Week 39: Santo contra la magia negra (Santo vs. Black Magic, 1972)

      So this one starts out promising. Santo combatting black magic, yet I honestly can't really tell you much about it, because the movies was so damned dull. This time out, Santo finds himself embarking for Haiti, under the pretense of a series of wrestling bouts, but in actuality, he's there to keep a clandestine group of radicals from obtaining a new form of uranium, that could render stronger nuclear weapons. Wait, what? What the hell does any of that have to do with black magic?

Scrapbooking with El Santo.

     It turns out that these radicals intend to overthrow the current haitian government, and install themselves in its place, using the weapons rendered from this rare form of uranium to make their new Haiti government a formidable world power. To do this, they need to enlist the services of an unscrupulous voodoo priestess who uses zombies to do her bidding. These aren't george romero, flesh eating zombies though, so don't get too excited. They're more of the Serpent And The Rainbow variety. They menace Santo and his friends early on in the movie, and then just sorta get forgotten about. I assume they're the workers mining the uranium.

"Manage a what?"

      It all has the makings of a compelling 70s era Roger Moore 007 movie, yet it never really comes together. Santo parades around in a white tuxedo a couple times, takes in the sites, and the movie just crawls along. A lot of it honestly seems like documentary footage on Haiti, with a nebulous Santo movie built haphazardly around it.

VOODOO!

      I don't know what else to say really. It's not the worst one of these I've sat through so far, but its far from the best. It's just an ultimately lazy effort. The concept is solid, but it seems like all involved didn't know how to go about executing it, as if a brainstorming session resulted in someone suggesting Santo fighting a voodoo priestess, but the plot wasn't developed beyond that. 

Enjoyment...?

Two Silver Masks out of a possible Five

Fun Fact: Voodoo was created by African slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers.

Interlude: El Estado De Cosas Hasta El Momento

       Below is all 52 of Santo's films listed in chronological order. The ones I've viewed and reviewed already will have a hot link next to the title "SEEN!" that will take readers directly back to those reviews. The rest will have "ERD:", meaning Expected Review Date next to the title, with the date I expect the review to be up for your reading pleasure. I try to have these things posted every friday, and will hopefully stick to the dates I have listed here. The plan is to update this list quarterly, or about every 90 days. Its a way for readers new and old to catch up and keep up with all things El Santo, and maybe get a chuckle out of some of the funky titles in store for us down the road...

Santo filmography (in order)

• Santo contra el cerebro del mal (Santo Vs. The Evil Brain, 1958) SEEN! 
• Santo contra hombres infernales (Santo vs. The Infernal Men, 1958) SEEN!
• Santo contra los zombies (Santo vs. The Zombies, 1961) SEEN!
• Santo contra el rey del crimen (Santo vs. The King of Crime, 1961) SEEN!
• Santo en el hotel de la muerte (Santo In The Hotel of Death, 1961) SEEN!
• Santo contra el cerebro diabolico (Santo vs. the Diabolical Brain, 1962) SEEN!
• Santo contra las mujeres vampiro (Santo vs. The Vampire Women, 1962) SEEN!
• Santo en el museo de cera (Santo In The Wax Museum, 1963) SEEN!
• Santo contra el estrangulador (Santo vs. The Strangler, 1963) SEEN!
• El espectro del estrangulador (Santo vs. The Ghost of the Strangler, 1963) SEEN!
• Blue Demon contra el poder satánico (Blue Demon vs. Satanic Power, 1964) SEEN!
• Santo en Atacan las brujas (Santo in The Witches Attack, 1964) SEEN!
• El hacha diabólica (Santo in The Diabolical Axe, 1964) SEEN!
• Santo en los profanadores de tumbas (Santo in The Grave Robbers, 1965) SEEN! 
• Santo en el Barón Brakola (Santo in Baron Brakola, 1965) SEEN!
• Santo contra la invasión de los marcianos (Santo vs. The Martian Invasion, 1966) SEEN!
• Santo contra los villanos del ring (Santo vs. The Villains of the Ring, 1966) SEEN!
• Santo en Operación 67 (Santo in Operation 67, 1966) SEEN!
• Santo en el tesoro de Moctezuma (Santo in The Treasure of Moctezuma, 1967) SEEN!
• Santo en el tesoro de Drácula (Santo in Dracula's Treasure, 1968) SEEN!
• Santo contra Capulina (Santo vs. Capulina, 1968) SEEN!
• Santo contra Blue Demon en la Atlántida (Santo vs. Blue Demon in Atlantis, 1969) SEEN!
• Santo y Blue Demon contra los monstruos (Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters, 1969) SEEN!
• Santo y Blue Demon en el mundo de los muertos (Santo and Blue Demon in the World of the Dead, 1969) SEEN!
• Santo contra los cazadores de cabezas (Santo vs. The Headhunters, 1969) SEEN!  
• Santo frente a la muerte (Santo Faces Death, 1969) SEEN!
• Santo contra los jinetes del terror (Santo Vs The Terror Riders, 1970) SEEN!  

