Chanoc and the Son of Santo vs. the Killer Vampires begins in fun fashion with the origin of the Son of Santo. El Santo (in his final film appearance) throws a smoke bomb at a guy wearing oversized sunglasses and a big porn ‘stache and when the smoke clears, he’s transformed into the Son of Santo! If you tuned in just to see El Santo, turn it off now because he disappears as soon as the opening credits begin. I’m sure you can probably guess it’s all downhill from there.
The filmmakers must’ve thought the Son of Santo wasn’t a big enough name yet, so they dragged Chanoc into all this. Chanoc isn’t as famous stateside as his co-star, the Son of Santo. He’s a fisherman/adventurer who was star of a popular comic strip in Mexico. In 1967, the first Chanoc movie was released, followed by several sequels, usually with a revolving door of actors playing the title character. This was my first Chanoc movie, and based on what I’ve seen here, I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to see another one.
While relaxing in his boat, the Son of Santo notices Chanoc (Nelson Velazquez) and his sidekick Tzekub (Arturo Cobo) being tossed overboard by some nefarious evildoers. He rescues them and they become fast friends. Chanoc reveals the men were actually jewel thieves and the Son of Santo agrees to help capture them. Oh, and those “Killer Vampires” the title refers to? They’re just the bad guys wearing black robes and Halloween masks who try to scare people away from their hideout. Real Scooby-Doo shit.
I think there was a conscious effort on the Son of Santo’s part to differentiate his screen presence from his father’s. Unlike El Santo, his offspring is often seen out of his costume, but with his face still obscured by his sunglasses and cartoonish mustache. Whenever there is danger, he puts on his wrestling mask and saves the day. This Superman-type gimmick with the alter ego was quickly scrapped, and the Son of Santo resorted to being just another El Santo clone in his next movie, The Son of Santo in the Lawless Border.
One of the big problems is that both Chanoc and the Son of Santo have annoying comic relief sidekicks. One of these guys would’ve sufficed. Having two seems like overkill, especially when they are more annoying than funny. The Son of Santo’s sidekick, Carlitos (Carlos Suarez) was also El Santo’s sidekick in Santo vs. the Television Killer, which at least helps give SOME semblance of continuity between this and the original El Santo series.
Their antics become downright excruciating during the scene where they don the Son of Santo and Chanoc’s wrestling masks and decide to wrestle in their place, leading to a lame, fast-motion, comic relief tag-team match. Luckily, the real Son of Santo and Chanoc (who wears a Blue Demon mask) show up for the rematch. The fights that occur outside the ring are more Kung Fu-inspired than the traditional Lucha Libre flick. While that helps give the Son of Santo his own identity, they aren’t exactly well-executed.
It doesn’t help that there’s a lot of padding. There are two nightclub performances, a comic relief dance sequence, and Chanoc even belts out three love songs (two while backed by a mariachi band, and one while on a double date with the Son of Santo). This, coupled with the lack of wrestling, not to mention the lack of El Santo, makes Chanoc and the Son of El Santo vs. the Killer Vampires one of the worst El Santo flicks of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment