Pulp Features

From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Kirk Cameron was a heart-throb for the teenage set, via his role as Mike Seaver in Growing Pains.

Years passed. Cameron married Growing Pains co-star, Chelsea Noble, became a born-again Christian, raised a family of six kids, some adopted, some his own, and made fewer movies.

Then he re-emerged in the Left Behind series, playing sceptic reporter Buck, for Cloud Ten Pictures. Now, being a devoted agnostic, Cloud Ten’s Christian-based movies would seem to do little for me on the surface, but if I get past the Jesus content, they make great horror and sci-fi pictures. I wish Andre Van Heerden and the Lalonde Brothers would scrap the Christian themes and just make horror movies. I could see their crew in a number of old Universal remakes. I could see the whole Left Behind cast repackaged for these roles. Kirk Cameron would make a great Doctor Jekyll or Dr. Frankenstein, maybe even a Dorian Grey. Co-star Gordon Currie would make an outstanding Dracula. Brad Johnson would make a great Frankenstein monster, just to have green greasepaint over that otherwise too perfect leading man face of his! Well, I won’t hold my breath for that to happen.

As it is, Cameron has virtually revived his career with Left Behind, playing a reporter out to foil the Antichrist (played by Gordon Currie, who outdoes Paul Naschy, Sam Neill, and many others who have played this role). Again, if you can get past the Christian messages, if you are a non believer, these films are great horror fare. If you are a Christian, well, this is the stuff for you. And there is no end in site. More sequels are being planned, reportedly a new feature called End Game and a TV series are in the works. The production company ultimately wants to film the whole book series, which will amount to some 13-14 films in all, with the same characters involved. Cameron and crew should live long enough to see it through. If so, they will be very busy.

At least Cameron and his wife live their church beliefs, unlike many I have known in film, in business, in society and in college. He and Christian writer Ray Comfort operate livingwaters.com which is their own ministry to the unsaved. Their “Are you a good person?” campaign to convince others to be reborn is, I have to admit, more effective than the usual foaming at the mouth tactics their cohorts use, though it did not work on me, because I have been arguing with bornagainers so long, I know better than to fall for the punch line. No, I’m not a good person, I’m a (insert expletives of choice here) and proud of it! Anyway, this article isn’t about me. Let’s move on.

Cameron and his wife do a lot of good away from the film world. They are involved with a camp for terminally ill children and do other charity work. When not making films, Cameron also does travelling and public speaking, including in Berlin (Ohio, not Germany, this is a real hick town some 20 miles from where I live. Sadly, I missed the program, but it proves he couldn’t be charging outrageous fees for his appearances).

In any case, the guy has come a long way from the teenybopper heart-throb, into a more mature, serious actor. I had been told he had also been offered the role of the Antichrist in the Left Behind series, which would have been interesting. Instead, he opted for the reporter and fits the role perfectly. He is that character!

Recently, he also played in Miracle of the Cards, about a child fighting and overcoming cancer. I have not been able to watch this film yet, not because I might think it too sappy, but because it is a difficult subject for me, having lost too many people to cancer over the years! I have heard it has been well received.

From my first encounter with Cameron, via a magazine cover, to my experiences watching him in these newer films, I can say he has come a long way. Normally, I don’t give born-againers much attention either (though his cohort, André van Heerden and I, have been emailing each other debates about the Bible for some six months now), I believe him sincere in his beliefs. The only sad part is, I think said beliefs would prevent him from ever taking a role someplace as Dr. Jekyll, which i think he would be really great at!

Among lovers of films that can be described as being “so bad, they’re good”, a genre dominated by pulpy scripts, dodgy special effects and often surreal continuity and exemplified such as those made by the late Ed Wood, the El Santo movies have become cult classics.

El Santo, now deceased, was perhaps the greatest wrestler Mexico ever saw. Known as “The Man in the Silver Mask,” he not only ruled the ring, but made a series of exploitation films to cash in on his stardom.

While his films were invariably stupid, they were bankable and Santos laughed to the vault with every one of them. Now, with “bad cinema” and “wrestling” being an “in” thing with the yuppie set, these ancient films have found a new demand, even ones never dubbed or subtitled into English, with enthusiasts watching and enjoying them without having any idea of what is going on.

Some of the translated titles for the El Santo movies give you a hint about the product right from the start. El Santo & Blue Demon Versus The Monsters, Santo’s Mystery of the Black Pearl, Santo & Blue Demon in the World Of The Dead, Santo versus Blue Demon in Atlantis, Santo Versus Yellow Mask, Santo and The Treasure Of Montezuma, Santo Versus The Vampire Women, Santo In The Wax Museum, Santo In His Secret Caribbean Mission, Santo Versus The Strangler, Santo Versus The Zombie Invasion and so on.

The plots were of course tacky, Santo was given the role of a super hero, sometimes teaming with, sometimes fighting fellow wrestlers such as Blue Demon, Frankenstein (Nathaniel Leon), and Mil Mascaras. Like Batman and Superman, he lived two roles, as a wrestler by night and a crime fighter by day. He faced monsters, witches, zombies - blatantly hispanic extras with greasepaint on their faces that started to run during filming, werewolves, vampires, and robots of every kind. In the end good always prevailed. Children and wrestling fans that made up the bulk of the theatre’s audience cheered wildly. All was right with the world. Though seeming dumber and dumber with each viewing, that’s part of the charm of these things.

As an actor…Santo was a great wrestler!

There are numerous web pages devoted to Santo. Some outstanding photos of him may be seen in one of the galleries of the NMPW Indie Wrestling site and if you go to the links page you can find added pages devoted to this actor/wrestler as well.

Santo died several years ago, but he has a son now wrestling and acting as well, following in his father’s footsteps. Blue Demon and Frankenstein have since followed El Santo in death.

Tacky, poorly dubbed when dubbed at all, and with special effects making Ed Wood look like John carpenter, these films are readily available on video, still seen on Spanish-language TV, and the subject of a true cult following. Santo may be long dead, but his movies, for better or worse, live on.