1961's "Invasion of the Zombies" introduced El Santo to both Mexican and American audiences, literally translated by the dubbing as 'The Saint,' actually the first Santo feature to be filmed in Mexico following two Cuban-shot entries in which he played supporting roles ("El Cerebro del Mal" and "Hombres Infernales"), and also the one to finally establish his comic book persona as a crime fighter to the big screen (the Santo comic began publishing in 1952, lasting until three years after his death at age 66 in 1984). Wrestling professionally since the mid 30s, El Enmascarado De Plata (The Silver-Masked One) was already a formidable champion with several belts by the early 40s, and with his new superhero persona firmly established in the public eye had resisted the possibility of becoming a flop in cinema. "Invasion of the Zombies" was not only a decent introduction to the champion in the ring, it also set the precedent of allowing him to wear his cape outside the arena like Batman, complete with his own literal Batcave, enabling him to spy on his equally masked adversary by closed circuit TV (neither one is able to keep secrets from the other!). The opening match occupies an entire reel before the plot gets underway, both the cops and The Saint becoming involved after a renowned expert on voodoo is kidnapped upon his return from Haiti, though the villain has already unearthed the corpses of deceased criminals to use as an undead army to commit a series of jewel robberies (later sent to kidnap children from an orphanage). It isn't voodoo but mad science that motivates these burly creatures, wearing remote controlled belts around the waist to obey commands and impervious to bullets, difficult foes to dispatch even for our white-caped crusader. Unlike Las Luchadoras (Wrestling Women), El Santo never needed a double for his bouts, lending authenticity to every move and reaction in the ring, at least for those patient enough not to use the fast forward button. There aren't many tight spots for our hero to get out of, though he does defeat a zombie wrestler by short circuiting his belt, the key to eventual triumph with the authorities incapable of nothing but firing blanks. This was fittingly the first Santo feature to be dubbed into English, possibly by K. Gordon Murray but not distributed by him (only three more received the same treatment, including "Samson vs the Vampire Women" and "Samson in the Wax Museum"). The zombies are sadly a rather unscary looking bunch, notable cast members including Carlos Agosti, soon to play Count Frankenhausen in both "The Bloody Vampire" and its sequel "The Invasion of the Vampires," and voluptuous Lorena Velazquez, graduating to Wrestling Woman Gloria Venus in "Doctor of Doom" and "The Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy."
5 Reviews
Pretty good for an early Santo movie
Leofwine_draca6 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This early black-and-white Santo adventure was one of the first of his films to be released in America - hence his renaming as 'the Saint' in the English-dubbed version. It's a solid action picture, made on an obviously low budget but with some fun ingredients and a smattering of typical Mexican wackiness to prevent it from becoming a bore to watch. Now before you get too excited about the prospect of seeing some good zombie-killing action up on screen, remember this was made before the advent of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The zombies here just look like regular guys with vacant expressions who shuffle around a lot but provide surprisingly agile when it comes to fighting. They're animated via remote control transmitters in their belts too! Whereas later Santo adventures like SAMSON IN THE WAX MUSEUM concentrated on providing an almost Gothic-horror in their approach, despite the presence of zombies this is otherwise an adventure film with science fiction elements. The villain (who also wears a mask, a black one to hide his identity), lives in a futuristic but murky lair which includes a television, which he uses to watch his zombies in action.
Otherwise the plot is very basic and predictable, chock full of kidnappings, mystery identities, surprising murders, and the like. The action is what keeps it moving, although the wrestling bouts in the ring (which take up a long twenty minutes of the film's running time, including the never-ending opening wrestling sequence) do drag in parts. It's much more fun when Santo fights the zombies outside of the ring, either when rescuing the children in an orphanage or saving the heroine from being kidnapped. Watch out for the fun bit involving a battle in the ring with a zombie which ends up being short-circuited! Events pick up for the exciting ending which is a little too short and only gives Santo two opponents to face. There are some nice surprises as to the identities of the two villains and a little heartwarming touch at the end in which the detectives speculate on Santo's desire to help out those in need. Sure, the acting and dubbing are below par, but as any fan of Mexican fantasy cinema will know these are only minor detractions to the flow of the movie and come to be expected. Generally this is a pretty watchable yarn, not without its share of stilted moments and scenes which seem to drag, but as a whole its surprisingly effective with some nice creepy music when the zombies attack.
Otherwise the plot is very basic and predictable, chock full of kidnappings, mystery identities, surprising murders, and the like. The action is what keeps it moving, although the wrestling bouts in the ring (which take up a long twenty minutes of the film's running time, including the never-ending opening wrestling sequence) do drag in parts. It's much more fun when Santo fights the zombies outside of the ring, either when rescuing the children in an orphanage or saving the heroine from being kidnapped. Watch out for the fun bit involving a battle in the ring with a zombie which ends up being short-circuited! Events pick up for the exciting ending which is a little too short and only gives Santo two opponents to face. There are some nice surprises as to the identities of the two villains and a little heartwarming touch at the end in which the detectives speculate on Santo's desire to help out those in need. Sure, the acting and dubbing are below par, but as any fan of Mexican fantasy cinema will know these are only minor detractions to the flow of the movie and come to be expected. Generally this is a pretty watchable yarn, not without its share of stilted moments and scenes which seem to drag, but as a whole its surprisingly effective with some nice creepy music when the zombies attack.
So great
BandSAboutMovies16 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Predating Night of the Living Dead by seven years, Santo was already battling zombies before it was cool, then played out.
That's because the police can't deal with the shambling walking dead, so they turn to the man in the silver mask to drop elbows on them.
There's one harrowing scene where the zombies set an orphanage on fire, then decide to beat up every child inside. Luckily, Santo jumps through a window - wearing a cape no less - and starts hitting chops on them. He battles nearly all of them, who can't be stopped by bullets, even when two cops get felled by just a punch. One of the zombies seems to favor stomps and he does so to, as they say, stomp a mudhole in our hero. Don't worry - he gets a big babyface comeback.
Look for luchas Black Shadow, Gory Guerrero (father of Eddy and inventor of so many wrestling moves) and El Gladiator.
This was Santo's first starring role - at the age of 41 no less - and he makes the most of it. He's pretty much Batman in the best of ways, except he refuses to wear a shirt and has, as mentioned before, a glamorous cape. I can't even quantify how much I love this movie. The funny thing is, somehow Santo's films would grow even stranger, encompassing spy films, whatever was hot in horror at the time and femme fatales who just had to possess our masked hero. He made over fifty of these films and I wish he'd made five hundred more.
That's because the police can't deal with the shambling walking dead, so they turn to the man in the silver mask to drop elbows on them.
There's one harrowing scene where the zombies set an orphanage on fire, then decide to beat up every child inside. Luckily, Santo jumps through a window - wearing a cape no less - and starts hitting chops on them. He battles nearly all of them, who can't be stopped by bullets, even when two cops get felled by just a punch. One of the zombies seems to favor stomps and he does so to, as they say, stomp a mudhole in our hero. Don't worry - he gets a big babyface comeback.
Look for luchas Black Shadow, Gory Guerrero (father of Eddy and inventor of so many wrestling moves) and El Gladiator.
This was Santo's first starring role - at the age of 41 no less - and he makes the most of it. He's pretty much Batman in the best of ways, except he refuses to wear a shirt and has, as mentioned before, a glamorous cape. I can't even quantify how much I love this movie. The funny thing is, somehow Santo's films would grow even stranger, encompassing spy films, whatever was hot in horror at the time and femme fatales who just had to possess our masked hero. He made over fifty of these films and I wish he'd made five hundred more.
Masked Hero Confronts A (Smallish) Army Of RevivedCriminals
kikaidar11 December 2000
El Santo, more than any other lucha film hero, seemed to encounter the supernatural at nearly every turn. Well, maybe not quite that regularly, but in a film career then spanned three decades, he confronted more than his share of werewolves, aliens, witches and other strange foes.
In this early fantasy themed entry (one of four films made in this year), three strangely silent thieves stage a midnight raid on a jewelry shop. During the course of the theft, the night watchman shoots one of the robbers in the forehead, with no apparent effect. The bandits fend off arriving detectives and make their escape -- delivering their loot to a man in a medical tunic and a hood. It seems they are zombies -- revived criminals controlled by this sinister mastermind.
Three detectives (Armando Silvestre, Irma Serrano and Jaime Fernandez)are dispatched to investigate the disappearance of a noted professor who had recently returned from a research trip to Haiti. When the man's daughter (Lorena Velazquez, who appeared in a number of lucha films -- including a two-film stint as half of the femme wrestling duo, Las Luchadoras) appeals to the authorities for assistance, Silvestre wisely calls on Santo for help.
Santo almost instantly runs afoul of the zombie master. He thwarts the kidnapping of the female of the trio and, later, prevents the zombies from abducting children chosen as experimental subjects, from an orphanage. One particularly bizarre element to the film being that both the madman and Santo can tune each other in on closed circuit television. Santo literally watches as the fiend lays his plans.
In an attempt to put an end to this unwanted meddling (is there ever _wanted_ meddling?), the hooded fiend abducts Santo's next ring opponent (co-scripter Fernando Oses) and turns him into a killer zombie. The plan unravels when Santo managed to short circuit his control belt.
The daughter and the detectives of course end up in the madman's hands, and it's El Santo to the rescue.
Some nice, gloomy photography is the highlight of an otherwise rather basic film. There's a particularly nice sequence at the end, when Santo (who generally just rushes off once he's triumphed) slowly exits up a long and interesting metal staircase set into the madman's cave. There are some clinker shots, though. There's a poorly done use of rear projection in an exterior scene, and there's a downright goofy shot of a partly unmasked Santo goggling in shock at the zombies who had attacked him vanishing in a puff of flame.
Still, it's a fun early Santo flick, and it is available dubbed in English for those who're timid about boldly launching into original-language lucha.
7 out of 10.
In this early fantasy themed entry (one of four films made in this year), three strangely silent thieves stage a midnight raid on a jewelry shop. During the course of the theft, the night watchman shoots one of the robbers in the forehead, with no apparent effect. The bandits fend off arriving detectives and make their escape -- delivering their loot to a man in a medical tunic and a hood. It seems they are zombies -- revived criminals controlled by this sinister mastermind.
Three detectives (Armando Silvestre, Irma Serrano and Jaime Fernandez)are dispatched to investigate the disappearance of a noted professor who had recently returned from a research trip to Haiti. When the man's daughter (Lorena Velazquez, who appeared in a number of lucha films -- including a two-film stint as half of the femme wrestling duo, Las Luchadoras) appeals to the authorities for assistance, Silvestre wisely calls on Santo for help.
Santo almost instantly runs afoul of the zombie master. He thwarts the kidnapping of the female of the trio and, later, prevents the zombies from abducting children chosen as experimental subjects, from an orphanage. One particularly bizarre element to the film being that both the madman and Santo can tune each other in on closed circuit television. Santo literally watches as the fiend lays his plans.
In an attempt to put an end to this unwanted meddling (is there ever _wanted_ meddling?), the hooded fiend abducts Santo's next ring opponent (co-scripter Fernando Oses) and turns him into a killer zombie. The plan unravels when Santo managed to short circuit his control belt.
The daughter and the detectives of course end up in the madman's hands, and it's El Santo to the rescue.
Some nice, gloomy photography is the highlight of an otherwise rather basic film. There's a particularly nice sequence at the end, when Santo (who generally just rushes off once he's triumphed) slowly exits up a long and interesting metal staircase set into the madman's cave. There are some clinker shots, though. There's a poorly done use of rear projection in an exterior scene, and there's a downright goofy shot of a partly unmasked Santo goggling in shock at the zombies who had attacked him vanishing in a puff of flame.
Still, it's a fun early Santo flick, and it is available dubbed in English for those who're timid about boldly launching into original-language lucha.
7 out of 10.
Finally...a more practical super-villain!
planktonrules8 January 2021
If you haven't seen a luchador film, then I strongly suggest you try one of the Santo movies. What exactly are luchador films? Well, in Mexico, pro wrestling was so popular that in the 1960s to the 1980s, at least a hundred or more luchador movies were made. However, although the movies always or nearly always showed a bit of a wrestling match once or twice, most of the film consisted of masked wrestlers battling all sorts of weird and often supernatural beings....such as mummies, Dracula, Frankenstein, aliens, residents of Atlantis and even Nazis! As insane and cheesy as all this was, the films have a sort of goofy charm to them and they can be fun to watch. Notice I did NOT say they were good....in fact, the costumes and production values were often of the Ed Wood Jr. quality!
In this third installment of the Santo films, "Santo Contra los Zombies" ("Santo vs. the Zombies"), we have a slightly different sort of maniac threatening the world. Many were out for world domination...but this asked baddie was out to make a few bucks with his zombie minions. He uses them to work in his mines and commit robberies...making him one of the most practical villains I've seen in a luchador movie!
Now these zombies don't act like ones from classic films like "I Walked With a Zombie" or "Night of the Living Dead". No, these zombies don't look all that undead and they like to punch and wrestle...making them the perfect opponents for the hero, Santo.
As for Santo, if you aren't familiar with him, he was the most beloved wrestler perhaps of all time and in his movies he ALWAYS sports his silver luchador mask...even when when he showers, sleeps, or goes out on a hot date! And, unlike some of his later films, he almost always wears his long cape throughout this story.
So is this any good? Nope....like I said above, these movies are pretty bad. But they are fun....and unintentionally funny. Plus, you can't hate a guy who goes out of his way to save a bunch of orphans from a burning building....a fire, of course, started by the evil hooded jerk and his minions!!
In this third installment of the Santo films, "Santo Contra los Zombies" ("Santo vs. the Zombies"), we have a slightly different sort of maniac threatening the world. Many were out for world domination...but this asked baddie was out to make a few bucks with his zombie minions. He uses them to work in his mines and commit robberies...making him one of the most practical villains I've seen in a luchador movie!
Now these zombies don't act like ones from classic films like "I Walked With a Zombie" or "Night of the Living Dead". No, these zombies don't look all that undead and they like to punch and wrestle...making them the perfect opponents for the hero, Santo.
As for Santo, if you aren't familiar with him, he was the most beloved wrestler perhaps of all time and in his movies he ALWAYS sports his silver luchador mask...even when when he showers, sleeps, or goes out on a hot date! And, unlike some of his later films, he almost always wears his long cape throughout this story.
So is this any good? Nope....like I said above, these movies are pretty bad. But they are fun....and unintentionally funny. Plus, you can't hate a guy who goes out of his way to save a bunch of orphans from a burning building....a fire, of course, started by the evil hooded jerk and his minions!!
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