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Vs.
Dracula & The Wolf Man
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6
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6 |
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Vs.
Dr. Frankenstein
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6
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5 |
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10
= Highest
Rating
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Mexico's
wrestling superhero El Santo returns to do battle
with the forces of evil in two new DVD releases
from Rise Above Entertainment, this time teamed
with fellow grappler Blue Demon. Santo
Y Blue Demon Contra Dracula Y El Hombre Lobo
("Santo & Blue Demon Vs. Dracula & The
Wolf Man") and Santo
Y Blue Demon Contra Dr. Frankenstein ("Santo
& Blue Demon Vs. Dr. Frankenstein") certainly
represent a step up in quality from the Santo
discs issued by the now defunct Beverly Wilshire
Filmworks label a few years back, though they
can't match VCI's terrific edition of Santo
Contra La Invasion De Los Marcianos ("Santo
Vs. The Martian Invasion") from 2002.
While Rise Above's DVDs may not contain pristine
transfers and extensive extras any self-respecting
Santo fan will want to snap 'em up pronto. The
BWF/VCI discs were of black and white Santo flicks
from the '60s; it's a real treat to finally see
The Man In The Silver Mask swing into action in
living color —
garish '70s fashions and all.
And this time Blue Demon's got his back.
In 1973's Santo &
Blue Demon Vs. Dracula &
The Wolf Man Santo is asked by his buxom
girlfriend Lina — he's actually got a love life
now — to meet with her uncle, the elderly Prof.
Cristaldi. The old man is deeply worried about
the safety of his widowed daughter Laura, his
grandchild, and Lina. He believes that a dark
force threatens their lives, none other than the
Lord of the Undead, Count Dracula. 400 years earlier
the professor's ancestor, a powerful wizard, slew
both Dracula and the vampire's servant, the Wolf
Man, using a holy weapon called the Dagger of
Boidros. Before turning to dust the Count swore
vengeance against the Cristaldi family, vowing
to someday return and destroy the wizard's descendants.
The professor fears that the time of Dracula's
revenge is at hand. Eschewing his own safety,
Cristaldi secures Santo's promise that the masked
hero will protect his loved ones. Aiding El Santo
is his good friend and occasional wrestling partner
Blue Demon, a powerful, highly skilled luchadore
in his own right. But almost immediately after
they accept the mission Prof. Cristaldi disappears
without a trace. Has Dracula already struck? The
two wrestlers move in to the Cristaldi mansion
to keep watch on the remaining family members.
Count Dracula (Aldo
Monti) has indeed risen from the grave, along
with his chief henchman the Wolf Man (Agustín
Martínez Solares). Cribbing the resurrection scene
from Dracula — Prince
Of Darkness,
an evil hunchback named Eric (Wally Barron, sporting
a ludicrous fake beard) kidnaps Prof. Cristaldi
and suspends the old geezer upside down over the
two monsters' coffins, cutting his throat. Once
restored by the dripping blood Drac wastes no
time getting into the revenge groove. He plans
to wipe out the remaining Cristaldi descendants
before conquering the world with an army of vampires
and werewolves. Our tag-team of masked crimefighters
will have something to say about the matter, however.
As Santo &
Blue Demon Vs. Dr. Frankenstein opens,
Mexico City is in a panic over a series of bizarre
murders. Women are being kidnapped and given brain
transplants, only to be later found dead... after
having strangled their loved ones! The evil genius
behind it all is the cigar smoking, 113-year old
Dr. Irving Frankenstein, grandson of the original
monster maker. Keeping himself youthful by means
of a secret formula, he labors to perfect a brain
transplant technique to revive his long-dead wife,
kept frozen for the past 80 years. The kidnap
victims serve as guinea pigs for these nefarious
experiments. (Instead of simply disposing of the
victims afterwards, he turns them into short-lived
zombies in order to terrorize the populace and
baffle the authorities — just for kicks!) Not
content with merely restoring his deceased spouse,
Dr. Frankenstein also plans to create a race of
super-powerful zombies with which to take over
the world. Thus he covets the body of El Santo,
renowned for his athletic prowess and agility.
