Lucha Movies

[GA!]

This thread could just be directed at Skummy, but others may have seen some too:

I'd like to watch some lucha movies. Any recommendations?

[Skummy]

I'd recommend any of the following;

El Santo & Blue Demon vs. The Monsters

The Mummies Of Guanajuato

Champions Of Justice

I can't remember the names in Spanish for all of them off the top of my head, but the names are fairly straight translations.

"...vs. The Monsters" is your classic lucha movie. Two luchadores battling really ropey costumed monsters, with very little semblance of plot.

The Mummies of Guanajuato is maybe my favourite. I won't give too much away, but it's magnificent - it's mostly Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras, with El Santo kind of crowbarred in to sell it. Basically, luchadores battling zombies. I'll have to dig out my review of this some time, but I can't recommend it enough, it's absurd.

Champions Of Justice is probably the most self-aware - by this point, I can only assume that the people making these movies knew how absurd they actually were. It's lacking some of the big names - El Santo's not in it - but aside from that, it's got a huge cast of different luchadores, and some awesome set-pieces, as well as a whole bunch of midgets. Midgets with superhuman strength, specifically. It also features a scene of a luchadore waking up in bed, still wearing his luchadore mask with his pyjamas.

There's also Mil Mascaras vs. The Aztec Mummy, which is only a few years old, and as far as I'm aware, the first Lucha movie to be released in English. It's kind of an affectionate parody, but a lot of fun all the same - Mil Mascaras is portrayed as the world's greatest wrestler, detective, lover and scientist.

[KJE]

I'm guessing you have seen it, but the only one I have seen is Wrestle Maniac with Rey Mistero Sr.

He is a super human the Mexican government made to win the Olympics and now he lives in a ghost town where is kills visitors by ripping their faces off.

[LUKIE]

It's not lucha, but the Korean movie "The Foul King" is amazing. Watch that.

[caucasianheat]

Santo v. the Martian Invasion is a good one and I think the first I was able to get my hands on. Martians land in Mexico and use their high-technology belts to control people's minds and abduct them. Lots of cheesy setpieces and weird setups and all the action scenes are done like lucha sparring. It's great.

is really weird and a bit tough to follow, but it tries to do something of an origin story for the Santo character and there's lots of fighting in dungeons.

I've had my wires crossed for a long time on the Guanjuato mummies one, because I have a different movie altogether than the Santo/Demon version in my collection. Turns out someone took virtually the same story a year later and cast Tinieblas as the lead with the fake luchadores Superzan and Blue Angel as his sidekicks.

[GA!]

I'm watching El Santo & Blue Demon vs. The Monsters. It's the weirdest thing. I wonder if it inspired the Dungeon of Doom.

EDIT: Really enjoyed that. The flaws are obvious, but who fucking cares? I just watched 1960's Batman reenacted by two Mexican wrestlers and every Hammer Horror villain.

[Monkey D. Lars]

http://letterboxd.com/gzilla77/list/mexican-wrestling-and-monsters/

Is this list any help for you GA?

[GA!]

I liked that list about five minutes before your post. Spooky!

[Skummy]

My favourite part of ...Vs. The Monsters is the incredibly camp vampire who pounces into shot at every available opportunity

[GA!]

Six minutes into Santo vs. The Blue Demon in Atlantis and (I think) they've already blown up a planet. Wonderful, wonderful!

EDIT: My mistake, just the Pacific Ocean.

[GA!]

Fucking hell, Blue Demon turns heel then face more times than Big Show...

[Skummy]

"Bad guy pretends to be Blue Demon" is a great recurring trope as well. Poor guy can't catch a break.

[GA!]

In this one, he's hypnotised by a disco ball.

I love how they use these excuses so Blue Demon doesn't have to portray the bad guy that gets his arse kicked time and again, even though he is.

Earlier in the film when Santo and Demon have their mandatory wrestling match, he is introduced as "the equally famous Blue Demon".

To be a fly on the wall during the production of these films...

[Azazel]

I saw El Santo & Blue Demon vs Dracula and the Wolfman a long time ago, I have no idea if enjoyed it.

[GA!]

Atlantis is weaker than ...the Monsters. The middle part is completely forgettable. Nice use of stock footage and miniatures at the end though.

I completely missed the moment that explained how the villain was a Nazi scientist. I just thought he was evil for evil reasons.

Also, after only two films, I can see the template these follow - down to the unrelated musical sequence about 55 minutes in.

Now I want to write and film my own Lucha film.

[Skummy]

Yeah - I'm supposed to be brainstorming a short documentary about CIW, but I really wish I had the time and the means to make a CIW lucha movie instead.