Friday, October 9, 2009

Lucha: Santo y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstruos

Who wants to talk about Mexican wrestling? I know- we all do! Back in the 1960s and 70s, there is one gigantic name in Lucha Libre (aka Mexican wrestling): El Santo! He was the man! As a result, he had a Rock-style movie career that spanned years and numerous genres. The man has been in action films, dramas and horror films. Since this is October, I am going to cover the latter. While he made many of them and faced many of the world's greatest monsters including Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, he only faced numerous monsters in one film. This is...
Santo y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstruos
There is honestly not a lot of plot in this movie, but I will give you the gist of it. An evil scientist is brought back to life by some evil midgets and plans to get revenge on El Santo. Man, if I had a dime for every time that I heard this plot! His evil plan involves resurrecting a whole bunch of monsters. What monsters, you ask? We've got...
*Dracula- taking time away from battling Billy the Kid and going into space- to threaten Santo.
*The Wolfman, who apparently has a big, silly nose.
*The Mummy, who seems to be on the Nicole Richie diet.
*Frankenstein's monster, who manages to be skilled enough to drive a car!
*Two Vampire Women, who are pretty much enticing and interchangeable.
*A Cyclops monster that is never explained. Where did it come from?
*
I suppose that you want more plot than that? I guess I can indulge you for a little bit. Our heroes battle the monsters in a few places. First, the vampire disguises himself as a wrestler and faces Santo. This is not to be confused with the real footage of Santo and his partner Gory Guerrero Sr. (the relative of the more famous Eddie Guerrero) battling. Wrestling filler footage is commonplace in these movies, so it's best that you get used to it. Another scene has the monsters breaking up stock footage of a musical act (more silly filler) that our heroes are at. Another thing to get used to is the fact that our heroes never unmask & nobody ever questions why people are dressed up in suits, but still wearing masks. The evil villain captures Blue Demon and makes a clone of him. This gives us the epic battle of Santo vs. Demon! Who will win the day? Will good defeat evil? Who do you think?
*
This movie is strange and surreal. It's a movie about Mexican wrestlers battling evil monsters and a mad scientist! What else is there to say? I could mention that Santo starred in 52 films or that Demon starred in 25 of his own! These guys were workhorses, I tell you! They just cranked out these films, most of which have loose plots about evil doctors or monsters. On top of that, the movies were filled with other stars, including Mil Mascaras and Rayo de Jalisco. The films are just plain fun, even if there are cultural differences and curious plots to them. These films are hard to track down, but totally worth it. To see a great one, check out my old review of another. As a bonus, I should mention that both men have sons that have maintained their legacy and expanded upon them (Demon's adopted son is the first Mexican to win the NWA Title). Good on ya, amigos!
*
Next up, a film about video games and crappy CG. Somewhere during all of this, we meet the world's worst cop. Stay tuned...

3 comments:

  1. I have always wondered about the Santos series, which titles are the most widely available and which would you recommend starting with?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a good one, honestly. As for what is available, the answer right now on Netflix is zero. All 13 films (out of 52) are out of print. I think the best you can get is the Lucha Libre double-feature, although his film is the weaker. The good one is all Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras.

    The DVDs are available, but if you only speak English, your options are vastly limited. The prints with subtitling/dubbing are uuber rare, sadly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excuse me, the disc is actually called "Lucha Libre Starring Blue Demon." It is still available.

    Of the few I have actually been able to get "Santo en la Frontera del Terror" was good action yarn. As far as just Lucha Libre films go, I still say you should go with "The Avenging Champions."

    ReplyDelete