• Santo en la venganza de las mujeres vampiro (Santo in the Revenge of the Vampire Women, 1970) SEEN! 
• Santo contra la mafia del vicio (Santo vs. The Mafia of Vice, 1970) SEEN!  
• Santo en la venganza de la momia (Santo in the Mummy's Revenge, 1970) SEEN!  
• Santo en Las momias de Guanajuato (Santo in The Mummies of Guanajuato, 1970) SEEN!  
• Santo en el misterio de la perla negra (Santo in the Mystery of the Black Pearl, 1971) SEEN!  
• Santo contra la hija de Frankenstein (Santo vs. Frankenstein's Daughter, 1971) SEEN!  
• Santo en Misión suicida (Santo in Suicide Mission, 1971) SEEN!  
• Santo contra los asesinos de otros mundos (Santo vs. the Killers from Other Worlds, 1971) SEEN!  
• Santo y el tigresa en el aguila real (Santo and the Tigress in the Royal Eagle, 1971) SEEN! 
• Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y el Hombre Lobo (Santo and Blue Demon Vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man, 1972) SEEN!  
• Santo contra los secuestradores (Santo Vs. The Kidnappers, 1972)SEEN!  
• Santo contra la magia negra (Santo vs. Black Magic, 1972) ERD: 12/23/11
• Santo y Blue Demon en las bestias del terror (Santo and Blue Demon in the Beasts of Terror, 1972) ERD: 12/30/11
• Santo contra las lobas (Santo vs. The She-Wolves, 1972) ERD: 1/6/12
• Santo en Anónimo mortal (Santo in Anonymous Death Threat, 1972) 1/13/12
• Santo y Blue Demon contra el doctor Frankenstein (Santo and Blue Demon Vs Dr. Frankenstein, 1973) ERD: 1/20/12
• Santo contra el doctor Muerte (Santo Vs Dr. Death, 1973) ERD: 1/27/12
• Santo en la venganza de la llorona (Santo in the Revenge of the Crying Woman, 1974) ERD: 2/3/12
• Santo en Oro negro (Santo in Black Gold, 1975) ERD: 2/10/12
• Santo en el Misterio en las Bermudas (Santo in The Bermuda Mystery, 1977) ERD: 2/17/12
• Santo en la frontera del terror (Santo at the Border of Terror, 1979) ERD: 2/24/12
• Santo contra el asesino de televisión (Santo vs the TV Killer, 1981) ERD: 3/2/12
• Chanoc y el hijo del Santo contra los vampiros asesinos (Chanoc and Son of Santo vs. The Killer Vampires, 1981) ERD: 3/9/12 
• Santo en el puño de la muerte (Santo in Fist of Death, 1982) ERD: 3/16/12
• Santo en la furia de los karatekas (Santo in Fury of the Karate Experts, 1982) ERD: 3/23/12

