All I know about the cult of "Luchadore"/Mexican wrestling is what I gleaned from reading Gilbert Hernandez in "Love And Rockets" more than a decade ago, so when I happened onto this particular nugget via Mystery Science Theatre, it was disorienting. The idea of masked wrestlers as superheroes seems pretty out there. Still it actually makes some sense when you consider that El Santo and his compatriots a) wear tights, b) wear masks to conceal their identities and c) are tough muscular hombres with preternatural wrestling abilities. Who better to be street level superheroes? And before anyone in the States makes too much fun of this movie's sheer goofiness, remember that our culture is responsible for "Gilligan's Island", "Ozzy and Harriet" and Sid and Marty Kroft.
On to the actual movie.
As promised by the title, Samson (actually "El Santo") fights vampires to rescue a young lady from her fate as the new Queen of the Undead. Well, not so much "fights" as "wrestles". And he doesn't really fight the vampire women - he mostly tussles with their thuggish male assistants. (Vampires are apparently immune to bullets, but luckily they are susceptible to sunlight, crosses, and front suplexes.) The plot moves along briskly from scene to scene. This is so that you don't have a lot of time to think about some of the plot holes and inconsistencies...such as vampire cults that forget to put shutters or curtains over the windows of their castle to keep out the sunlight. And the way El Santo manhandles three vampires at once during several outdoor mêlées, but one of the three almost kills him during a one-on-one wrestling match (by 'using karate' on him). Or that Samson/El Santo pledges to protect the young woman, but can't be bothered to actually hang around, so he's always pulling up in a convertible at the last moment and leaping on the bad guys. (You think it would be easier and more effective to actually BE THERE with the victim when the vampires make their move). Or the fact that the vampires are proved to be EXTREMELY susceptible to the sight of crosses, but it never seems to occur to anyone in the movie to actually carry a crucifix.
I suspect that this was another case where K. Gordon Murray took a fairly decent (if cheesy) film and sabotaged it with a 'English version' plot and editing job that didn't mesh with the original, sapping it of much of its coherence and integrity. (admittedly, we're talking about a Mexican wrestler film here, not "The Man Who Would Be King").There is also some unfortunate voice dubbing - El Santo is OK (if somewhat stentorian), but the Professor in particular has a fruity baritone better suited to an animated cartoon character like Dudley Doright.
Still, this was a lot of fun to watch - there were some pretty good sets and lighting and camera angles, the women were pretty hot, the hero was noble and brave, and I can see how a young Latino audience would think that a masked muscle-man who drives his own sports convertible and travels around wrestling and fighting evil would be the shiznit. If I have a chance to see another "El Santo" film, I'll take it and see how it holds up.
On to the actual movie.
As promised by the title, Samson (actually "El Santo") fights vampires to rescue a young lady from her fate as the new Queen of the Undead. Well, not so much "fights" as "wrestles". And he doesn't really fight the vampire women - he mostly tussles with their thuggish male assistants. (Vampires are apparently immune to bullets, but luckily they are susceptible to sunlight, crosses, and front suplexes.) The plot moves along briskly from scene to scene. This is so that you don't have a lot of time to think about some of the plot holes and inconsistencies...such as vampire cults that forget to put shutters or curtains over the windows of their castle to keep out the sunlight. And the way El Santo manhandles three vampires at once during several outdoor mêlées, but one of the three almost kills him during a one-on-one wrestling match (by 'using karate' on him). Or that Samson/El Santo pledges to protect the young woman, but can't be bothered to actually hang around, so he's always pulling up in a convertible at the last moment and leaping on the bad guys. (You think it would be easier and more effective to actually BE THERE with the victim when the vampires make their move). Or the fact that the vampires are proved to be EXTREMELY susceptible to the sight of crosses, but it never seems to occur to anyone in the movie to actually carry a crucifix.
I suspect that this was another case where K. Gordon Murray took a fairly decent (if cheesy) film and sabotaged it with a 'English version' plot and editing job that didn't mesh with the original, sapping it of much of its coherence and integrity. (admittedly, we're talking about a Mexican wrestler film here, not "The Man Who Would Be King").There is also some unfortunate voice dubbing - El Santo is OK (if somewhat stentorian), but the Professor in particular has a fruity baritone better suited to an animated cartoon character like Dudley Doright.
Still, this was a lot of fun to watch - there were some pretty good sets and lighting and camera angles, the women were pretty hot, the hero was noble and brave, and I can see how a young Latino audience would think that a masked muscle-man who drives his own sports convertible and travels around wrestling and fighting evil would be the shiznit. If I have a chance to see another "El Santo" film, I'll take it and see how it holds up.