‘No! This death would be very pious for him.’
The corpse of a serial killer disappears from the morgue, leading the police to assume that he is not dead. The authorities reopen the theatre that was the scene of his crimes, and the lead investigator contacts the silver-masked wrestler who initially helped to bring the murderer to justice…
Everyone’s favourite wrestling crime fighter superhero Santo goes back to the stage in this sequel to ‘Santo vs the Strangler/Santo vs el estrangulador’ (1963). René Cardona writes and directs again, with assistance from script partner Rafael García Travesi.
After the apparent death of the scarred killer, the Strangler (Roberto Cañedo), his body and clothing are taken to the morgue. A man claiming to be a relative breaks the attendant’s neck and steals the body. Inspector Villegas (Carlos López Moctezuma) shares the news with Santo, and the wrestler concludes that Cañedo is still alive and has an accomplice. Moctezuma has already persuaded former headline act Laura (María Duval) to reopen the theatre so they can lure the villain into a trap. Why they are so sure he’s still alive is a bit of a mystery, but I guess Santo knows best. And, after all, he is right.
Cañedo’s first order of business is to kill Santo, and he captures the wrestler with the aid of his assistant, neck breaker Tor (Gerardo Zepeda). Fortunately, Santo escapes, but Moctezuma has some curious news for our hero; the bodies of Cañedo’s victims are being stolen from their graves. Little do they know that Zepeda is using human flesh to make life-like masks Cañedo can use to impersonate anyone he wants.
Having already plundered classic horror movie history with adventures involving vampires, mad scientists and dodgy waxworks proprietors, this time it’s the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ leaving his calling card for our silver-masked crusader for justice. Unfortunately, the Grand Opera Houses of the day proved a little out of the economic range of everyone concerned, so things are downgraded a little to a small musical variety theatre instead. The first film was a curious mixture of a horror adventure and music video as various pop acts of the day took to the theatre stage to strut their stuff, with some also taking dramatic roles in the action.
Unsurprisingly, this sequel features the same mixture, although this time the audience isn’t faced with almost an entire opening 15 minutes of songs; it’s that far through the film before the first one appears, Edith Barr again, as in the previous movie. But just when you thought the musical numbers were better integrated this time, a number from Javier (Alberto Vázquez) is followed by one from Duval, one from ingenue Irene (Begoña Palacios) and then another from Vázquez.
But where the film really scores on its predecessor is with the abandonment of the ‘whodunnit?’ element. Not because that was poorly realised before, but because letting Cañedo off the leash as the Strangler makes for much better entertainment. The actor rants and cackles in gloriously unhinged fashion, destroying the scenery far more effectively than the clumsiest stagehand could ever manage. Some of the villains’ M.O. is also wonderfully nonsensical. Zepeda has discovered a way to halt the decomposition of human flesh, and he’s using this to create the masks that Cañedo uses to impersonate others. Fine, but these masks are of people who are still alive, so why target the graves of his previous victims for raw materials? And why keep a couple hanging around the lair like creepy shop window mannequins? Kudos to the uncredited actress who plays the one standing up, though. She’s pretty convincing.
There is also no explanation of how Cañedo survived his headlong plunge down to the stage at the end of the first film. He’s just still alive; deal with it. If it’s good enough for Emperor Palpatine, I guess it’s good enough for him. Unfortunately, we also get the return of Milton (Milton Ray), the young child Santo suddenly adopted in the first film. Even more unfortunately, he sings another song, gyrating spasmodically like someone trying to do the twist under the influence of recreational substances. As in the first film, there’s a suspicion of a record label tie-in with the financing, as several of the musical performers were popular recording artists of the time. Vázquez, in particular, seems to have been quite a big name.
In incidental news, Palacios has taken on the role of the backstage harpy, and Santo fights a wrestler in the ring called ‘The Phantom’ (no, he’s nothing to do with the plot, and he doesn’t seem to be involved with opera). One of the highlights is where Cañedo and Zepeda put Santo in a crushing machine that destroys the pillars he’s chained to instead (I don’t think they really thought that through). I can’t understand why they didn’t do the job personally. After all, one is called the Strangler and the other breaks necks for a living. But perhaps the biggest mystery of all is why Moctezuma is ringside at all of Santo’s fights. Isn’t he supposed to be out catching criminals or something?
Although Santo’s encounters with the Strangler are generally tagged with dates of 1965 and 1966, respectively, they were likely shot in 1963, with their debuts perhaps delayed because Santo had switched his allegiance to another film company. The production history of the Santo film series is not well documented, the films often being tagged with contradictory production and release dates. His two encounters with the Strangler, though, were likely shot back to back as the two share almost identical crew credits and many of the same cast members, even those in minor roles.
Roberto Cañedo Ramírez was born in Guadalajara as one of nine brothers. He worked as a mechanic and a radio technician before moving to Mexico City in 1936. A job as a waiter in a restaurant favoured by members of the film world led to work as an extra. In 1943, he succeeded as a stage actor and became very popular on radio soap operas. Screen roles began to come, although most were uncredited, such as a brief appearance in John Huston’s ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ (1948). His big break came a year later as the male lead of the romantic drama ‘Pueblerina’ (1949), winning the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar for his performance, beating out big stars Pedro Infante and Arturo de Córdova for the award. He was nominated again for ‘Crimen y castigo’ (1951), an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s ”Crime and Punishment’. He teamed up with director Cardona again for ‘The Batwoman’ (1968) and with Santo’s in ‘Santo vs. Frankenstein’s Daughter/Santo vs. la hija de Frankestein’ (1972). He passed away in 1998, having amassed over 300 film and TV credits.
A better film than its predecessor, thanks mainly to Cañedo’s barnstorming performance. The musical numbers still slow things down, though.
Santo will return in ‘Santo in the Witches Attack/Atacan las brujas/The Witches Attack’ (1964)