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Santo Contra la Hija de FrankensteinRating:
Release Date: 29 July, 2003 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.99! |
Santo Contra la Hija de Frankenstein Reviews
Superheroes from South of the Border
It is not an easy task to explain to the average North-American raised on over-priced Hollywood cheese how great these movies are. Don't get me wrong I love Hollywood cheese (I just can't stand waiting in line to get processed food of any kind). That said, Santo, Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras are the three powerhouse icons of this misunderstood genre. It's misunderstood partly because it really isn't a genre, but a clever blending of genres. Only the likes of Quentin Tarantino would be bold enough to explore the novelty of combining genres several years later. It's had a huge payoff.
Mexican Masked Wrestler movies were influenced by Hollywood B-movies of the shlock sci-fi variety of the 1950's. Production values were low because many of these features were independent ventures. There were no Corporate Studios willing to fund such a strange mix. I am not a fan of Wrestling, especially the "WWF smackdown" stuff, but Mexican Lucha Libre (freestyle fighting) was fun to watch. It did not pretend to be real. The masks were clues that these were staged events. It was only a matter of course that fantastic movies would be the next step.
There is a bit of nostalgia tied to many of us who remember growing up with these films. They were made in the language of our Fathers. We could be Superheroes too. Superman was the first. And while I loved Superman for his universal appeal I once read that the Nazis reputedly said he was Jewish. Now don't get me wrong, but I also read that the creators of Superman were Jewish. I still love Superman, but he was supposed to be from Krypton, which rhymes with cryptic, which implies a hidden message. So much for universal appeal. Oddly enough we have come to identify ourselves with Men in masks fighting against impossible odds. That's a whole other sociological issue.
Above all these films are funny. Whether they are intentionally funny or not is a moot point. The reality is that making a movie about a Mexican masked wrestler battling Hollywood monsters is FUNNY. It's not high drama, it is "kitsch". For example: In "Santo & Blue Demon Vs the Monsters" (not in this collection) there is a carchase where the heroes are being pursued by the Monsters. What's so funny about that? The Frankenstein monster is driving! I immediately thought of the late comedian Phil Hartman doing his "Fire baad!" routine in Frankenstein makeup on Saturday Night Live.
These films are not only funny and exciting but pertinent to our sense of being in the world. Larga Vida a Santo, Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras y Huracan Ramirez Tambien!!
santo forever
Sería labor de un trabajo filológico o de un estudio sociológico de cultura de masas rastrear la génesis del término "superhéroe". Pero obviando las dificultades intelectuales, el término suele aplicarse a ese clase de hombres extraordinarios, poseedores de toda clase de poderes y fuerzas sobrehumanas y de una moral justiciera incorruptible.
¿Es el Santo un superhéroe? La imagen mítica del Rudy Guzmán (su verdadero nombre) fue creada en celuloide a través de sus entrañables películas de los años 60 y 70 donde el luchador de la máscara plateada se enfrentaba a seres extraterrestres y de ultratumba, hombres lobo, traficantes, mercenarios y mujeres vampiro. Películas que a pesar de ser de bajo presupuesto, o más bien, por ello mismo, son parte ya de la memoria de la cultura popular mexicana como verdadero íconos de la cinematografía.
¿Qué superhéroe norteamericano, europeo o japonés puede regocijarse de haberse enfrentado al hombre lobo, a Frankenstein y a Drácula en el mismo film? ¿Cuándo Batman, el Hombre Araña o Goku han salvado a la humanidad de un ataque masivo de momias asesinas? El Santo, sin embargo, no es ningún superhéroe, porque no poseía ningún superpoder o habilidad mayor que las que tiene un atleta, ni tampoco vivía una doble personalidad, pero sobre todo, porque él fue real: fue un luchador cuyas mejores y auténticas batallas fueron libradas arriba del cuadrilátero, cuyo heroísmo (si es que pudiera aplicarse este término, ya en sí ambiguo) fue mostrado al enoontrarse cara a cara, mano a mano con el Cavernario Galindo, con el Médico Asesino, con la Tonina Jackson o con su archinémesis, el genial Blue Demon. Larga vida al Santo.
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