El Santo
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.
Thursday 08 May 2003 | Dale Pierce | Profiles
