Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo

aka Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolfman

1973
Written by Alfredo Salazar
Directed by Miguel M. Delgado

We slept so long our clothes are in style again!

Unlike the prior Santo and Blue Demon vs. The Monsters, Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo is a slower paced and more methodological monster film. Instead of celebrating B movie creatures and having monsters inspired by Universal classics, Dracula and the Wolf Man here are more patterned after the Hammer horror films. The creatures are still deadly, there is still a huge body count, and even major side characters die! Things just go real.

Rounders: The Lucha Years

The lower budget causes more sets to be noticeably sets and not real locations. Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo tries to offset this by having more things take place indoors or inside of caves. The few brief outside at night shots feature lighting of an unnatural blue, which eerily mimics to bright blue and red colors of the stadium backgrounds during the wrestling matches (which are also obviously on a stage and not in a real stadium!) The use of bright colors even extends to the opening credits, where bright red is the tone of choice. The atmospheric score is largely piano with some organ parts. The bright colors contrast with the black and white Santo films that gave off a more Gothic horror feel. The bright color but serious tones doesn’t match the campy drive-in approach of Santo and Blue Demon vs. The Monsters, moving vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo in between the camp and the attempts at serious horror. The dichotomy gives an interesting feel to the film, making it just playful enough that you fall into a lull of disarmament, making the deaths of major characters more shocking.

Does Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo fulfill the required Santo obligations? We have Santo and Blue Demon both wrestling opponents in matches that the movie shows in full. Instead of a mad scientist, we got a mad Satanist (some would argue that’s the same thing, but fuck those people!) Monsters? Check! Santo dating someone whose family is intertwined with the monsters in a complicated revenge plot? Check! Blue Demon knocked unconscious? Check! References to past heroic deeds of Santo and/or Blue Demon that aren’t from any film? Check! Blue Demon captured by the enemy and rescued by Santo? Check!

When Satanists do the wave…

One thing Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo does different is the police don’t believe Santo’s crazy story. In any other film, Santo would be called in to deal with the monsters and the police would give him leeway to do whatever he or Blue Demon want. Here, the police laugh at their outlandish tales of Dracula and the Wolfman. Haven’t they paid attention for the last 20 Santo films???

When will Blue Demon find…his endless love???

	Santo (Santo) – Santo is friend to all…wait, that’s not right. Santo is that famous wrestler you may have heard of. Perhaps. He’s once again dating a girl whose family is cursed with monsters seeking revenge. Heck, one time Santo dated the Swiss Miss girl and had to kill Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo Berry, and even Yummy Mummy.
	Blue Demon (Blue Demon) – Blue Demon is friend to all Santo. He’s another famous wrestler you may have heard of. Blue Demon once again plays second fiddle to Santo, despite being in the title. Poor Blue Demon…
	Drácula (Aldo Monti) – Dracula is in Mexico because that’s what he does and he’s been dead dead for 200 years, but is brought back to life by the power of Satan. And revenge. Now, he’s got the evil eye for Santo and Blue Demon, and anyone who makes fun of his cape!
	El Hombre Lobo/Wolfman (Agustín Martínez Solares) – You can’t have Dracula without the Wolfman, so here he is, ready to join his life partner in evil doings.
	Rufus Rex (Agustín Martínez Solares) – This wolfman’s got nards, and swagger, as he runs around in human form as Rufus Rex and seduces Laura Cristaldi to her peril.
	Lina (Nubia Martí) – Santo’s girlfriend. Professor Luis Cristaldi is her uncle, Laura Cristaldi is her cousin, and Rosita is Laura’s daughter. All are cursed. CURSED!!!
	Eric (Alfredo Wally Barrón) – Just your average Satanist who brings Dracula and Wolfman back to life to steal their gold or something.

All these boxes are filled with more Santo sequels!

When did wrestling get so perverted???

The budget is skimped on a bit right off the start. We’re getting one of our required wrestling sequences as Santo battles El Angel Blanco, which instead of being filmed in a random area like other Santo flicks is obviously filmed on a sound stage with no audience, no anything except a blue background. The announcer does mention that they are in a modern area packed to capacity and you hear cheering on the soundtrack, but it’s obviously an empty room. Despite being a white angel, El Angel Blanco is a heel.

Speaking of angels, some bearded dude in a red shirt and tie named Eric is praying to Satan. He claims the wizard Cristaldi killed Dracula and the Wolfman, so he’s going to get some other Cristaldi blood to bring them back to life. It’s good to have goals in life, I guess. There are two bronze animal heads that shoot fire in his room as well. It’s good to have bronze animal heads that shoot fire in life, I guess.

We find out the Cristaldi family history as Santo is dating Lina, whose uncle Professor Luis Cristaldi is a professor of Cristaldi-ology or something. Professor Cristaldi tells us about how Dracula and Wolfman teamed up to unite their species to conquer mankind, but Elco Cristaldi found out and stabbed them with a magic dagger called the Knife of the Boidros. Dracula cursed him with revenge as he died. Professor Cristaldi has the dagger, and some other random items that were made for evil. Professor Luis Cristaldi has also received a threatening letter that says “The power of the Avengers reaches everywhere” – wow, Nick Fury is trying to recruit Santo into the Avengers??????

Santo’s love office has a black velvet painting of Santo in action.

This blade can end the endless string of Santo sequels if it ever falls into the wrong hands!

