‘Creatures, whose steps shake these dusty spider webs, which imitate diabolical tentacles ready to trap in their web whatever exudes life.’
Nightmares have plagued a young woman since returning to her parent’s house to claim her inheritance. In her dreams, she is abducted by witches to be a human sacrifice, and her only hope is a man in a silver mask…
Legendary Mexican hero and champion of justice, Santo tangles with the supernatural again under the direction of José Díaz Morales. Script duties were in the hands of regular writers Fernando Osés and Rafael García Travesi, who had been involved with other entries, such as ‘Santo and the Vampire Women/Santo vs. las mujeres vampiro’ (1962).
Despite the calming influence of her boyfriend Arturo (Ramón Bugarini), young blonde heiress Ofelia (María Eugenia San Martín) is becoming increasingly nervous. A clause in her late parent’s will means she has to stay in their gloomy old mansion for a year to claim her inheritance, and the atmosphere is getting her down. Every night she dreams of being captured by a witch’s coven led by Mayra (Lorena Velázquez).
All her fears are pure nonsense, of course, as her parents’ old secretary, Elisa (Velázquez, again), is only happy to confirm. Still, Bugarini takes them seriously and is particularly intrigued by her description of a man in a silver mask, realising that it must be Santo. A little investigation reveals that Elisa died 15 years ago, so he reaches out to the wrestler, who is only too happy to look into the matter himself.
This was the first in a four-picture deal Santo inked with producer Luis Enrique Vergara, and their first collaboration is a bit of a disappointment. That’s not to say the film is not entertaining; there’s certainly enough action and bizarre elements for fans of the series. The problems are twofold; firstly, it’s just a rehash of ‘Santo and the Vampire Women/Santo vs. las mujeres vampiro’ (1962); secondly, it’s on a noticeably smaller budget and with none of the gothic style of its predecessor. In short, there’s a little less delivered in every department.
Still, there’s plenty to enjoy. Santo is apparently some kind of P.I. now. He has an office in a tower block with a desk and filing cabinet. No more secret underground lab for him or big screen TV communication hookup with the police department. For the first time in the series, this is Santo out on his own; the authorities never appear. There’s also a brand new element: sex. Velázquez sends her right-hand woman Medusa (Edaena Ruiz), to seduce our hero via the time-honoured technique of a drugged drink and glittery underwear, but, fortunately, Santo finds it all a bit absurd and kicks the door down to escape.
Unfortunately, the lack of budget shows through at times. Almost the first fifteen minutes of the film are one of San Martín’s dreams, and these are some of the same events that happen at the end of the film, although it’s not repeated footage. Bugarini’s car accident is horribly unconvincing, and when Santo climbs over the mansion’s wall, the day suddenly turns into night. The only wrestling in the ring also arrives without warning, or any logic, and proves to be one of the contests from ‘Santo vs. the King of Crime/Santo contra el rey del crimen (1962). It’s easy to tell because there’s actor Augusto Benedico as butler-confidante Matias, cheering him on from his corner.
There is a definite second-hand feel to everything here. High priestess Ruiz resurrects Velázquez at the start of the film. In turn, she invokes their satanic master, Lord of the Shadows. This is beat for beat what happens in ‘Santo and the Vampire Women/Santo vs. las mujeres vampiro’ (1962), which also starred Velázquez in what is effectively the same role. Again, other than Ruiz, her homegirls just stand around as if posing for a photo shoot rather than doing anything, leaving all the action to a trio of nameless male warlocks. One of these is played by Fernando Osés, who fulfilled the same function in the previous film and, as you may recall, was involved with writing both of them.
The more you look at it, the film seems to be an unofficial remake than anything else. After all, the witches can only be killed by daylight, fire or the symbol of the cross, which sounds a lot more like the weaknesses of vampires. There’s one scene where Velázquez uses her hypnotic powers to get San Martín to take off the crucifix she’s wearing for protection and another where Santo chases some of the witches with burning torches, and they turn into bats! San Martín’s opening voiceover even includes the line, ‘They are ready to drink my blood and transform into a creature of the darkness.’
So it’s not that far a stretch to suggest that Velázquez and her girl gang were initially written as vampires, and the change to witches came late on in the production process. The film also includes a somewhat baffling disclaimer at the start stating that ‘all the characters are imaginary and fictitious’, which is an oddly redundant thing for the filmmakers to include in a movie about supernatural witches! It’s also inaccurate because Santo is a real person, playing himself!
There’s also a generally agreed release date of 1968, placing it after the other three films Santo made for producer Vergara and seemingly four years after it was shot. Could legal action of some sort have delayed the release? Mexican fantastic cinema of the period ruthlessly recycled plots, ideas and concepts over and over again, but perhaps this instance of commonality was a little too close for comfort? It’s worth remembering that Santo had broken with his old associates to sign with Vergara.
Vergara entered the film business as a producer in the late 1940s and first enjoyed success with the three-part film story of ‘The Black Whip’ (1958), who was played by Luis Aguilar and wasn’t anything like Zorro. After signing up Santo, he also helped bring the wrestler’s main rival, Blue Demon, to the screen with ‘Blue Demon: El Demonio Azul’ (1965). Further projects with Blue followed, and the producer also recruited horror royalty John Carradine and Boris Karloff to appear in multiple productions toward the end of the decade, although sadly never together. The Karloff films were all completed after his death, and Vergara also has a script credit on the last one, the atrocious science-fiction horror ‘The Incredible Invasion’ (1971). It was the final credit for them both.
Good fun on its own terms, but probably best not to compare it to a certain earlier entry in the series.
Santo will return in ‘The Diabolical Hatchet/Santo vs. the Diabolical Hatchet/El hacha diabólica’ (1965)
Mark David Welsh 