To get Santo on the operating table he'll first
have to lure him to his secret lab. Frankenstein
orders his thugs to kidnap Alicia (Sasha Montenegro),
the wrestling idol's gal pal, as bait. And the
evil doc has a trump card to play should Santo
attempt to foil his scheme: an electronically-controlled
zombie named Golem, made from the body of a South
African giant, who possesses the strength of 20
men. Not even the formidable duo of Santo and
Blue Demon can hope to prevail against such a
monster...
Both films are incredibly
ridiculous and a great deal of fun. As to be expected
with Santo movies, it's the straight-faced earnestness
with which the inherently silly material is treated
that generates the biggest laughs. Production
values seem cheaper in these color productions
than in the black and white Santo flicks but this
only accentuates the cheesy charm. (Dracula's
cave is more brightly lit than some supermarkets
I've been in.) Everything one could want in a
Santo adventure is here: the goofy dialog, scenery
chewing villains with ludicrous plots for world
domination, winsome señoritas in
need of rescuing, wrestling matches that have
nothing to do with the plot. Both Dracula and
Dr. Frankenstein naturally need a gang of criminals
to do their bidding (in addition to the monsters
at their command), so you can expect some major
fight scenes when Santo and Blue Demon have to
open up a can of whoop-ass on 'em. During these
big brawls, usually lasting 3 or 4 minutes, director
Miguel Delgado is mostly content to simply plant
the camera and let the boys go at it —
in this age of the MTV-style quick cut and Matrix-influenced,
CGI-enhanced action scene it's rather refreshing
to see a bunch of stuntmen knocking each other
about with nothing more than a lot of enthusiasm.
Santo and Blue Demon perform their own fight scenes,
of course, relying on their patented wrestling
moves when not delivering a lightning flurry of
old fashioned knuckles to the face. While not
exactly young men anymore these guys are still
in terrific shape; Blue Demon is a great teammate
for Santo and it's nice that he isn't relegated
to mere sidekick status. And Santo is definitely
more energetic in these two adventures than he
was in Santo Vs. The Martian
Invasion, made nearly a decade earlier.
One of the most entertaining aspects of these
films is that Santo, along with his compadre
Blue Demon, never takes off his mask — EVER. Their
wrestling personas aren't alter-egos... These
hombres wear their masks outside of the
ring, even on double dates with their girlfriends!
Unlike Batman, Daredevil, etc., no screen time
is taken up with the hero's conflicted personality
or dual identity. Why let something like characterization
get in the way of a rollicking good time?
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Thanks
to Rise Above Entertainment we Americanos
get to enjoy more of El Santo's adventures. The
fullframe prints used for the DVDs aren't exactly
in sterling condition, displaying numerous scratches,
nicks and the occasional missing frame, but they're
serviceable enough — definitely superior to Beverly
Wilshire's now OOP editions of Samson
Vs. The Vampire Women and Samson
In The Wax Museum.*
(Vs. Dr. Frankenstein
looks to be in the worst shape of the two, with
more noticeable print damage and color fluctuation.)
The same goes for audio quality — not great but
it gets the job done okay. The films are presented
in the original Spanish with easy-to-read, removable
English subtitles; the occasional grammatical
errors and misspellings aren't too annoying. Both
discs contain the same set of extras. A 2-minute
compilation clip called The Best of Santo
is culled from a variety of the masked hero's
many films. Two trailers are included: Santo
&
Blue Demon Vs. Dr. Frankenstein, a promo
created by Rise Above expressly for these DVDs,
and Santo: Infraterrestre,
a recent film actually starring El Hijo de Santo
(Son of Santo), which brings the character into
the CGI age. You also get an image gallery and
informative liner notes by Mexi-film scholar David
Wilt.
6/24/03
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*Santo
is re-christened "Samson" in the English-dubbed
versions.
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