Santo contra los zombies

El Santo, more than any other lucha film hero, seemed to encounter the supernatural at nearly every turn. Well, maybe not quite that regularly, but in a film career then spanned three decades, he confronted more than his share of werewolves, aliens, witches and other strange foes.

In this early fantasy themed entry (one of four films made in this year), three strangely silent thieves stage a midnight raid on a jewelry shop. During the course of the theft, the night watchman shoots one of the robbers in the forehead, with no apparent effect. The bandits fend off arriving detectives and make their escape -- delivering their loot to a man in a medical tunic and a hood. It seems they are zombies -- revived criminals controlled by this sinister mastermind.

Three detectives (Armando Silvestre, Irma Serrano and Jaime Fernandez)are dispatched to investigate the disappearance of a noted professor who had recently returned from a research trip to Haiti. When the man's daughter (Lorena Velazquez, who appeared in a number of lucha films -- including a two-film stint as half of the femme wrestling duo, Las Luchadoras) appeals to the authorities for assistance, Silvestre wisely calls on Santo for help.

Santo almost instantly runs afoul of the zombie master. He thwarts the kidnapping of the female of the trio and, later, prevents the zombies from abducting children chosen as experimental subjects, from an orphanage. One particularly bizarre element to the film being that both the madman and Santo can tune each other in on closed circuit television. Santo literally watches as the fiend lays his plans.

In an attempt to put an end to this unwanted meddling (is there ever _wanted_ meddling?), the hooded fiend abducts Santo's next ring opponent (co-scripter Fernando Oses) and turns him into a killer zombie. The plan unravels when Santo managed to short circuit his control belt.

The daughter and the detectives of course end up in the madman's hands, and it's El Santo to the rescue.

Some nice, gloomy photography is the highlight of an otherwise rather basic film. There's a particularly nice sequence at the end, when Santo (who generally just rushes off once he's triumphed) slowly exits up a long and interesting metal staircase set into the madman's cave. There are some clinker shots, though. There's a poorly done use of rear projection in an exterior scene, and there's a downright goofy shot of a partly unmasked Santo goggling in shock at the zombies who had attacked him vanishing in a puff of flame.

Still, it's a fun early Santo flick, and it is available dubbed in English for those who're timid about boldly launching into original-language lucha.

7 out of 10.

1961's "Invasion of the Zombies" introduced El Santo to both Mexican and American audiences, literally translated by the dubbing as 'The Saint,' actually the first Santo feature to be filmed in Mexico following two Cuban-shot entries in which he played supporting roles ("El Cerebro del Mal" and "Hombres Infernales"), and also the one to finally establish his comic book persona as a crime fighter to the big screen (the Santo comic began publishing in 1952, lasting until three years after his death at age 66 in 1984). Wrestling professionally since the mid 30s, El Enmascarado De Plata (The Silver-Masked One) was already a formidable champion with several belts by the early 40s, and with his new superhero persona firmly established in the public eye had resisted the possibility of becoming a flop in cinema. "Invasion of the Zombies" was not only a decent introduction to the champion in the ring, it also set the precedent of allowing him to wear his cape outside the arena like Batman, complete with his own literal Batcave, enabling him to spy on his equally masked adversary by closed circuit TV (neither one is able to keep secrets from the other!). The opening match occupies an entire reel before the plot gets underway, both the cops and The Saint becoming involved after a renowned expert on voodoo is kidnapped upon his return from Haiti, though the villain has already unearthed the corpses of deceased criminals to use as an undead army to commit a series of jewel robberies (later sent to kidnap children from an orphanage). It isn't voodoo but mad science that motivates these burly creatures, wearing remote controlled belts around the waist to obey commands and impervious to bullets, difficult foes to dispatch even for our white-caped crusader. Unlike Las Luchadoras (Wrestling Women), El Santo never needed a double for his bouts, lending authenticity to every move and reaction in the ring, at least for those patient enough not to use the fast forward button. There aren't many tight spots for our hero to get out of, though he does defeat a zombie wrestler by short circuiting his belt, the key to eventual triumph with the authorities incapable of nothing but firing blanks. This was fittingly the first Santo feature to be dubbed into English, possibly by K. Gordon Murray but not distributed by him (only three more received the same treatment, including "Samson vs the Vampire Women" and "Samson in the Wax Museum"). The zombies are sadly a rather unscary looking bunch, notable cast members including Carlos Agosti, soon to play Count Frankenhausen in both "The Bloody Vampire" and its sequel "The Invasion of the Vampires," and voluptuous Lorena Velazquez, graduating to Wrestling Woman Gloria Venus in "Doctor of Doom" and "The Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy."

If you haven't seen a luchador film, then I strongly suggest you try one of the Santo movies. What exactly are luchador films? Well, in Mexico, pro wrestling was so popular that in the 1960s to the 1980s, at least a hundred or more luchador movies were made. However, although the movies always or nearly always showed a bit of a wrestling match once or twice, most of the film consisted of masked wrestlers battling all sorts of weird and often supernatural beings....such as mummies, Dracula, Frankenstein, aliens, residents of Atlantis and even Nazis! As insane and cheesy as all this was, the films have a sort of goofy charm to them and they can be fun to watch. Notice I did NOT say they were good....in fact, the costumes and production values were often of the Ed Wood Jr. quality!

In this third installment of the Santo films, "Santo Contra los Zombies" ("Santo vs. the Zombies"), we have a slightly different sort of maniac threatening the world. Many were out for world domination...but this asked baddie was out to make a few bucks with his zombie minions. He uses them to work in his mines and commit robberies...making him one of the most practical villains I've seen in a luchador movie!

Now these zombies don't act like ones from classic films like "I Walked With a Zombie" or "Night of the Living Dead". No, these zombies don't look all that undead and they like to punch and wrestle...making them the perfect opponents for the hero, Santo.

As for Santo, if you aren't familiar with him, he was the most beloved wrestler perhaps of all time and in his movies he ALWAYS sports his silver luchador mask...even when when he showers, sleeps, or goes out on a hot date! And, unlike some of his later films, he almost always wears his long cape throughout this story.

So is this any good? Nope....like I said above, these movies are pretty bad. But they are fun....and unintentionally funny. Plus, you can't hate a guy who goes out of his way to save a bunch of orphans from a burning building....a fire, of course, started by the evil hooded jerk and his minions!!