Week 24: Santo y Blue Demon en el mundo de los muertos (Santo and Blue Demon in the World of the Dead, 1969)

       So we've reached game 3 of our three game series with Blue Demon. This one is billed as another team up, but the title is a bit of a misnomer. You see, this entry deals heavily in Santo's lineage and legacy, with the first 20 or so minutes taking place in 1600s Mexico. Santo again plays one of his own Ancestors, billed as the Silver Knight, who is waging a sort of one man war on a cabal of Witches and Satan Worshippers who are up to no good in this new spanish territory. Blue Demon also features as one of his own ancestors, trapped in a sort of phantasm state after being defeating by the forces of darkness and forced to work for them. 

17th Century Man!

       It's billed as a Santo/Blue Demon team up, but its mostly a Santo vehicle with Blue Demon getting an extended cameo. After the Extended flashback ends, and we jump forward to present day Mexico, Blue Demon's role in the story is mostly forgotten until the climax. Its technically not even "our" Blue Demon, as it is a past Blue Demon who is cursed. The plus side to this is that there is a vague sort of explanation as to Blue Demon's moniker. Once known as the Blue Knight in the 1600s, people started referring to him as a demon after he was cursed to walk the nether realms and serve the forces of evil, hence the name "Blue Demon". 

The Worst Satanic ritual orgry....ever!

         Once we're in the modern day, that is 1960s Mexico, we learn that the female descendent of the lead Witch Santo's ancestor sent to the stake to burn, is going to be possessed by her vengeful ancestor. This poses a problem for Santo, as this is his newest squeeze. I swear, for a dork in a silver wrestling mask, this guy sees more trim than a toilet seat. He definitely gives James Bond a run for his money, and likely changes his women out faster than he does his wrestling tights. 

Did you know they had mock turtlenecks in the 17th century?

        I have to admit to getting a strange enjoyment out of this return to Santo's lineage. It adds a greater weight and sense of a larger universe to these movies, knowing that there have been all these Champions of justice known as Santo through the ages. It's not the most terribly original idea for a superhero, as its been done with characters like The Phantom and even Batman, both of whom Santo is obviously modeled after, but still, its an effort to add a more complex storyline to these films and its welcome. 

One of their few on-screen moments together, in Hell...

   What's not welcome is the continued practice of stealing footage from other movies. This time out its Mario Bava's Hercules In The Haunted World. Footage of the dead rising from graves is used repeatedly from this movie. Aside from it being obviously stolen, due to its overly grainy appearance, there's no effort to match it up to the rest of the movie! Shots of zombies rising from their tombs cut to scenes of Santo supposedly fighting these same zombies, only now they're wrestlers in white fright wigs instead of rotting corpses.

A fine family film!

      24 films out, Santo and his filmmaking friends have decided to hue close to a tried and true formula, making this entry one of the more durable ones. It doesn't always fire on all cylinders and isn't nearly as strong as the previous film in this series, but its still one of the better entries. The effort to get the period stuff as right as possible on a Mexican film budget alone makes this a strong entry. There's some awkward stuff with Santo having a fencing match with two undead goons, but its more laugh inducing than groan inducing, as Santo's slow reaction time helps add to the film's offbeat charm. 

Enjoyment.

Three Silver Masks out of a possible Five

Fun Fact: Blue Demon actually resented having to be second fiddle to Santo in this picture, being relegated to villain status again. Being the better wrestler in the ring, Blue felt he deserved top billing, but Santo was already a living legend in Mexico at that point, so Blue has to play along.

Week 23: Santo y Blue Demon contra los monstruos (Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters, 1969)

           So here we are with our second Blue Demon team up, and one of the more go for broke Santo movies. All involved must've decided they wanted to do something really zany this time out, and thus Santo & Blue Demon vs. the Monsters was born. While the name recognition monsters get top billing with Santo and Blue Demon, even getting their own respective title cards in the opening credits, this film also sports a bit of a who's who of previous adversaries. The monsters that appear are as follows...