Of course, Professor Cristaldi is immediately captured and sacrificed (by a goon who is after Dracula’s gold, the only gold more ridiculous to be craving than Lincoln’s gold!) and the monsters are raised as the blood drips on the dried skulls of the creatures.

Dracula sets out to start a vampire army, while Rufus Rex will try to seduce Cristaldi’s daughter in his human form, to be sacificed on the full moon. There are now two big baddies against just one single Santo. The silver mask knows he’s in over his head, so he calls in Blue Demon!

First Blue Demon must wrestle Renato, the Hippie. Hippies wrestle, apparently, who knew? It’s the same empty room wrestling set, except the walls are lit with red light to look like a different location. Renato the Hippie sucks so bad he doesn’t even win a round. Take that, hippies! Did you know that Blue Demon and Santo have radio watches that they use to coordinate their various takedowns of monsters? Because they do and that’s how Santo gets in contact with Blue Demon.

The world’s tiniest ghost!

Dracula: Dead and Dapper Forever!

Rufus Rex “saves” Laura from some goons as his excuse to talk to her, while Dracula makes plans to vampirize the young daughter Rosita – but scared off by the magic dagger. I’m not sure how they plan to seduce Laura while killing her daughter, one would think if your daughter died, you won’t be seduced the next day, especially when your father is missing probably due to threatening letters he has been getting. But maybe I just don’t have enough game to score in that situation.

Santo and Blue Demon follow Eric, but are caught by the rest of Eric’s goons and are threatened with being thrown into an oven. One of Eric’s goons even mentions meeting Santo before, and you get the feeling Santo had a whole adventure busting up the mob that we never saw in film. Lina save them thanks to her forklift driving skills. Gentlemen, when you meet a lady who drives a forklift, marry her on the spot! The rescue leads to a long fight full of punching action.

Have they invented fire hydrants yet???

Do you own a non-blue shirt?

The next night, Rufus lures the pair to an abandoned house where he says Professor Cristaldi is being held (the thieves giving him the proof of life.) The professor is there, as a zombie! Santo is KOed, but is saved by Blue Demon. This action does allow Rufu to capture Laura, while Dracula hypnotizes Lina so she’ll leave the house, and a bald vampire we never was before enters a window of the house and vampirizes the maid Josefina. They use the vampire Josefina to get Rosita out of the house. So now the entire Cristaldi family is captured! You’d think they’d have bought locks for the windows by now…

The wrestling guys don’t even notice, Santo is engrossed in big ancient books he’s studying for clues, while Blue Demon is easily knocked out in the forest by goons!

Santo wanders around the empty house and empty yard, finally realizing something is up and contacting the captured Blue Demon by wristwatch. Dracula wants to chomp Lina when she’s coherent, so he sends her to the bedroom to sober up. The area is filled with female vamps with red ghost coverings like they’re from A Handmaiden’s Tale. Laura also walking around in red ghost vampire attire as she’s now evil.

If I can ever figure out how to change it to daylight savings time…

See??? Chess is in every Lucha movie!!

Santo bursts into the house with the magic dagger…and Eric throws a gas grenade at him. D’Oh! Santo is knocked out and Eric grabs the dagger. Instead of just stabbing Santo, Eric plots to use the dagger to get the Dracula and Wolfman gold. But when he demands Lina show him how to use it, the dagger turns around in his hand and stabs him in the stomach! These automatic evil guy killing daggers are going to take jobs away from hardworking evil guy killing citizens! When Eric dies, he says he committed so many crimes he stopped being human.

Wolfman also has a posse of wolfguys, and one of them is a cowards, so they make him walk the plank. The plant being a board over a giant pit full of spikes, and Rufus jiggles the board and the coward falls far below. Next they’re gonna force Blue Demon to do the same thing! Santo arrives during Blue Demon’s walk, and the punching of the Wolfmen begins!

Punch kick punch kick punch kick flip punch punch punch!

It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this!

Welcome to the House of Menstruating Ghosts!

The 8 on 2 fight is not stacked enough in the Wolfmen gang favor and they lose. Blue Demon beats up Rufus Rex, who is running around in his human form for some reason. Santo fights a generic wolfguy who is so light Santo punches him and he flies 10 feet backwards. Then Santo javelin spears him! The wrestlers then starts javelining other bad guys.

Until they reach Dracula, who is all “You can’t javelin me!” which is odd, as you would think the javelin would be effective against the vampires and not the wolfmen. Dracula and Wolfman (now in wolfman form) fight Santo and Blue Demon for the final battle. Blue Demon tosses Santo a rope, which Santo swings on and uses to kick Dracula and Wolfman into the pit full of spikes. Which kills them, and when they die all the remaining monsters explode into smoke!

This is rapidly turning into Manos!

50 Shades of Santo

Back at home, Lina reads to Rosita to sleep, and Santo says to tell Rosita it was all a nightmare. Ummmmm……her Mom, Grandpa, and maid are dead. DEAD!! And they died horribly! I don’t think you can just say that was a dream.

And we end with a tag team match as Santo and Blue Demon fight El Angel Blanco and Renato the Hippie. Why we needed a rematch, I don’t know. This match goes on far too long and is sort of a let down from the furious monster action, but if you want to watch wrestling, there you go.

If anything, El Angel Blanco is sort of Dracula, as angels have wings like the bat form of Dracula. And Renato is a dirty hippie, much like the dirty-looking Wolfman! So it all makes sense! But only if you don’t think about it. So do yourself a favor, and think about something else instead!