So there's one more movie we've got to cover with the year of el santo. Truly this is the most demented thing I've had to endure yet with this blog. Apparently Santo's popularity spread across the atlantic ocean. Not really surprising news, as the man was just as famous in Spain as he was in South America. However, it appears his reach went as far as Turkey.
El año de El Santo (The Year Of El Santo)
A blog where I watch an El Santo movie a week, and then review it. I have not seen any of them beforehand, and there are 52 of them.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Epilogue: El Santo, en retrospectiva
So here's something special I've planned for the end of the year of El Santo. Seeing all of these, there's a temptation to rank all of them in order of best to worst. Instead of doing a top ten, I've decided to pick the five best, as I see them, and the five worst, as I see them.
Top Five:
Here's my five favorite Santo movies out of 52. These are the ones that I'd recommend to anyone who wants to see a couple of these films. If you see one of these on Telemundo, you should stop and watch it. These aren't just good for Santo, they're decent movies in general.
5. Santo contra los villanos del ring (a.k.a. Santo vs. The Villains of the Ring, 1966)
This is one of my personal favorites out of all 52 movies. It's not the craziest or even most exciting film in the series by far, with Santo battling a group of grifters who employ wrestlers to do their dirty work. No ghosts, no zombies, no wolfmen or vampires. The villians are entirely earthly in nature, and that's part of the movie's charm. These are wrestling pictures after all, and seeing Santo clash with people involved in his chosen profession makes for dynamic storytelling, coupled with some of the best shot fight scenes found in the Santo anthology.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
4. Santo en el museo de cera (Santo In The Wax Museum, 1963)
Another personal favorite, and one of the more well known ones here in the states, due to it being dubbed and released in English during Santo's heyday, and then later being lampooned on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The film takes a Hitchcockian route in story telling by having most of the story told from the villain's point of view, an unscrupulous wax museum curator, using real people in his exhibits. How Vincent Price of him!
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
3. Santo en Las momias de Guanajuato (Santo in The Mummies of Guanajuato, 1970)
Widely considered the greatest luchador movie to come out of Mexico, I'm not sure I'd call it the greatest Santo movie, however, it's plenty entertaining. Santo gets little screen time, with it mostly in favor of Blue Demon and newcomer Mil Mascaras. The three eventually have a marvel team up of sorts to deal with some demonic reanimated wrestlers. Silliness abounds.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
2. Santo y Blue Demon contra los monstruos (Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters, 1969)
Purportedly Santo's personal favorite of all his own films, this one is a text book example of silly luchador movies. A mad scientist takes control of a gaggle of goofy monsters and unleashes them on Santo and Blue Demon. There's not much more to it, and I guess there doesn't need to be.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
1. Santo en Operación 67 (a.k.a. Santo in Operation 67, 1966)
For my money, this is the best Santo movie, period. A sort of riff/knock off of James Bond and Euro spy thrillers from the 60s. Santo is teamed with an up and coming Mexican heart throb, and the two do battle with a clandestine criminal organization who could possibly be the World Crime League mentioned at the end of Buckaroo Banzai. Santo gets to be a bit of a sex symbol, as he macks on all the ladies without ever being the weird, sorta rapey Santo of the later movies.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
Honorable Mention: Santo en la venganza de las mujeres vampiro (Santo in the Revenge of the Vampire Women, 1970)
In the entirety of the Santo oeuvre, there's about a half dozen involving vampires of some sort. This is the best of that lot. Santo battles a classical horror monster, viewed through the lens of 70s exploitation horror. It's worth a look.
Bottom Five:
...and here, are my five least favorites, out of 52. There's obviously more bad than good Santo movies. There's a lot of them that were bad, that I honestly don't recall, so they don't make the list. These are the ones so bad, that I remembered them in a negative light. I'd advise avoiding these five movies at all cost.
5. Santo y Blue Demon en las bestias del terror (Santo and Blue Demon in the Beasts of Terror, 1972)
The best example of false advertising in a movie title that I've personally seen! There are no beasts, and very little terror. It's just Santo and Blue Demon looking bored.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
4. Santo contra el estrangulador (Santo vs. The Strangler, 1963)
An annoying rip off of Phantom Of The Opera, featuring some crazed asshat who likes to murder sub par Mexican entertainers who sing at a crappy music hall.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
3. Santo contra hombres infernales (Santo vs. The Infernal Men, 1958)
An early, rough effort from Santo and his filmmaking buddies that's so tedious and dull, it almost derailed all of my enthusiasm for this blog, and it was only the second movie in the Santo oeuvre. The villains are boring, and Santo is relegated to being a super powered sidekick. It's snore inducing.
2. Santo en los profanadores de tumbas (a.k.a. Santo in The Grave Robbers, 1965)
One of the rarer Santo movies, if you should choose not to heed my warnings and see it anyway, you'll find out why its just so uncommon. Santo clashes with a group of ineffective ghouls who like to steal cadavers. The lead grave robber spends a great amount of time telling his subordinates about all his evil machinations, which never work, not even slightly. Santo is always one step ahead. The only time he feels under threat is when he's forced to fight an evil lamp shade. Yup, Santo wrestles a lamp shade.
REVIEWED HERE!
