There is a long history of films starring the cultural Mexican icon Santo. But the character of Santo is one of legend. A wrestler at first he was soon involved in everything from comics to movies over his career that lasted almost 50 years. His character in the films was sort of a spy-scientist-wrestler-hero for the day. And those movies while considered by many as camp today were quite popular at the time of their release. Most of those films have found their way via bootleg or washed out prints. Now VCI is releasing this film, SANTO AND THE TREASURE OF DRACULA, on blu-ray and it looks great.
The story opens with a group of scientists brought together at the home of nuclear physicist Dr. Cesar Sepulveda. He lets them know they are there to witness a new discovery made not by him but their host. Enter Santo. He explains to the gathering that he’s invented a time machine but that it has yet been untested. He’s gathered them here to hopefully receive assistance in testing out and documenting the results of those test. The group laughs him off and leaves.
Looking to prove his machine works he needs someone who can withstand the method being used. What the machine does is send someone’s consciousness back into that of their ancestor in the past rather than their physical body. Dr. Sepulveda volunteers but is too old. His daughter Luisa, Santos girlfriend, volunteers instead and she is sent back in time. The experiment begins and Luisa is sent back. Unfortunately she is sent back to the body of an ancestor who was about to be bitten by Dracula.
The story here moves from the present to the past as two colleagues attempt to stop the prince of darkness from unleashing a vampire horde. We also get a glimpse of the horde Dracula intends to unleash, a group of well-endowed nude brides if you will (more on this later). Dracula eventually wants to add this past incarnation of Luisa to his list of brides and bites her. He takes her back to his secret lair where he reveals he has a cache of gold and jewels buried. At this time the heroes of the past find him and are about to stake out Luisa when Santo brings her back to the present.
Unable to remember exactly where the treasure is she does remember a clue. Now Santo and his group want to find the treasure so that they can use it to build an orphanage. But unbeknownst to this group (but not us) the evil Hooded Fez has been spying on them and intends to get the treasure first. When his group of thugs arrives and battles Santo they come to a draw. So Hooded Fez and Santo agree to settle this matter the way everyone should. A wrestling match! Yes, they stop shooting at one another and agree to this.
I’ll stop here or I know you won’t believe me what happens next. Suffice to say that the movie was more entertaining than I expected it to be. My first experience with a Santo movie might not have made me a die-hard fan seeking out more but I did enjoy this encounter. It provided enough camp to make me smile often and realize that at the time this movie was released I can understand why the series was so popular.
VCI has done a great job with this release offering a nice clean print to view. In addition to that they show why there were two versions of the film and match those moments one after the other in the extras. When these movies were made they made one version for the North American market and one for the European market. The European market had no qualms about nudity and therefore a number of scenes were shot with clothed and nude versions. VCI offers viewers a chance to see both.
If you’re looking for something different to watch on a
Friday night you can’t do much more different than this one. It does offer some
high entertainment value as well as some camp comedy at the same time. I’d
recommend this as one worth watching.
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