 1.78:1. It's like night and day - the 1.66:1 aspect ratio Indicator is brighter, has many scenes that show much more information in the top of the frame, cleaner and has significantly better contrast. It's quite a substantial improvement. I did see one scratch, example HERE, but they are few and far between. Another highly appreciated upgrade in the image - thanks Peter and participants. 

NOTE: We have added 62 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (16-bit) in the original Spanish language. The Panther Women has aggressive moments - plenty of wrestling falls, fist fights etc. but they have relatively modest depth which would be in-line with the original production. The musical director is credited as Antonio Díaz Conde (Plunder in the Sun) and the score carries drama via the lossless transfer. Indicator offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Indicator Blu-ray offers a new commentary by publisher of From Parts Unknown and screenwriter of Los campeones de la lucha libre, Keith J. Rainville. He tells us that it is considered the fourth entry in the wrestling women series, the score by Antonio Díaz Conde, the utilized 'cult' tropes, María Douglas who plays 'Satanasa' - this being her only genre work in a long film and TV career, and discusses the two 'vedettes' two exotic cabaret dancers, Eda Lorna and the iconic Tongolele (Yolanda Montes 'Tongolele'), the luchadoras; Ariadne Welter and Elizabeth Campbell - he talks about the genre, the production, how in the lucha libre films that wrestlers are much more capable of dealing with villains than police etc. and much more.. and much more. It's enjoyable and informative. Let Them Fight! has the Killer Film, el critico enmascarado (the Masked Critic), lucha libre specialist, and filmmaker behind the Monterrey female wrestlers' documentary La femenil, discuss the protagonists of the film, the cine de luchadoras, and the controversial story of Mexican female wrestling for 1/4 hour. Cat Fight has academic and Latin American horror specialist Valeria Villegas Lindvall, also known as Morena de Fuego, examine the struggle for empowerment and the subverted representation of the female characters in the film. It runs 24-minutes. There is an original theatrical trailer and an image gallery of promotional and publicity material. The package has a limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Iain Robert Smith, archival essays by Janina Möbius and Ricardo Cárdenas Pérez, an archival interview with Guillermo Calderón, and full film credits.

Adding to the Luchadoras amusement of René Cardona's The Panther Women are many exquisite gothic horror tropes - walking through a graveyard, head-witch Satanasa's (María Douglas) evil stare, an ancient curse, Satanic rituals, exotic, scandalous, vedette Tongolele (Yolanda Montes) as seen in Isle of the Snake People, plus we get an uber Santo - the noble masked wrestler El Ángel! and our luchadoras pairing of Loreta Venus (Ariadna Welter) and Golden Rubi (Elizabeth Campbell) who end up fighting zombified monsters. More over-the-top cornball camp that is a signature of this lovable genre. Indicator do it again with their superior Blu-ray a/v extras and packaging. Either you are into it or not. If you 'get it' this is the package to own. Recommended.

Gary Tooze