Santo en el museo de cera

To the people that say this is garbage, it just shows how ignorant you are in the subject of film and societies around the world. Your Anglo-centric point of view does not allow you to appreciate other takes and reactions to modernity.

This movie shows a reaction to modernity and science in a culture that was previously homogenized by the Golden Age of cinema through comedias rancheras, catholic ideals, morals, and the like. The Santo films are reactions to such stipulated foreign horrors that came and made wax dummy hybrids out of people who blindly believed in the name of progress. The Santo movies are about Good vs. Evil, inclusion vs. exclusion. They were a way to show banned lucha libre fights on television. They were a mode of resistance and a middle finger to culture snobs, who think anything that they do not understand is camp and below them. Get off your high horse and take a real film analysis class. Learn.

1963's "Samson in the Wax Museum" ("Santo en el Museo de Cera") was the fifth entry in El Santo's starring movie series, 'The Silvermask Man' (as he's listed in the dubbed AIP-TV print) already a comic book hero since 1951 and by this time was doing the caped crime fighter thing in cinemas as well, director Alfonso Corona Blake previously at the helm for "The World of the Vampires" and "Samson vs the Vampire Women." As usual Santo/Samson has a secret lab where he collects evidence when not throwing opponents around the ring during his three bouts, the obvious inspiration here being Vincent Price's "House of Wax," Claudio Brook a poor substitute as a mad surgeon disfigured by Nazi atrocities (discussed, never shown), whose creations are hidden in underground catacombs, figures of Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, the Wolf Man and Dr. Hyde, who sadly don't come to life until the final reel. Only two ordinary henchmen do all the kidnapping, the doctor planning to feature a Panther Woman in his exhibit but that never comes to pass. Aside from the frequent fisticuffs it's pretty dreary, not so much fun as "Invasion of the Zombies," but at least our hero has no use for a double to distract from his prowess in the ring (can't say the same for the Wrestling Women from "Doctor of Doom"). Claudio Brook is underwhelming as the villain, showing off his scarred hands but little else, and worked with Lon Chaney in 1955's "Daniel Boone Trail Blazer," William Shatner in 1974's "The Devil's Rain," and John Carradine in 1978's "The Bees," before doing a cameo as a bank president in the 1989 James Bond thriller "Licence to Kill" (as the cop, Madrid-born Ruben Rojo had previously featured in "The Brainiac," later playing opposite Boris Karloff in 1967's "Cauldron of Blood").

I have a fondness for most south of the border horror movies.This really isn't one of them.Masked wrestlers were very popular in Mexico from the mid fifties to the mid eighties.Santo was the most popular of them.Only three movies were imported and dubbed into English.This sad one, the much better Samson And The Vampire Women and Invasion Of The Zombies (which I haven't seen).

Okay for some reason Santo is called Samson in this movie.What is goofy is when he is in the wrestling arena (which is too often) the crowd is chanting"Santo!Santo!Santo!"Samson battles for the good of mankind when he isn't wrestling with other sweaty guys.Everybody has to have a hobby.

The plot boils down(if I may pun)to this:The mad Dr Karol runs a wax museum.With some sort of mad scientist formula he has live exhibits that obey his commands. There is a Frankenstein type monster, a werewolf, a pig man and a caveman.Karol was disfigured in an explosion(but only his hands). Therefore he wants to make the world feel pain and ugliness.(Maybe he should make them watch this movie, eh?)Well he kills a friend of Samson's and makes it look like someone is also out to kill him.So old droopy drawers, I mean Samson is on the case.

Now we have to fill 90 minutes here kids.So we get endless wrestling scenes not to mention the endless mad scientist chortling over his helpless victims scenes.Samson takes nearly the whole film to figure things out.He has to face Dr Karol's army of wax zombie/critters.Will anyone survive?

You won't care.While this movie is better than the absolute bottom of garbage heap films (say New York Ripper for instance)it is well below average.So if you have 90 minutes to kill and want to inflict pain and suffering onto yourself or share that agony with others, this film may do it for you.

