Miguel M. Delgado
Made about ten years later than it seems, this 1973 film will leave you shaking your head, with surreal images like a local police chief calmly discussing a case with two men, oblivious to their dress-code of suits, ties and wrestling masks. For Santo and his tag-partner, Blue Demon (actually more often a rival), never take their masks off. Not in the ring, eating at a restaurant, or even lying on the operating table, as a mad scientist prepares to transplant Santo's brain into another body. The 113-year old Dr. Frankenstein, who already has the secret of eternal youth - there's a Nobel prize, right there - kidnaps the daughter of Santo's mentor, as part of a plot to perfect brain transplants and revive his corpsicle wife from her 80-year suspended animation.
As you can imagine, there's much to enjoy here for trash fans; you even get used to masked lead actors, though the two lengthy wrestling bouts are nothing special. It makes up in energy and life what it lacks in logic and budget, with nifty set designs and highly-amusing technology - the computer is particularly fab - as well as the most ineffective policewomen in legal history, who appear to do no actual detective work at all. It all ends, as you'd expect, in a brawl, high above a wrestling arena; no prizes for guessing who gets the winning, er, fall. Further bouts are (fairly) eagerly anticipated.
C+
Feb 2004
