Santo vs. Frankenstein's Daughter

1972 Mexican wrestler vs. monster(s) action flick

Rating: 20/20

Plot: El Santo, as usual in the middle of an important wrestling tournament, runs into trouble as Dr. Frankenstein's daughter, a chip off the old genius block, decides she needs his blood to make herself immortal. The serum she's been using on herself and her cronies, it seems, lacks durability. Aside from that concoction, she's also turned a man into a fiercely powerful half-man/half-gorilla and created a monster from seven different dead guys just like her dear old dad. She kidnaps Santo's shrieking redheaded girlfriend (Santo, in my opinion, could do a little better), and Santo and his girlfriend's sister run off to rescue. Will Santo defeat the monsters and make it back in time for the finals of his wrestling tournament? If you don't know the answer, you've never seen a Santo movie!

I made a rule a long time ago that any movie featuring Santo can get no less than a 20. This one doesn't have his cohort The Blue Demon in it, and it isn't quite as campy as the other Santo movies I've seen, but it's still entertaining goof. There are enough plot twists to nearly make it incoherent, so that's a definite bonus. Love the music in these, and the Santo against five bad guy action sequences are entertaining. One great scene features the hypnotized girlfriend of Santo approaching her boyfriend to gouge out his eyes after being directed by Ms. Dr. Frankenstein to do so. The eyepatched bad guy, who is supposed to be watching the proceedings, explains that it brings back the memory of him losing his own eye and is giving him goosebumps. The scenes with the monsters are hilariously stupid. Dylan (he refused to watch this, saying "You already made me watch two of these.") said, "Santo sure does get choked a lot," after turning to watch one scene. It's my dream to make a rock opera based on Santo.

Here I am, remembering my own (too short) career as a Mexican wrestler:

No comments:

Post a Comment