The Best Lucha Movies

This is my personal list of favorite lucha movies. I plan on updating it as my collection grows, and I'm able to find the more obscure lucha films within the legit and gray-market.
This list has no particular order, they are just the several of the "best" of the genre, in my opinion. Remember, best is a subjective term, especially when talking about this type of film. It's full of cheese, camp, classic comic book style fun, so don't be expecting an American Film Institute classic here:

Atacan Las Brujas (1964)
I love this early black and white Santo movie. It's very dark and moody, and even has an unusual dream sequence to open the film. The story is very well done for a lucha movie, you can really tell everyone is putting a lot of effort into this film. We have the beautiful Lorena Velázquez as the head witch, who wishes to torment and sacrifice poor Ofelia and her boyfriend Arturo. But Santo is not a fan of all this Satanic witchery and foils her diabolical plot!




Las Momias de Guanajuato (1972)
The best lucha movies are team ups, and this contains Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Máscaras. Honestly though, Santo appears only in the end, but that's okay, I'm a bigger Blue Demon fan. I also like the midget in this film, how many midgets do you know that are called Penguin? Just don't interrupt him while he gives you a tour of the Guanajuato mummies! For my full review of Las Momias de Guanajuato, click here!




Santo y Mantequilla Nápoles Contra La Llorona (1974)
I love this film for two reasons. First, we have Mantequilla Nápoles, famous Cuban boxer. No other Santo film has done inserted a non-lucha athlete into the mix, making it quite unique. The second reason why I enjoy this is that we get to see a legendary monster from Latin American culture. La Llorona, aka The Crying Woman, is a tale about a woman who drowns her own children in a blind rage after learning that her lover wants to throw her away like expired tuna. Because of her horrible deeds against her children, she is forced to wander the earth as a specter. By night, you can hear her wails on the winds near rivers and lakes, "Ay, mis hijos!" This movie builds on the legend, giving a deeper back story, and making for a perfect villain for a Santo film.




Tesoro de Drácula (1969)
Santo is a jack of all trades. Monster slayer, luchador, and scientist. Santo, much like Batman, has a laboratory in his older films. Maybe we can call it La Cueva del Santo? He has been working on a sweet time machine in his downtime, that for some reason works better with women. But the time machine is also quite unique in that you don't merely time travel like Back to the Future, but you return to a past life. I found this really unique for any kind of film. The one down fall to this film is that we have a comic-relief character.. I loathe these characters. Perico is a real dweeb, but he also wears a gold chain necklace of a dollar symbol. This is like a precursor to 90s rap I guess. It's incredibly odd.




Santo y Blue Demon Contra Drácula y Hombre Lobo (1973)
The title itself evokes such strong emotions to me. This was the first lucha film I had purchased, and it was due to the title. We get the two most famous luchadores, plus we get the vampire king and a werewolf. This film has the general construction of a typical lucha film. Star with a match, get some story, insert a match in the middle, then end the film with one more lucha match. Sometimes the matches are slightly boring, but this one is enjoyable because the rudo is Renato the Hippie! Who doesn't want to see a hippie get his butt handed to him by Santo? I also have to say, the chess sequence between Blue Demon and Santo is also a nice touch. These aren't merely fighting brutes, they are intellectuals with a concern about the paranormal forces of darkness.




Santo y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstruos (1970)
A vampire? Check. Frankenstein's Monster with a goatee? Check. An prune like mummy? Check. A hobo werewolf? Check. A clumsy '50s scifi cyclops monster? Check. A fiendish scientist? Check. A midget assistant? Check. Lastly, we need one final ingredient to make this a perfect picture: Luchadores (Santo and Blue Demon to be precise) and lots of brawling in and out of the ring. 'Nuff said about this film, if you aren't hooked by all that, then this genre isn't your cup of tea.




Santo Contra Las Lobas (1976)
This is the first really creepy lucha film I've ever seen. A weird werewolf cult, sacrifices, creepy cinematography, it's has such a different feel than any other of Santo's films. While previous films have had a touch of camp, and tongue in cheek at times, this really felt like the director was going for a solid action horror film.

Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires - The Review

¿Qué me ves, güey?

So last night I needed a change of pace. I've been trying to watch Arañas Infernales, but the music is hideously screachy. Instead I watched Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, and it was fun!


Chinese Vampire Kah...or is it Dracula?

The story is simple, but intriguing due to the blending of European and Eastern mythologies. Professor Van Helsing has fought Dracula several times in his past, and now had arrived in China to seek out the legends of Chinese Vampires. He attends a university and gives a speech on his interactions with the Living Dead only to be mocked. But one student is the descendant of the vampire slayer in the legend, and begs Van Helsing's help in ridding the golden masked vampires that plague his little village.


