Santo vs. Frankenstein's Daughter (1972)

Too much of everything

Beautiful, moving film.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A masked wrestler and his girlfriend find themselves abducted by a mad scientist to replenish her diminishing youth serum made from his blood and have to battle through her assortment of monsters and henchmen to escape.One of the better examples of this kind of film, filled with all sorts of good stuff from the delightfully campy and enjoyable mad scientist's lab found in those old-school classics, a creepy underground lair that, while outfitted with cobweb-riddled corpses in coffins and flying bats shrieking in the darkness looks to be as cramped and detailed as a backyard home movie, and all sorts of brawls and fights from the lead, despite the fact that they're all pretty repetitive and pretty much consist of fist-chops or punches and hip-throws all over the room into the furniture. I can't say the plot makes a lot of sense (I'm only guessing on that end, it was in Spanish yet from the looks of it all, I think I'm right in that regard) but the action here more than makes up for it, turning this into one of Santo's better entries.Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence and mild Language.

Before you get your hopes up, let me state for the record that Santo does NOT grapple Frankenstein's daughter... Although he's slightly out of character in this one (he may have been bored, or simply uninterested in the goings-on), he does manage from time to time to get into a scrap. Said scraps are the saving grace(s) of this one. Like many of the color films in the Santo series (at least, the ones that I've seen), SANTO VS. FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER is unimpressive in the extreme (but I can't bring myself to give it less than a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10). The cinematography, in particular, is underwhelming- odd, when one considers the visual potential of these kind of movies. I've always thought that Spider-man, whose mask looks suspiciously like the mask worn by El Santo (especially the eye-holes, which are identical), may have been inspired, to some degree, by The Silvermask Man (and THE WASP WOMAN). Spidey has gotten his just due. Too bad Santo never did.

In his 34th adventure on film, the legendary wrestler Santo will have to face Dr. Freda (Gina Romand), the daughter of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, after she discovers that Santo's blood has an unnatural amount of the main ingredient for her youth serum. In this early 70s adventure, the magic of Santo films and his cult icon status go to the max as the movie has a weird lounge soundtrack and the beautiful girls wear go-go boots. It's kitsch entertainment at the extreme.In order to get Santo's blood, Dr. Frankenstein kidnaps his girlfriend Norma (Anel); so Santo, along with Norma's beautiful sister Elsa (Sonia Fuentes) go to the rescue. As they arrive to the old rural town that serves as Frankenstein's lair, they'll face her army of rejuvenated warriors and her two monsters: the ape-man and Ursus, the man-made monster.The movie is highly entertaining despite its big flaws. It is obvious that they never meant this movie to be taken seriously, as Santo acts like a suave James Bond with muscles and every good-looking woman flirts with him. Pure 70s fantasy. Gina Romand is perfect in her over-the-top performance as the evil mastermind, and has a lot of chemistry with Roberto Cañedo, who plays her tormented lover and second in command.Anel as Santo's girlfriend is average (she never was a good actress anyway) but Sonia Fuentes as the sexy Elsa is remarkably good. Santo is at his top, and his character is finally complete as the wrestler/special agent. Gone are his mysterious origins and is now a more human character (well, as human as a mythical cult icon can be).The fight scenes are very good, the initial scenes in the arena look very realistic and are very well shot. Also, the fights against the monsters are very violent for Santo's standards, and very bloody too. While the whole SFX are mediocre at best, there are a few scenes with an "aging" effect that are very well done for the budget.With sub-par acting, a silly story and cheap SFX one would expect a very bad movie; but strangely (or maybe because of Santo's magic), everything just adds campy fun to the kitsch style the movie already has."Santo Contra la Hija de Frankenstein" may not be one of Santo's best films, but it is definitely one of the most entertaining, in it's own campy way. This kitsch jewel is worth a look if you are into campy fun. 6/10

The most fun I've had with a Santo picture since "Santo Contra Las Mujeres Vampiros" (a.k.a. "Samson Vs. The Vampire Women"). This one's delightfully loopy... Gina Romand's over-the-top histrionics, combined with Santo's energetic daring-do and accompanied by a bizarre, Wall of Voodoo-goes-lounge-lizard score, makes for solid 'So Bad It's Good' entertainment. One scene in particular, in which Romand gives injections of youth serum to an assembly of elderly, decrepit geezers who then start writhing and howling in agony, had me convulsing with laughter. Interestingly enough our stoic hero loosens up in this one - he cheekily flirts with his girlfriend's sister and even blurts out a curse word! It's also bloodier than one expects for a Santo movie; the fights with the monsters are more brutal than is customary for such kiddie-friendly fare. The fact that Santo battles the exact same simian-human hybrid that appears in 1968's "Night Of The Bloody Apes" - created by the same method and played by the same actor/stunt man in identical makeup - begins to establish some kind of weird pelicula universe where these goofy plots are somehow all intertwined.