movieloving

i would put this Santo film as among the best with SANTO VS. LAS LOBAS & SANTO Y BLUE DEMON VS Dracula Y EL HOMBRE LOBO. there is a lot of action here in SANTO VS LA INVASION DE LOS MARCIANOS and Santo looks as though he is really going at it with wrestlers in the ring and the villains who are aliens from another world vaporizing citizens of Mexico with a 'third eye' on their hoods. you can hear Santo's grunts in the fight scenes. i saw this on DVD and the black and white here is beautifully clear and great direction by alfredo d. crevenna. the DVD cover is misleading since santo doesn't brandish a gun nor head to another planet. he does enter the martians' spaceship to whack off the aliens. and santo does some brilliant planning here.

1)before a match with a masked wrestler (who is the head martian that knocked out the original masked opponent in his dressing room), santo suspects that an alien (real life wrestler ham lee) is hiding in his dressing room. the alien vanishes, santo soon knows trouble is coming. since the match is decided by the loser's mask ripped off, santo dons a mask within his mask. santo meets his match in the ring, and sees his opponent with a large silver transporter belt meaning it is the martian. santo's 1st mask is ripped and then he pummels the villain until he disappears using his belt.

2)santo stages a wonderful plot of staging a match in a ring but no spectators. this is to lure the martians in and santo goes at it with 3-4 aliens at once and it is a terrific sequence. and this whole actioner is santo's best work despite the silly plot and what the aliens, male and female are wearing. i had a good time. if you raise the TV volume, the sounds of the bodyslams, the grunts and the martians' pinging are pretty loud.

i have always enjoyed the Santo movies since i was a boy watching him beat up all types of baddies on TV. his movies used to be on before-Univision (was SIN in the 70s/80s) TV in the 70s/80s late nites and Sunday afternoons and also Sundays on Galavision years back. wonder if Galavision still shows Santo movies lately? he kept making movies till he was in his mid-60s. i read many reviews in his last 2 films PUNO DE MUERTE & LA FURIA DE LOS KARATECAS that said it was painful to see el santo wrestle at his old age. he still showed fighting skills in the film he did he 1981 SANTO VS. LA ASESINO DE LA T.V. hey! director Rafael Perez Grovas gave us 'reality TV' circa 1981! some masked creep named Magnus takes over radio/TV airwaves saying he will televise kidnappings of famous celebrities and commit jewel robberies on live TV. the police are clueless and their inspector wants el santo and his sometimes bumbling sidekick, Carlitos (played by santo's real life agent/friend, Carlos Suarez) on the case. Santo gets help from Gerardo Reyes who plays a singer who is also a newspaper reporter who is also a government agent!--whew! he sings better than he fights. santo does fight well here though in a martial arts sequence with a henchman it is very clear that that is a Santo double doing the faster fighting (maybe his son, Hijo del Santo). there is also a Santo double in a helicopter with reyes searching for Magnus' hideout in the mountains since this other fake santo looks pudgier and there is sweat seeping thru santo's silver mask while the face looks more obese! it ain't him.

in the weirdest scene, santo tries to rescue 2 females kidnapped by Magnus, santo is captured and briefly tied to a stake surrounded by flames. Magnus alerts TV viewers that the burning of santo is taking place and one of the viewers is a magician who with mind control concentrates hard on breaking santo's chains and they do slip off and santo escapes and beats up magnus. this is never explained afterwards. and carlos suarez is very funny here and in one dumb scene that still makes me laugh, he, santo, and a female reporter see magnus on screen, the 3 talk then carlos talks when the phone rings and it spooks him nearly jumping out of his chair! when carlos is the good guy in santo movies, he is charming, lovable and very goofy. when carlos is a baddie in santo movies, he is still goofy and nutty. so SANTO VS THE TV KILLER is fun fare. i am anxious to catch up on santo's last 2 films i mentioned earlier to see how he looks and how he fights. santo was not only a great wrestler and surprisingly he was a fine actor.