Frankenstein

  

The Mummy

A really shitty Wolfman

The Cyclops (basically a one eyed Gill Man)

The Vampire

  

Lady Vampires

And last but not least, the Zombies from Santo Contra Los Zombies, AND the hunchback midget from The King of Crime. 

        You'll also notice there is a weird, sort of alien looking thing with its massive brain on the outside of its head. It shows up a couple times in the monsters' hideout, and whatever it is, or suppose to be, is never explained. It's presence in the movie is never even acknowledged.

Santo in a 007 pose.

     The gist of the film, what gist they bothered to give us as an excuse for so much monster fighting, is that a mad scientist named Dr. Bruno Halder has not only found a means to reanimate himself from the dead, but also had managed to exert mind control over numerous forms of supernatural life. Halder intends to use his discoveries to murder his brother, niece and Blue Demon, who all contributed to his death somehow. I guess that was explained in a Blue Demon movie I didn't see? It's uncertain. Santo becomes involved, since Halder's niece Gloria, is his new squeeze. Also at Halder's disposal is a duplication machine, similar in function to the one used by Hugh Jackman in The Prestige. Of course, Halder being a bad guy, he uses the machine for his own shallow selfish ends, managing to capture and duplicate Blue Demon, he sends out this evil clone to wreak havoc while the real Blue Demon is imprisoned in his lair. 

A group shot of the Antagonists.

      

       The only thing that really matters with this movie is the monster fights, and they give it to you in spades. Santo fights as many as five monsters at once in any given fight sequence, and while the monster suits are amazingly shoddy (especially the Cyclops, whom you can see tears in the suit of by the climax), its part of the film's charm.

Fun with Frankenstien!

       My only real complaint, aside from making Blue Demon a bad guy AGAIN for most of the run time, is the use of footage stolen from other movies. Santo, Gloria and her father try to hide out at a night club during one scene, taking in a show. Footage is then inserted from an obviously much older mexican musical. If you can't tell by the change in color and film stock that its not something they shot, you can tell by the fact that its a massive studio set, and when they cut back to santo, he's inside a small restaurant. No way in hell does that even flirt with the illusion of matching up. 

More stolen footage.

        23 films out, we finally get a film that feels like the makers behind it let it all hang out. When one thinks of mexican wrestling movies, and the concept of a masked wrestler fighting evil doers in crazy situations, this is the movie one expects to discover. It's only major flaws are its need to pad out its run time with stolen footage again, and also the incessant need to pad things out by showing us the monsters emerge from the master's lair, over and over and over...

ENJOYMENT!

Four Silver Masks out of a possible Five

Fun Fact: This was actually Santo's personal favorite of all his films, citing the film's fun, goofy tone and story. 

Week 3: Santo contra los Zombis (Santo vs. the Zombies) 1961

          It's week three and we've finally reached a film that feels like a true Santo starring vehicle. We finally also see Santo clash with his first supernatural antagonists, a concept that would come to dominate the later part of the El Santo film series. This one feels like there might be some transitional elements at play here. We find El Santo still working with clandestine Federales, lead by a hombre simply known as "the Chief", with another hombre known as "St. Martin" (other characters formally refer to him as "Mr. St. Martin throughout the movie. It's damn strange.) seemingly working as the head field man. I say seemingly, because its pretty apparent from the get go that this whole thing is going to be Santo's gig.

           A Maria Sandoval comes to the investigators for help in finding her missing father, a professor well versed in Haitian zombie rituals. Meanwhile, a number of kidnappings and robberies occur by what appear to be zombies. COINCIDENCE! HAHA! I should clarify for those who are fans of the zombie genre that these are not the flesh eater types that are so popular amongst hipsters and emo kids today. Released in 1961, this zombie film sports pre-Night Of The Living Dead zombies. These zombies are more along the lines of the ghouls seen in films like White Zombie or I Walked With A Zombie. They don't eat people unless told to, something that never occurs in the film. They are unique in that they display the ability to use assault weapons, the weapon of choice being a strange sort of crowbar that causes objects they come in contact with to catch on fire. They also sport fashionable leather tunics. For Zombies, they're quite tasteful! 