Legion of the Undead summoned by the Seven Golden Vampires

This is the only Dracula film in the Hammer Studios series where the Count is not played by Christopher Lee. From what I have read, after reading the script, he declined the role. I'm not sure if it's because he disliked the film, or because he only has about 5 minutes of screen time. I think it must be the latter, because this film isn't the most outlandish thing done by Christopher Lee or Hammer Studios. This film also marks the final time Peter Cushing plays Professor Van Helsing.

Stats:
Studio: Hammer Studios
Run-time: 84 minutes
Year: 1974
Actors of note: Peter Cushing


Favorite Quotes:My favorite Lines definitely come from the trailer taglines:
"Black Belt against Black Magic in the greatest battle of all time!"
"You haven't seen KUNG-FU until you've seen The Seven Brothers and their One Sister battle against Dracula!"

The Ratings:
My rating system is out of five stars, and consists of six categories, then an overall score.

• Story: The story is decent, and doesn't leave too many plot holes. I do question why Count Dracula is "trapped" underneath his castle home in the beginning of the film. Besides that, I like the fusion of genres, it's exciting stuff. Before this film, I don't think we have seen Chop Sake + Vampires. The only other film I can think of similar to this is Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters.
• Bizarre Factor: This movie is bizarre! This was a weird blend, but that's also what made the story so unique for its time. I don't understand the golden masks of the vampires either, why? Also, why must the virgin sacrifices always be topless? Lastly, who doesn't love the phrase "The Seven Brothers... and their One sister meet Dracula!" as a tagline?
  
• Horror: This movie has some neat melting undead effects, but Dracula's makeup is a little horrible. It's like Drag Queen Drac. Fortunately, we only see him for about 5 minutes. This movie won't make you wet yourself like Exorcist either.
  
• Action: How can a kung fu vampire film not have tons of action? The only thing I question is why Van Helsing cowers during every vampire/undead duel? He was brought to these people to defeat them, why won't he pitch in?
  
• Camp: Definite cheesiness with the voice-over of Dracula in the body of the Chinese Vampire. The kung fu is a little hokey at times, and the dialogue is kooky too. Again: "The Seven Brothers... and their One sister meet Dracula!"
• Nudity: This film is pretty tame, the only nudity we see are Chinese virgin breasts during sacrifice scenes. No sexual situations, just bare chests.
  
• Overall: I really enjoyed this film. I was impressed by this later era (1974) Hammer Studios picture. Obviously they were stretching to jump on the kung fu band wagon, but in this case I think it worked fairly well! 

Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires

BLACK BELT vs BLACK MAGIC!

For years I've wanted to see this film, and finally got a hold of it today! I'll have to make a review of it soon for you all. For those who don't know, let me give you a rundown!


Peter Cushing as Professor Lawrence Van Helsing

This 1974 film by Hammer Studios is a mashup of Kung Fu plus horror! Sounds like my cup of tea! Prof. Van Helsing gives a lecture in China about Chinese Vampires, and is told by a student that it is true, and his village is plagued by the vile undead! Peter Cushing and the Seven Brothers (and one sister) do battle against Count Dracula and his lovely virgin fledgling vampiras!



This is the kind of stuff I crave! Mix matched genres, utter weirdness, vampires, British vampire slayers. What's not to love?


In other news, I was planning on having a review up for Arañas Infernales today, but it's turned into a hectic day trying to fix the car. All is well, I just ate up half the day trying to get that business taken care of. I'll try to get into it tonight though! I must see the spider aliens battle Blue Demon!

El Conde Dracula

A lot of people don't know this, but in the early hay-day of Universal Pictures, they would film movies with two casts. Day time would be the English speaking crew, and at night a Spanish speaking crew would come in and film the same movie, in Spanish! In the day, dubbing and subtitling wasn't really possible, so this was the next best thing. Unfortunately, many of these Spanish films haven't survived. But a great one did, Dracula 1931.

I'll let this video give you some more info on it. Sorry the host of this show is kind of an old douche who can't wear his hat correctly:


If you want to find this movie, it's available on the "Dracula: Legacy Collection" dvd box set. It even has a short interview with Lupita Tovar, Mina in the film. She was a real looker back in the day! Universal released a box set for Frankenstein, Mummy, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man as well. I have them all, they're good stuff. I've probably watched The Invisible Man and it's sequels a million times.