1. Santo en el hotel de la muerte (Santo In The Hotel of Death, 1961)
Truly the worst El Santo movie out of all 52. It's true that there are some that were made even more poorly, or that were even most tedious and cornier. But the plot of this one is so obnoxiously stupid and nonsensical, (which is saying something for movies who's hero is a masked pro wrestler) that I found myself actively hating it, and chances are you will too, should you suffer the displeasure of seeing it. The most unfortunate aspect of it all is that it has one of the best movie posters for it.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
Dishonorable Mention: El espectro del estrangulador (a.k.a. The Ghost of the Strangler, 1963)
A direct sequel to Santo vs. The Strangler, a sidekick for the Strangler is introduced, and its quickly revealed that he's basically the brains of the operations. Stupid.
REVIEWED HERE!
REVIEWED HERE!
Coming Soon: Santo teams up with Captain America to fight...Spider-man? In Turkish? What the hell?
Labels:
Blue Demon,
El Santo,
Frankenstein,
Guanajuato,
Luchador,
M.P. Cherkowsky,
Masked Wrestling,
Mexican Wrestling,
Mil Mascaras,
Santo,
Vampires,
Wax Museum,
Wolfman
Friday, March 23, 2012
Week 52: Santo en la furia de los karatekas (Santo in Fury of the Karate Experts, 1982)
Well folks, here we are. This is it. The final official El Santo movie. We've waded through all the movies starring the original man in the silver mask. It feels like we've accomplished something. What that something might be, I have no idea, but whatever it is, it feels profound. There were times when I didn't think I'd make it, but I did, and since you're reading this, it means you did! Hooray!
NOT Courtney Love |
This week's movie is a continuation of last weeks. It's one of the few direct sequels in the Santo oeuvre. The only other set I can think of is the Strangler cycle, and the less said about those two movies, the better. The evil priestess and her glittery gold henchman from the last movie return to menace the Jungle Girl once more, now on her wedding day to Prince Chang, the titular "Karate Expert". Santo and Carlito parachute into action, literally. This time out, they decide to skip the endless travel involved in getting to this esoteric castle and just parachute in from a Cessna.
Santo parachuting in. |
Enjoyment! |
Two and a Half Silver Masks out of a possible Five.
Coming Soon: My top five recommendations for those looking to start watching Santo movies, and my bottom five movies that I'll implore you to stay away from!
Plus! The "official" Santo movie series might be done, but there's one more movie we have yet to watch! Stay tuned...
Labels:
El Santo,
Luchador,
M.P. Cherkowsky,
masked wrestler,
Masked Wrestling,
Mexican Wrestling,
Santo
Friday, March 16, 2012
Week 51: Santo en el puño de la muerte (Santo in Fist of Death, 1982)
So here we are, the penultimate Santo movie. It's been a long year, filled with masked latin heroes, silly rubber faced monster men, and big bazongaed babes of all shapes and sizes. This week, we encounter more of the same, in the vaguely titled Fist Of Death. That title might mean any sort of thing. One imagines Santo evading the fists of a grim reaper sort of character. Instead, the movie unravels a tale of strangeness involving good and evil twin priestesses, a star child, and a bunch of Mexicans pretending to be Chinese martial arts experts.
Look! Boobs! |
ENJOYMENT! |
Two Silver Masks out of a possible Five
Fun Fact: Just a year after his retirement in 1984, Santo was a guest on Contrapunto, a Mexican television program. Without warning, he removed his mask just enough to expose his face, in effect bidding his fans goodbye.[3] It is the only documented case of Santo ever removing his mask in public.[2] Santo died from a heart attack on February 5, 1984, a week after his Contrapunto TV appearance.
Labels:
El Santo,
Luchador,
M.P. Cherkowsky,
masked wrestler,
Masked Wrestling,
Mexican Wrestling,
Santo,
Witchcraft
Friday, March 9, 2012
Week 50: Chanoc y el hijo del Santo contra los vampiros asesinos (Chanoc and Son of Santo vs. The Killer Vampires, 1981)
Enjoyment! |
Silver Masks not applicable due to lack of El Santo.
Fun Fact: Chanoc is actually a Mexican comic strip hero, whose origin is similar to Tarzan.
Labels:
Chanoc,
Donkey Show,
El Santo,
Luchador,
M.P. Cherkowsky,
masked wrestler,
Masked Wrestling,
Mexican Wrestling,
Santo,
Son Of El Santo,
Vampires
Friday, March 2, 2012
Week 49: Santo contra el asesino de televisión (Santo vs the TV Assassin, 1981)
So movie 49 is one of the more intriguing titles in the Santo oeuvre. If you take the Spanish title literally, it reads as "Santo vs. the Killer of Television", and one might ask, who would want to kill television? How does one even "kill" television? Do they want to smash the infrastructure that manufactures televisions for the consumer market, or is it the notion of television itself that they wish to dispatch? You cannot fight a concept, killing television is like having a war on terrorism. It's an intangible opponent. It's at least nebulous at best, and not something someone can really take up arms against.
Reyes, singing, again. |
Enjoyment! |
Two Silver Masks out of a possible Five.
Fun Fact: Beginning his musical career shortly after World War II, Gerardo Reyes is now looked upon as a father figure of the Latin Music community.
Labels:
El Santo,
Luchador,
M.P. Cherkowsky,
Masked Wrestling,
Mexican Wrestling,
Santo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)