A year after making the very successful "Santo Contra las Mujeres Vampiro", director Alfonso Corona Blake once again was reunited with most of that film's crew and directed this new adventure of the famed Mexican wrestler turned Superhero. "Santo en el Museo De Cera" would be the title of this story that would continue Santo's image as a fantastic warrior that uses his wrestling techniques to help the police and fight against evil and criminals. Obviously inspired by the 1953 horror classic "House of Wax" (starring Vincent Price), this Santo adventure repeated the formula of action, mystery and Gothic horror with very good results, and along "Santo Contra las Mujeres Vampiro" remains as one of the best Santo movies of his early career.

In this movie, a series of kidnappings begin to occur near a very popular Wax Museum. After a reporter of an important newspaper disappears while doing research for an article about the Museum, all the clues seem to point to the owner, Dr. Karol (Claudio Brook). However, to everyone's surprise, Karol asks crime-fighter Santo (himself) for protection as he fears someone wants to kill him. While Santo accepts to protect Dr. Karol, he begins his own investigation about the mysterious kidnappings, and soon he'll discover what's hidden in the Wax Museum.

Written by Corona Blake himself (adapting a story by Fernando Galiana and Julio Porter), this film once again makes Santo a superhero similar to Batman, that can be called to fight crime (most Santo films were adaptations of comic books, where Santo the real life wrestler became Santo the fantasy hero). While this makes for a poor development of Santo as character (this would change in future Santo films), it makes the adventure itself the focus of the story, making "El Museo De Cera" one of the most atmospheric and captivating of them, as well as the one that gave Santo one of his best villains in his career.

Like in "Santo Contra las Mujeres Vampiro", the direction by Corona Blake is subtle but effective. A very visual movie, the mix of action film with Gothic horror sounds unlikely but once again Corona and cinematographer José Ortiz Ramos (who would create some of the best Bava-influenced imagery in Mexican horror) craft something that feels both haunting and creepy. It's not really a movie meant to be scary, but a movie meant to be enjoyed as a fun action flick with horror and creepy atmosphere as a setting. Despite the low budget, Corona Blake manages to pull off a classy final product that at times reaches the level of his previous Santo film, setting the bar high for future adventures of the masked wrestler (sadly, few films came close to it).

In this film Santo has an greater role than in the previous ones, although here he is still the superhero called to do fight crime. While not really his best acting, the script is cleverly built to not let his lack of experience mess with the film, certainly Coronoa Blake knew that his star was not Oscar-material. The whole opposite is Claudio Brook, who like Lorena Velázquez in "Las Mujeres Vampiro", becomes the center of the film with a terrific performance as Dr. Karol. With more than a subtle nod to Vincent Price, Brook creates a complex ambiguous character that at times looks like a villain, while at others is really a sympathetic man. It is his ambiguous nature what drives the film for the most part, making Brook's performance the highlight of the movie.

Like in most (if not all) Mexican fantasy films, the serious problem the film has is its really low-budget. While Corona makes the best that he can do with what he's got, at times the cheap special effects and the bad make up truly take away the feeling of the film. Another small quibble is that the film loses a lot of steam by the ending, as it becomes another typical film by the moment of the final confrontation. Still, "Santo en el Museo De Cera" is one of the better Santo films, as it presents an atmospheric movie with beautiful Gothic cinematography. Watch the subtitled version as like in most Santo films, the dubbed one is truly awful and doesn't give justice to the film.

Along with "Santo Contra Las Mujeres Vampiro", "Santo in the Wax Museum" is a great addition to a Santo collection, and another of the best films with Mexican wrestlers as main characters. It may not be a classic horror film, but it's an entertaining film with a great performance by Claudio Brook. 7/10

SANTO IN THE WAX MUSEUM (1963) **1/2 (D: Alfonso Corona Blake, Manuel San Fernando) Not bad as far as Santo films go. The masked man goes up against a mad doctor who kidnaps people and turns them into wax figures for his museum. Decent story, although (as usual) there are needless wrestling matches padding it. Similar to HOUSE OF WAX.