A yearly look at Lucha Cinema is something I always look forward to.
This is El Santo in The Witches Attack, a 1968 Action/Horror Film. This is at a good midpoint in his Film career- which ran until 1982- and features many familiar things.
Lots of fighting. Black and white mood. Ladies in miniskirts.
The Plot involves a woman who fears that she'll be sacrificed by a Witch and only El Santo can save her! He's a spry 50-51 years old at this time.
There wasn't a younger Luchador who could help- Rey Mysterio Jr. wasn't born yet.
This one does a few unique things that are worth mentioning.
Are they enough to make this not too familiar?
To find out, read on...
The Film actually has a Cold Open where this lady monologues about the danger she's in from some Witches and that only El Santo (not named by her) can save her.
He fights masked thugs and is captured, but then breaks free and makes a cross with his arms...
...and that was all a dream.
The Woman has been having very vivid nightmares ever since she moved into her Parents' house to get the money willed to her.
Her Sister tells her to stay.
Her fiancée Arturo (who was in the dream too) meets with El Santo after hearing about her dream. He knows the guy.
What luck!
He explains the situation with the house and will to our Hero...and that the Sister is not who she claims to be!
She might even be- wait for it- a Witch!
This leads to the 2nd of what feels like a dozen (more like 6) prolonged Fight Scenes with El Santo, this time with unmasked guys (but clearly the same ones)...and there's no a third guy.
He doesn't find the proof he needs.
The Witches are real, of course, and doing exactly what was in the dream.
They capture and control Arturo with a magical spell.
Santo saves our Heroine from them again, but they flee...again.
It's not a Luchador Film without one unnecessary Wrestling Match Scene.
This has one that runs about 5 minutes.
The Witches have nigh unlimited power at their disposal thanks to the dark arts and their infernal Masters!
They...summon a single spider (seemingly made by a preschooler) to kill Santo.
It fails.
They do capture the woman again and she appears to escape...again.
She meets with Santo and tells him where to go.
Surprise- it was the Witch all along!
They capture Santo at Fight #22 (or 6) and chain him down for the sacrifice.
He breaks the chains...which shouldn't surprise them since he's DONE IT TWO OTHER TIMES and fights them.
Outnumbered, he resorts to their weaknesses (which the Witch recounted to the audience earlier) and returns with a big cross.
He waves it around and they all die.
The End.
A Film that is very similar to many Santo Films, but with some extra, spooky aesthetics.
The Plot is pretty simple- so much so that it is laid out in the opening minutes.
Not much changes from that setup explained to us then- we just see it play out.
I guess Horror can be about NOT surprising you.
To be fair, I might be judging this through the wrong point of view.
These Films were made for a broad audience and likely ran as Matinees in Santo's homeland of Mexico.
People weren't looking for great Acting or amazing Plots. This is very similar to watching a spooky Episode of the Adam West Batman TV Show.
I own the whole Series on DVD and watch it every weekend, so clearly, I don't hate the formula.
This one gets a few points of credit for adding the spooky stuff, but is otherwise a fairly copy-paste adventure.
There's really no difference between these Witches having male henchmen and the Mad Scientists/Vampires having them.
Speaking of Vampires, this...goes nowhere.
A pretty fun, if familiar El Santo Film. If you want one of these with a few new tricks, give it a watch.
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