Santo And Blue Demon Vs Dracula And The Wolf Man/Review

After a hard night pounding the mat Mexico’s numero uno wrestling crime-fighter El Santo accepts an invite from his girlfriend Lina to visit her uncle Professor Cristaldi. The Prof has received an anonymous note threatening his family with a ‘horrible fate’. ‘This is a bad joke’, says the man in the silver mask. The Professor responds by reading from an ancient book which tells how 400 years ago Dracula and the Wolf Man formed an alliance and were only prevented from enslaving the entire human race by a magic dagger wielded by an alchemist called Elco Cristaldi. Dracula vowed revenge on the descendants of the man who defeated him and sure enough a hunchback disciple of the forces of darkness called Eric was responsible for the threatening note.

Eric kidnaps the Professor and, in a scene directly lifted from Hammer studio’s 1966 film Dracula: Prince of Darkness, hangs the mans body over the vampire’s coffin and cuts his throat so that his blood pours on to Dracula’s desiccated remains. Smoke pours from the skeleton’s eye sockets and quicker than you can say “I don’t drink . . . wine” Dracula has risen from the grave.

Next it’s the Wolf Man’s turn to be resuscitated but don’t expect a drooling, growling feral beast of the Waldemar Daninsky variety; this fuzz-faced chap is softly spoken, wears a silky pirate’s blouse and his name is Rufus. Yeah, you read it right – Rufus. How on earth can any self-respecting monster expect to strike fear into the heart of his victim’s with a name like Rufus!?!! Are you scared? I’m not scared.

Anyhow Drac & Rufus are soon picking up where they left off 400 years ago and sinking their fangs into the locals. Determined to finish off the remaining members of the Cristaldi clan Rufus sets about seducing the Professor’s daughter Laura, reverting to his human form first of course, while Dracula flaps his way into the bedroom of Laura’s young daughter Rosalita.

With 2 famous monsters on the loose, and the police sceptical about there being a 400 year old curse behind the Professor’s disappearance, El Santo calls on his muscle-bound buddy Blue Demon for some support. Will 2 rather overweight masked Mexicans be able to save the world from the combined supernatural fury of Count Dracula and Rufus Rex?

This one has it all fight fans:

SEE: Lina hypnotised by the haunted gaze of Count Dracula !!!

SEE: Blue Demon & El Santo communicating via radio receivers in their watches !!!

SEE: Professor Castaldi resurrected as a zombie !!!

SEE: El Santo model a series of eye-catching 1970’s casual sweaters !!!

Teaming Blue Demon with El Santo means double the fun for lucha libre lovers and, despite the fact that apparently in real life they hated each other’s guts, the two stars share a surprisingly sweet onscreen rapport. Watching the guys hanging out, drinking tea and playing chess, all the while wearing their shiny nylon masks, never ceases to amuse.

Viewers get ringside seats for 3 championship bouts during the course of the film. The movie opens with our hero squeezing the juice out of El Santo wannabe El Angel Blanco. Mid-way through the plot halts long enough for us to witness a 2 round rumble between Blue Demon and the hilariously named Renato The Hippie! And if that weren’t enough bang for your buck all 4 wrestlers return at the end for a tag team bonanza.

Aldo Monti returns to the role of Count Dracula although no mention is made of his previous tussle with El Santo in 1968’s Santo In The Treasure Of Dracula. Agustin Martinez Solares, who plays Rufus Rex, may be recognisable to fans of Mexican horror pictures from another furry-faced appearance as the recipient of a transplanted gorilla heart in the awesome Night of the Bloody Apes.

While by no means awash with it there’s a surprising amount of blood spilled compared to Santo’s other PG rated adventures and the climactic showdown between the forces of good and evil is one of the highlights of the whole El Santo film series. It’s fangs vs fists as the 2 lucha legends bring the pain to Rufus and his gang of snarling, but smartly dressed, wolf men above a pit of spikes in Dracula’s cave of the living dead.

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Narcan is the GCDb's esteemed UK contributor. As a youth his earliest exploitation film experience was a My Bloody Valentine/The Funhouse midnight double bill. Grindhouse icons that he holds in highest regards are Christina Lindberg and Frank Henelotter. Two of his favorite exploitation genres include Nunsploitation and Lucha Libre.