Lucha VaVoom just had their Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Mayan Theater (photos below), as well as a show in Chicago! For those of you who don't know, Lucha VaVoom is probably the best event for lucha libre within the US borders! Not only is it masked Mexican wrestling, but it also combines burlesque dancing, comedy acts, music, and a party-like atmosphere. It's something more out of yesteryear Hollywood with vaudeville style vignettes of different skits, and performances, sandwiched between muscled men duking it out in the ring. How can you say no to all this fun?
Lucha VaVoom started in 2002, and has been going strong, and now is branching outside LA, into San Francisco and Chicago. It's definite the show that people talk about weeks, even months after attending!
As a word of caution, some of the following photos may not be suitable for a work environment. No nudity, but there will be scantily clad women, bare chested wrestlers, and all sorts of entertainment below:
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.
I've never watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Scratch that, I've never watched the TV series. The movie on the other hand was one of my favorite movies growing up. It was one part parody, while also playing with the horror genre. It put horror on it's head, and placed the helpless cheerleader victim in the role of the savior against the forces of darkness.
My favorite scene in Buffy(the film)
But for some reason, the tv series didn't feel right to me. It seemed hokey, it was on WB for crying out loud, and worst of all... it was praised by thousands of teenage girls. All these signs drove me away from the series. That being the case, I especially didn't follow Angel. Spinoffs don't work out very often. For example: Friends > Joey, Baywatch > Baywatch nights (Like we even expected a mediocre show to birth an amazing spinoff), Happy Days > Joanie Loves Chachi. These are just a few of the spinoff crud we've seen in tv history. Mind you, there have been a few fun spinoffs: Happy Days > Laverne & Shirley, The Tracy Ullman Show > The Simpsons, Cheers > Frasier. Perhaps Angel falls under this second, against all odds still amazing category.
I bet you're asking yourself, "What is he talking about? Where are the masked wrestlers from Mexico?" Well, I'm getting to that, just hold your horses. In the pursuit of all things lucha for the sake of this forum, I have watched exactly one episode of Angel. In my lucha research, I have discovered that there is an episode of Angel that deals with luchadores. Season 5, Episode 6 (No. 94): "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco."
A luchador mail guy?
Honestly, I was afraid to venture into the world of Angel and Buffy, but I did it, and I come out alive and unscathed. I also must say, I liked the episode quite a bit! <shock & awe> It dealt with the subject with respect, a bit of research, and made it fit into their world. I was really impressed, and I'm easily bothered by people who use luchadores in stories with little to no understanding of the history and tradition of the sport and film genre.
Let's see if angels can fly!
Santo has taught us that vampires and luchadores are mortal enemies
So we have the main characters, Angel, a black guy, a green demon, and a blonde vampire ghost who work at some sort of agency, much like BPRD in the Hellboy universe, but also works in the legal realms of contracts, hexes, and other pacts. Sorry I don't know these characters' names, this is my first episode of Angel. So, at the agency there is a mail guy, an old luchador called Numero Cinco. Up pops up a case on All Souls Day (November 2 to all you non-Catholics), also known as Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos. This case involves an Aztec demon called Tezcatcatl whose taking victims' hearts. With a little research, the crew discovers that this guy popped up 50 years before in Los Angeles as well. The story is that there were five luchador brothers who were undefeated in the ring, and took on paranormal tom foolery by night. Sadly, they had all perished in one final battle, except for Numero Cinco. Numero Cinco slowly lost cases due to the hardship he endured, until the Wolfram & Hart Agency picked him up.
Me llamo Tezcatcatl, mucho gusto.
These are the lightest of light weight luchadores I've ever seen.
Santo would scoff at these mosquitos.
Luchadores in suits, a staple in the lucha genre
Stats
Length: 42 minutes
Year: 2003
Favorite Quote: "¡Vamanos lecherita!" - "Let's go milkmaid!"
The Ratings:
My rating system is out of five stars, and consists of six categories, then an overall score.
Story: I was impressed by the story, you could tell that the writer must have watched a few lucha films in his time. The Hermanos Numeros would wear suits and masks outside the ring, it felt much like a film. It had a touch of camp, while being very earnest in it's story. I liked it.
Horror:While the episode won't be sending chills down your spine, you'll be impressed by the Aztec demon. He was pretty wicked looking.
Action: Lots of action. I also liked how the luchadores would toss their opponents like a super hero flick. The action was more choreographed, and a little less spontaneous than an old Santo flick. We even get to see some headscissors action!
