The Vengeance of the Vampire Women/La venganza de las mujeres vampiro (1970)

‘Both her fibrous tissues and her globules will recover their functions…’

A mad scientist resurrects a Vampire Queen so he can use her blood in his experiments. Before she co-operates, however, she demands that he assist in taking revenge against the last descendant of the man who staked her. Unfortunately for her, it turns out that this man is the legendary wrestler Santo, the Man in the Silver Mask…

After a surprising diversion back through time to the Old West, where he encountered lepers and outlaws, Mexico’s favourite luchador is back doing what he does best; taking on the forces of darkness. Although this might seem like a routine assignment for the Man in the Silver Mask, director Federico Curiel delivers a surprisingly straight, brisk dose of the horrors.

It’s midnight in the graveyard, and not a creature is stirring; apart from mad medico, Doctor Igor Brancov (Victor Junco) and his colleagues, Boris (Nathanael León) and Carlos (Fernando Osés). Their objective is the coffin of Countess Mayra (Gina Romand), the leader of an 18th Century Transilvaynian vampire cult. After being staked, her followers fled to Mexico, bringing her remains along, only to be destroyed after their arrival. Junco plans to revive the vampire queen so her blood will endow immortality to the creature he has created.

Junco’s revival method is pretty straightforward; an injection of fresh blood from a young woman. In the time-honoured tradition of genre cinema, this is obviously going to come either from a woman linked to our hero in some way or a stripper. This time it’s the latter; only Junco’s goons grab her creepy boyfriend Pablo (Federico Falcón) for good measure. All goes well, but Romand refuses to donate her blood to the cause until after she’s taken revenge on none other than El Santo! Yes, of course, the Man in the Silver Mask is the last descendant of the man who staked her in the very brief pre-credit sequence.

Meanwhile, journalist Paty (Norma Lazareno) and boyfriend Detective Robles (Aldo Monti) meet with the big man for a cosy chat before he heads off to the arena for the obligatory wrestling match. Of course, Romand and Junco have scored ringside seats, and the undead bleached blonde uses her hypnotic wiles on Santo’s opponent, ordering him to kill. Honestly, I don’t know why the great man goes on wrestling; it seems like every bout turns into a death match! She also commands Santo to lose, but he’s having none of that, of course. Romand tries to do the job personally later the same night but flees with her wings between her legs…or something. She satisfies her thirst on easier prey instead, which brings Monti and the cops in on the action.

Although the plot and story development will be familiar to fans of the series and might even be dismissed as routine, it’s the treatment of the material that’s interesting here. The film is very much a straight-faced horror with more blood and naked flesh on display than usual and even a hint of the lesbian hi-jinks of Hammer’s excellent ‘The Vampire Lovers’ (1970). This approach also extended to the marketing with no sign of the familiar Silver Mask on the promotional poster, suggesting that this was promoted primarily as horror rather than a Santo picture. Indeed, apart from the wrestling, you could easily switch Santo out for 1970s Spanish horror star Paul Naschy and you’d be left with pretty much the same film.

Director Curiel had worked on the series in the early days, helming ‘Santo vs the King of Crime/Santo contra el rey del crimen’ (1962) and ‘Santo in the Hotel of Death/Santo en el hotel de la muerte’ (1963). Although neither could be described as gritty or realistic, they were presented as serious thrillers. Santo had spent the late 1960s running around Mexico as a cheap ‘Bond on a Budget, fighting aliens and even trying out comedy in ‘Santo vs. Capulina (1969). But the early 1970s found Santo alternating crimebusting with serious horror like this, beginning with ‘The World of The Dead/El mundo del los muertos’ (1970), although the trend did not last more than a few pictures.

The standout here is Romand, who is saddled with a ridiculous pair of false 60s eyelashes, but performs her role with surprising conviction and poise. Straight out of the coffin, she’s barking orders and laying down the law to the hapless Junco, who probably wished he left well enough alone. His mad scientist becomes increasingly peripheral to the action as the regal Romand rules the roost, giving the incomparable Lorena Velázquez from ‘Santo vs. the Vampire Women/Santo vs. las mujeres vampiro’ (1962) a surprising run for her money.

As was often the case, ex-grappler Fernando Osés didn’t just act in one of the film’s supporting roles. HE was on story duties too, collaborating with writer and producer Jorge García Besné. The Cuban-born Romand had appeared in one of the first two films in the Santo series, ‘Santo vs. Infernal Men/Santo contra hombres infernales’ (1961), which was shot back to back in her homeland alongside the luchador’s official debut. She was also on hand for ‘Santo vs. the Grave Robbers/Profanadores de tumbas’ (1967) and later took the other title role in ‘Santo vs. Frankenstein’s Daughter/Santo vs. la hija de Frankestein’ (1972). She also appeared in ‘Dr. Satán’ (1966), forgettable kidnap thriller ‘The Candy Man’ (1969) with George Sanders, and was a regular on two long-running TV series in Mexico in the 2000s.

Better production values than much of the series and a consistently serious tone elevate this to one of Santo’s more compelling adventures.