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Full Description
Any on-screen schmuck can take down a wolfman with a silver bullet. It takes a certain kind of hero to hoist that wolfman overhead into an airplane spin, follow with a body slam, drop an atomic elbow across his mangy neck, leg-lock him until he howls, and pin his furry back to the mat for a three-count. It takes a Mexican masked wrestler. Add a few half-naked vampire women, Aztec mummies, mad scientists, evil midgets from space, and a goateed Frankenstein monster, and you have just some of the elements of Mexican masked wrestler and monster movies, certainly among the most bizarre, surreal and imaginative films ever produced.
This filmography features some of the oddest cinematic showdowns ever concocted--Mexican masked wrestlers battling monsters, evil geniuses and other ne'er-do-wells, be it in caves, cobwebbed castles or in the ring. From the 1950s to the 1970s, these movies were staples of Mexican cinema, combining action, horror, sex, science fiction and comedy into a bizarre amalgam aimed to please the whole family. Chapters examine the roots of the phenomenon, including the hugely popular masked wrestling scene and the classic Universal horror films from which Mexican filmmakers stole without compunction. Subsequent chapters focus on El Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Mascaras, the three most prominent masked wrestlers; wrestling women; other less prominent masked wrestlers; and the insane mish-mash of monsters pitted against the heroes. Each chapter includes background information and a full filmography, and a wide assortment of striking illustrations--posters, lobby cards and other graphic material, some better than the movies they advertised--accompany the text.
Contents
Table of Contents
Preface: "Thank You, Masked Wrestler"
Alphabetical List of Films
Chronological List of Films
1. The Bat Flies South: Early Mexican Fantasy and Horror
2. Who Was That Masked Man? The Spirit of the Serials
3. Universal con Carne: New Lives for the Old Undead
4. Santo and Son: The Legend of the Silver-Masked Man
5. "Devil with a Blue Mask On": The Life and Films of Blue Demon
6. "Man of a Thousand Masks": The Life and Films of Mil Máscaras
7. Glorious Luchadoras of Wrestling: The Lives and Films of the Wrestling Women
8. The Undercard: Second-Banana Masked Men
9. Vampires Not Named Drácula, and Other Assorted Creatures: The Wide, Wide World of Mexican Monsters
10. Men Can Die but Legends Live Forever: The Legacy of the Silver-Masked Man
Bibliography
Index
