SANTO: THE LEGEND OF THE MAN IN THE SILVER MASK (1993) **

A decade after the Son of Santo starred alongside his old man in Chanoc and the Son of Santo vs. the Killer Vampires, he (briefly) played his father in this oddball movie.  Despite the title, it isn’t a biopic.  It’s more of a mix of Son of Santo solo picture and a children’s film, with a heavy concentration of schmaltz on the side.  There are also touches of the old school El Santo movies here and there, but they are unfortunately few and far between.  

Benito (Erik Sanchez) is a little boy who idolizes El Santo.  He goes to see all his movies and even wears his signature silver mask to school.  When El Santo dies of a heart attack, the Son of Santo wants to distance himself from his father’s legacy and make a name for himself on his own accord.  His old pal Carlitos (Carlos Suarez, El Santo’s sidekick in the later years) tries to make him understand the importance of carrying on the family tradition, but he wants no part of it.  Meanwhile, Benito’s single father struggles to make ends meet and becomes indebted to a local gangster.  Eventually, little Benito helps the Son of Santo embrace his father’s legacy, and the luchador in turn helps saves Benito’s dad from the bad guys.

Santo:  The Legend of the Man in the Silver Mask is kind of sweet (in spots at least), but it isn’t a patch on the old El Santo movies.  I’m not sure if it was meant as a reboot or if it was just Son of Santo paying tribute to his old man.  Either way, it almost works, but not quite.  

The film tries to straddle the line between the serious treatment of Benito’s story with the silliness of the old El Santo flicks.  It’s not a bad idea, but the kiddie stuff is pretty rough going.  I could’ve especially done without the scene where the tyke mopes about while an excruciating sappy love song plays on the soundtrack.

I did like the scenes involving Son of Santo slowly embracing his father’s shadow.  There’s a great moment when Carlito takes him into El Santo’s secret lair filled with sportscars and training equipment.  He then opens up a box containing the original El Santo mask that glows and is surrounded by dry ice fog.  

The climax is great too.  It’s here where the Son of Santo (FINALLY) puts on his father’s mask and becomes a superhero.  This new costume kind of makes his look like Space Ghost a little, and he also uses bracelets that deflect bullets like Wonder Woman and double as boomerangs.  The best part though is that Santo’s car is now equipped with lasers that can blow shit up!  This sequence is legitimately cool.  I just wish it didn’t take forever to get to it.  We also get three wrestling matches too, which aren’t bad, although director Gilberto de Anda has a tendency to over-rely on slow-motion.  

I really had no problem with the idea of the Son of Santo picking up the mantle from his father and starring in a bunch of movies.  Although a bit long-winded, this could’ve served as a nice jumping off point for more Santo adventures.  Sadly, the Son of Santo never had anywhere near the movie career his father had.  In fact, it took the Son of Santo eight years before he starred in his next film, Santo:  Infraterrestre.