|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Mexico, 1666: The Inquisition burns witches by the dozen, and rightly
so it seems, because there are really witches around. But somehow, the
Inquisition is not able to get hold of Dona Damiana (Pilar Pellicer),
Satanic high priestess, who has called Blue Demon, a strongman who was
stripped of his own free will in the land of the dead, to her assistance.
But local strongman Santo has brought his attention to the case, and since
he is apparently so strong he can even defeat hellspawn, he manages to
bring Dona Damiana to the stake after all. She dies, but not before
cursing the descendants of those who have brought her to the stake ... 300
years later: Alicia is Dona Damiana's last descendant (and thus also
played by Pilar Pellicer), and in an ironic twist of fate she's engaged to
Santo, superstar wrestler. Of course, she doesn't know anything about her
heritage ... until she is possessed by the spirit of Dona Damiana. This
causes her to steal herself out of her house many a night do kill the
descendants of those who have killed Dona Damiana, mostly friends of her
father, interestingly. Soon, her father and Santo begin to suspect
something sinister is going on with Alicia, but they just cannot pinpoint
it. Then, during a wrestling match, Santo comes to the realization he is
not wrestling a human opponent but hellspawn. And his opponent even
multiplies before Santo's (and the audience's) very eyes. Ultimately,
Santo is publicly stabbed - but rushed to a hospital and saved just in
time. The recovering Santo does a read-up on Alicia's family history,
puts two and two together, and decides to take up the fight with Dona
Damiana. He almost loses, too, but he has brought a priest as backup who
prevents Dona Damiana and her minions from killing him. The battle may be
won, but Alicia's soul is as good as lost - unless a man as flawless as
Santo is willing and able to fetch her from the land of the dead. Santo is
as willing and flawless as Santo, so he won't be asked twice, goes into
meditation, and voilà, wakes up in the land of the dead, where it doesn't
take him long to find Alicia ... but then he is outnumbered and
overpowered by hellspawn and almost crushed - when Blue Demon, who has his
own will in the land of the dead, comes to the rescue, helps Santo fight
off his adversaries, and sends him and Alicia on their way to the land of
the living (= our world). And they lived happily ever after ... Not
a great film (not even in comparison to other Santo-films)
but a fun movie, as it features Santo and Blue Demon in period settings
but in their wrestling outfits for some amount of time, a pretty absurd
story even by Santo-horror-standards, a rare scene of Santo
being stabbed, ill-fitting open heart surgery footage, and an underworld
made up mainly from shots from Hercules
in the Haunted World. All this adds up to some fine trash
entertainment - just don't take this film seriously!
|