Camp:Cheesy green demons, a Cheech Marin-sounding hasbeen luchador, a vampire ghost, demons, brother luchadores with numbers on their masks. It's definitely ridiculous, but it was done earnestly that it didn't feel like it was making fun of the genre.
Nudity:Zero nudity, zero sexual situations, totally safe for junior lucha-fans.
Overall: It was fun, I would recommend watching it to a fellow lucha fan without hesitation. I'm not saying I'll go and watch the rest of the Angel or Buffy tv series, but I was pleasantly surprised!
We even get a touch of Mexican cultural enlightenment by an appearance of an ofrenda.
These zombie luchadores raise their hands in approval.
Could you imagine realizing one day that your father is actually a famous masked wrestler, and super hero status in films? That's what this interesting film is about. I just recently found it on YouTube:
Here are some production photos:
The film is 19 minutes, and was shown in 2009 at the San Diego ComiCon, as well as the Edmonton International Film Festival in 2008. The film was in collaboration with the true Hijo del Santo. Several films were paid homage in this production, such as Santo en la Invasion de las Marcianos (Invasion of the Martians).
This is just about everything I was able to dig up about this interested short film. If you know any more about it, I'd love to hear from you!
The Blue Demon Film Festival will be held May 5th & 8th at the Texas Theatre, in Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas! I'm so jealous of those within in driving distance of Dallas! I, unfortunately, live in Washington State... It's not exactly a day trip for me, so I will miss the festivities, but I hope to hear from someone how it goes. If you don't already know, Blue Demon happens to be my favorite luchador of the Holy Trinity of lucha-libre. Meeting Blue Demon Jr would be an awesome thing, but oh well. It wasn't written in the stars that I'd be able to go to this event.
The Texas Theatre, Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas
But for those that can attend, here are the details:
Thursday May 5th The Film: Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y Hombre Lobo Starts at 7:00pm
Film duration: 90 min
Year: 1973
Sunday May 8th Las Momias de Guanajuato Starts at 4pm, and replayed at 7:30pm
Film duration: 85 minutes
Year: 1972
Besides the two films, here is the schedule for Sunday May 8th:
2:00pm - Doors open (view of lucha-libre memorabilia)
2:30pm - Documentary of the History of Blue Demon (half hour)
3:00pm - Questions and Answers with Blue Demon Jr, Richard Dominguez, and Robert Mercado.
4:00pm - Las Momias de Guanajuato
Second Showing-
6:00pm - Doors open (view of lucha-libre memorabilia)
6:30pm - Documentary of the History of Blue Demon (half hour)
7:00pm - Questions and Answers with Blue Demon Jr, Richard Dominguez, and Robert Mercado.
PS. If anyone attends, please let me know how it goes. I'd also love it if you recorded it and posted the q&a on Youtube :D
Also, don't forget, I am giving away a copy of the Santo lucha-horror classic "La Venganza de la Momia," check out my previous blog entry for details on how to win the dvd!
Damas y Caballeros! I have a wonderful announcement for you all–I am doing a giveaway for the month of May! I have an extra copy of the DVD Santo En La Venganza De La Momia!
87 minutes of Santo action!
This DVD is new, unused, unopened. It's from the Zima Entertainment Santo Colección. The DVD is region 1 AND 4, so anyone with a DVD player from the US or México can watch it! According to the sticker on the box, it says that there are English subtitles as well, with of course a Spanish audio track.
Santo, el enmascarado de plata, joins an archaeological expedition with a mission to explore the ruins of Aztec origin. After reaching a nearby village, the villagers try to stop them "from desecrating the dreams of the dead. " The group continues, within the ancient ruins they discover the tomb of a priest who was buried alive and cursed. From then on, one by one, the members of the expedition start disappearing...
How do you win this awesome DVD? First, the offer is only valid to the US. I'm sorry but the shipping is coming out of my pocket–and my pockets are very shallow. Other than that, entry is a breeze: just email me at jesse.acosta@gmail.com. Be sure to mark the subject as "Santo DVD Giveaway." (That's it…easy, eh?)
Would you like to increase your odds? When you write me that e-mail, also include your Twitter username. Tweet the following message and I'll add your name a second time into the hat:
#SantoDVDGiveaway in May! Win a copy of Santo en La Venganaza de la Momia! http://ow.ly/4KWVzfor details
On May 31st, a random drawing will be held and you just might be the lucky winner! Check your inbox for an e-mail from me. Whoever wins the giveaway will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. If no response is made, someone else will be chosen, at random.
While the episode won't be sending chills down your spine, you'll be impressed by the Aztec demon. He was pretty wicked looking.
