Santo el Enmascarado de Plata vs 'La invasión de los marcianos'

My introduction to the Santo cult proved to be a somewhat disappointing experience. Santo is not so much a Mexican Super-Hero as a Mexican Bruce Lee. Instead of kung fu, we are treated to wrestling. Mucho lucha. Demasiado lucha! It never stops. Santo cannot step into a room without stepping into the fray. I admit it was well staged, but the sound effects were overdone. I liked the girls best, especially Belinda Corell. On the other hand, the male Martians were totally unconvincing. Complete with ridiculously fake wigs, they looked about as much like men from Mars as refugees from Central Casting. Not that the rest of the players were much better. Only the always reliable Manuel Zozaya (who rarely received decent roles matching his abilities) as the professor and the impressively voiced "Picoro" (doing his customary stint as the ring announcer) stood out in a very mediocre cast.

Production values were also second-class with ho-hum special effects that wouldn't gladden the hearts of a group of seven-year-olds; plus competently routine photography by Jorge Stahl (who did such good work on Henry Hathaway's 1954 Garden of Evil); and all topped off by capable but blissfully unimaginative direction from that veteran workhorse in Mexican cinema, Alfredo B. Crevenna (who helmed no less than 150 features between 1945 and his retirement at the age of 81 in 1995).

Sci-fi fans will be hard pressed to find anything to cheer about in this effort. It's the sort of film that a quickie serial producer like Columbia's Sam Katzman would have been proud of, but it didn't strike many chords with me.

The ridiculousness of this film is very funny, what automatically makes it less bad than other awful movies.

Though, even when you make a film with bizarre costumes, a silly story, and bad acting, at least one expects it to have internal logical consistency.

This Mexican superhero film, though, contradicts itself too much seriously (for example, just a touch is enough to teletransport a human, but the Martians who wrestle against Santo cannot do it with him; besides that, the first alien to fight Santo has a disintegration ray but does not try to use it against him, although having the hero as a powerful opponent, and only uses it against people who do not offer any risk to them).

Even the (excessively long) fight scenes are very bad (asslock, headbutt on the sphincter and other ridiculous attacks, with no visually impressive jump) and boring.

Claiming to be concerned about mankind's advancement into space and fearful of our destructive nature, a group of supposedly peace-loving Martians travel to Earth and insist on total disarmament and the formation of a global government. If the human race does not comply, the space visitors are prepared to disintegrate the planet using their advanced technology. However, when the Martians vaporise a bunch of kids to show that they mean business, luchador Santo smells a rat. Sure enough, the aliens aren't interested in peace -- they're planning an invasion of Earth -- and it is up to the masked Mexican wrestler to send them packing.

From the beefy, shirtless, male Martians in silly wigs and silver capes and the beautiful busty blonde female crewmembers in matching leotards, to the many badly staged wrestling scenes, to the ridiculous sci-fi special effects, which include a hilarious hubcap flying saucer, an 'astral eye' vaporiser, and a transformation chamber that changes the Martians hairstyles and clothing, Santo vs The Martians is pure '60s camp. The fantastical elements are entertaining for their sheer cheeziness (the budget was obviously very low), and a dance routine by the four sexy female aliens is hilarious, but the fighting, of which there is quite a lot, is fairly dull, unless you happen to particularly enjoy watching burly, sweaty, semi-naked men grappling with each other.

Over the course of his long career, the masked Mexican wrestler hero Santo the Silver Mask (Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta) appeared in dozens of movies, including this one. A group of scantily clad human-looking Martians is planning to teach us Earthlings to live peacefully without nuclear weapons and if a verbal warning is not enough, they are prepared to disintegrate mankind completely. Besides their primary mission, they also intend to kidnap some elite individuals for research purposes, among them the righteous muscle hero Santo and a brilliant scientist named Ordorica (Manuel Zozaya). However, Santo is not easily fooled by the Martians' schemes: the strong alien men and their seductive women, who all go by names taken from Ancient Greek mythology, must work hard to achieve their goals.

The movie is clearly all about the heroism of Santo; the goofy plot is secondary to the numerous and endlessly long fight scenes where Santo gets to show off his wrestling moves while everyone else just stands still watching their friends getting beaten. Some of the wrestling is pretty fun though and the seductress-Martians' hypnotic dance number is worth seeing, so even if the acting couldn't possibly be any more wooden, there's plenty to like in the movie: the futuristic but crude spaceship set and the Martians' tight outfits and wigs look rather amusing indeed. I don't think it was ever supposed to be a serious sci-fi thriller in the first place, but seeing it now, it's pure comedy and recommended to any wrestling fan and cult movie aficionado.

Three-eyed, fit bodied Martian socialists want to the world to disarm their nuclear weapons, stop war, have the Earthling start a universal language, and everyone to love one another...or DIE. They decide to teach the world a lesson by conquering Mexico. They capture universal TV airwaves to voice their intentions, but thinking it's a new TV show, everyone laugh. But ElSanto, the masked wrestling superhero is listening as well and plan to out wrestle these commies..um.. i mean space aliens. They choose to send one alien to a soccer game to show the power of their disintegrating third eye. But Santo happens to be there teaching prepubescent boys how to wrestle each other for the benefit of defending the weak. When El Santo sees the alien, it's wrestling time. To tell you anymore would be a great disservice. Suffice it to say you HAVE to experience this camp classic for yourself in ALL it's glory. You WILL be wanting to search out each and every one of El Santo's other 57 films after you finish seeing this one. TRUST ME!! It's just that awesome.

My Grade:A

DVD Extras: 33 and a half minute interview with El Hijo del Santo (Son of Santo); 6 & a half minute retrospective on Santo; Biographies on El Santo & Wolf Ruvinskis; Santo Filmography; Theatrical Trailer, and trailers for "In Raw Flesh", "One's as Good as the other", and "Coming of Age"