Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters (1970)


I don't think it's easy for an audience not familiar with exactly what a big deal masked wrestler El Santo was to understand why he could be such a phenomenon.  A hero in the ring and known for never removing his mask until he retired shortly before his death, Santo became a bit of a folk hero.  He was famous outside of being a luchador, making a series of movies that often featured his rival in the ring - Blue Demon - and Santo teaming up to fight crime, monsters and seven Satan himself.  The movies became popular in Mexican cinema and gained a cult following in the U.S., largely in urban areas close to the border that had Spanish cinemas. 

As can be expected these movies did not have the biggest budgets, most complicated plots or great special effects.  Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, the man behind the mask, obviously had fun making them, as did everyone else.  And, truth be told, neither he nor Blue Demon removing the masks, something that was key to they public personas, doesn't seem so weird with all the other goings on.  

An evil scientist named Otto Halder (Ivan J. Rado) dies and Santo hopes that they've seen the last of him.  He terrorized his own brother Bruno (Carlos Ancira) and niece Gloria (Hedi Blue), the latter who happens to be Santo's girlfriend.  However, Halder isn't done yet.  His hunchbacked dwarf assistant Waldo (Santanón), with a group of zombie cohorts, brings him back from the dead. 

With revenge on his mind Otto plans on killing his brother and niece.  First, when Blue Demon (Alejandro Moreno) comes to investigate, he is overcome and evil duplicate is made.  Along with the clone Halder raises the Wolf Man (Vicente Lara), a vampire (David Alvizu), a Cyclops (Gerardo Zepeda), the Mummy (Fernando Rosales) and Franquestein (Tinieblas) to terrorize the countryside and kill Santo.  Along the way the vampire creates two vampire women to do his bidding.  It's Santo to the rescue, fighting the team of monsters, rescuing his girlfriend and her father and freeing his best friend from the clutches of the mad scientist. 

The sets are cheap, the costumes even more so, and much of the acting outside of Santo and Blue Demon is quite hammy.  This is also a lot of fun.  I am not a big fan of professional wrestling in the United States but, if I had been brought up with Lucha Libre that would have been a different story.  It's still obviously staged but, at least in Santo's time, it was a lot more exciting.  It doesn't feel like a bunch of overly large men clumsily swiping at one another.  Many of the moves require athletic skill outside of just having muscles. 

Santo just has the air of a hero.  There is a poise to him that just makes the audience feel that he is with them no matter how ridiculous the movie is.  He isn't a superhero that comes through unscathed, but rather an everyman who survives despite the odds.  I don't know if he was the same in private as his public persona, but he managed to stay scandal free.  Not to mention he always got a great car, silver to go along with his trademark mask and cape. 

This is my first foray into Mexican wrestling films and, I'm sure, not my last.  It was a ton of fun despite its technical limitations and a peek back to a past that unfortunately was gone way before I knew it existed. 

Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters (1970)
Time: 85 minutes
Starring: Santo, Alejandro Moreno, Hedi Blue, Carlos Ancira, Ivan J. Rado
Director: Gilberto Martínez Solares



 

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