‘Then I thought you would let me have his thyroid.’
A mad scientist and his gang carry out a series of grave robberies to get raw material for his experiments in raising the dead. However, after several failures, he decides to experiment on people with exceptional strength and power…
Mexico’s legendary crime-fighting luchador is back as Santo again tackles the forces of evil for co-writer-director José Díaz Morales. This was the third of the films the wrestler made in his four-picture deal with producer Luis Enrique Vergara and, as per usual, Rafael Garcia Travesi was also behind the typewriter with the director.
Brilliant but misunderstood, scientist Doctor Toicher (Mario Orea) has set up shop in Mexico to continue his vital experiments in resuscitating the recently departed. It’s valuable work, to be sure, but the stuffy establishment refuses to acknowledge his genius, forcing him to consort with lowlife criminal types and raid cemeteries for his test subjects.
Unfortunately, his equipment tends to explode when his experiments fail, and he realises that only exceptional corpses will serve his needs. Silver-masked wrestler Santo becomes his primary target, although he’s also interested in professional footballer Carlos Resendiz (Jorge Peral) and his girlfriend Marta (Gina Romand), a nightclub singer. He plots to kill and acquire their bodies using the strange devices invented by his chief assistant Hunchback (Jesús Camacho), using parts of dead bodies.
On the surface, this was already a standard set-up for a feature film set in the somewhat off-kilter cinematic world of Mexican wrestling. Mad scientist? Check. Lots of fights and wrestling? Check. Strange experiments? Check. Santo in the crosshairs? Check. It’s a basic template present in ‘Santo contra los zombies/Santo contra los zombies’ (1962) and wasn’t original then, being adapted from earlier wrestling adventures that were nodding back in their turn to Hollywood movie serials of the 1930s and 1940s. It’s the bizarre elements that Morales and Travesi throw into the script that make it stand out from the crowd.
After the usual introductions, we see Santo at home, receiving a present from his friend Peral. It’s a lamp with a shade depicting the anatomy of the human heart. Plugging it in causes the big man to writhe around on the floor while the cameraman suffers a frenzied attack of the zoom button, and the soundtrack starts to scream like an emergency warning system. Santo manages to withstand the psychedelia of it all, but the lamp’s heart fails, bleeding all over the shade as it expires. Santo consults with Peral and finds that he knows nothing of the gift. Right away, Santo figures out that the incident is linked to the recent grave robbing in the city. There’s no apparent link between the two, but he is Santo, the great detective, and, after all, he is right, isn’t he?
This is just the beginning of the odd delights on offer in the film, which are mainly centred on the rather peculiar activities of our main villains. Orea looks like he’s having the time of his life as the ranting, maniacal Toicher, who lays about his minions with a whip while cursing their continued inability to deal with Santo. Camacho is also great as his cringing assistant, who is more interested in healing his own twisted body with thyroid glands than in the doctor’s obscure schemes and cheerfully vague long-term goals.
What seals the deal, though, are Camacho’s inventions, which are apparently made with leftover pieces of the dead. Apart from the lamp (which has an encore appearance later on), there’s paint made from human blood, a deadly violin, and a wig with a mind of its own. Somewhat bizarrely, these are all on sale at a store run by gang member Nathanael León (billed as Nothanael Frankenstein!).
Now, I realise that Orea’s researches are probably costly, even with getting his raw materials for free from the local boneyard. After all, his equipment blows up every time one of his experiments fails, and electrical do-dads that throw out sparks and make loud buzzing noises aren’t exactly ten a penny. So, it’s reasonable that he’d have a side hustle to help pay the bills. Still, I question the business model of selling products designed to kill the people who buy them. You’re not going to get much repeat custom, are you? Think of all the returns and refunds too! And exactly what kind of store sells paint, violins and wigs, and can order you face cream and ladies’ underwear?!
All this wonderful tomfoolery leads to some of the film’s greatest moments. As well as Santo wrestling on the floor with a household appliance, we get fiddler Jorge Fegán fighting off a homicidal violin string. At the same time, his instrument dances around the floor on its own before exploding. Best of all, Romand performs her nightclub act in the deadly black wig, but halfway through the number, it tries to strangle her! Fortunately, the audience is full of our heroes and villains, most of them in disguise, so there’s a massive punch-up while she fights for her life. Eventually, she manages to tear off the wig, which then hops around on the floor by itself while the fight rages on!
Orea dresses like the Phantom of the Opera but doesn’t bother with the mask despite being facially scarred. He loses his hat in the cemetery after his minions fight with Santo, which proves to be an issue as he has his name written in it! Maybe it was put there by his mum. Other delights include a corpse buried in her high heels, Santo disguised as a street vendor selling chestnuts (in the middle of the night) and two henchmen (one played by the ever-present Fernando Osés) who let him escape from a walk-in freezer because they are too busy laughing hysterically at a small fire (don’t even ask, I have no idea!)
There’s also a crucial sequence where Camacho tries to stab Santo with a poisoned needle during a bout in the ring. Orea assures his assistant that no one will notice this attempted murder in the excitement of the moment (and no one does!), only he stabs the wrong wrestler, who goes mad and drops dead. I’m surprised anyone ever agrees to fight Santo. His opponents either end up getting killed or possessed by something and then getting killed. It does strike me, however, that one of the surprising perks of being a supervillain is ringside seats at Santo’s fights. They all seem to get them.
It’s possible that Peral was a real-life footballer, as the series made a habit of casting athletes from other sports from time to time. However, they usually appeared as themselves rather than being given a character to play, and no available evidence supports the notion. On the other hand, Peral has only one additional acting credit. The woman playing his sister, Estela, appears very briefly in a couple of scenes and has no other acting credits at all. Who is she? Estela Peral! So, make of all that what you will.
One of the most entertaining of the series. A treasure trove of ridiculous delights for fans of the great man and his (very) strange cinematic adventures.
Santo will return in ‘El barón Brakola/Santo vs. Baron Brakola (1965)‘.