Wrestling is many things, but its never, ever, gay...

           After Santo and his team have a couple exhausting physical confrontations with these characters, it becomes apparent that they're being controlled by an unseen force. Unseen to them anyway. We see him, a black hooded figure in a nefarious looking underground lab (is there any other way for such a place to look?). This masked fiend's identity is not revealed until the very end of the movie. In an effort to not be a jerk, I won't spoil it for you, in case you do actually want to see this film, even though you'll be able to figure it out from a mile away. Actually, it's Maria's "blind" uncle. There, I spoiled it for you. OOPS!

"Cereeeeeeeeeebros!"

           While Los Zombies is a pulp horror adventure, it also makes a strong effort to reinforce the fact that its also a wrestling picture, headlined by a wrestler. This is hammered home from the first frame, as the film opens with Santo and an unidentified tag team partner beating a pair of unidentified heel wrestlers senseless. Then we get the opening credits. Immediately after said credits, we're treated to yet another of Santo's matches, this time a one on one match that starts off polite and professional enough, until Santo's opponent gets anxious with him, at which point Santo gives this screwhead a proper working over. I admired the film's tenacity in wanting to make its audience sit through not one, but TWO wrestling matches before even a shred of plot line has been revealed. 

Sex Appeal!

        Another admirable aspect of the film is the physicality of the antagonists. While not the now traditional gruesome flesh munchers that most hope for in a zombie motion picture, they manage to be similar to Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, in that they are eerily silent, physically imposing brutes. In more than one fight scene, they manage to physically overwhelm and exhaust Santo. It's a fine change of pace from the usual criminal element types that are less than a match for the greatest of all masked wrestlers. 

Santo likes spying on his boss...

          The threat to El Santo's prowess is brought to a climax when the Black Hooded zombie-master/blind uncle gets wind of Santo's upcoming wrestling match. He manages to kidnap Santo's opponent, zombify him, and send him back to do battle with our masked hero. Santo only manages to save himself by pulling down the man's pants (I'm not kidding...) and thus damaging the zombie's control apparatus. 

A lost scene from "the Three Stooges meet Cobra Commander"

         If I had any real issue with the film, it would be its lack of genuine risk to the heroes. We know El Santo is going to make it out alive, but the impact would be greater if we didn't also know the same could be said for his entire team. Next to no character work is really done for any of them anyway, so why not have one or two of them knocked off by a magic crowbar wielding zombie anyway? It would've given the film a sense of danger that was otherwise lacking somewhat. 

Another oddity is that both Santo and the hooded zombie-master/blind uncle both have what can only be described as "God Cameras". I call them God cameras because both men have video monitors that allow them to watch cohorts where ever they may be. Santo seems to watch the rest of his investigators this way, instead of just being in the office with them. the zombie-master is able to see car chases (these zombie can drive) from street angles and places that are entirely impossible for him to see from without his cameras having some sort of godlike power to them. I'm probably over thinking this particular issue, but it is jarring to sit there and wonder exactly how either of them is seeing all the shit they are seeing.

Enjoyment...?

             While not a total reinvention of the wrestling or zombie genres, Los Zombis manages to finally give the El Santo series a proper starting point, while also establishing the universe these films take place in by including the supernatural evils that would dominate the later, zanier films in the series. It's a nice straight faced prelude to the more monster centric films to come.

Three silver masks out of a possible five.

Fun Fact: This was the first El Santo movie to be released, dubbed  into English, stateside, known as "Invasion Of The Zombies" by Murray K. Gordon, the same producer who distributed the horrible Mexican Santa Claus movie from Mexico.