Santo en la venganza de la momia (1971)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

René Cardona

Writer:

Alfredo Salazar (story)

Release Date:

9 December 1971 (Mexico)

Genre:

Horror | Action | Adventure

Cast

Santo	...	Santo
Eric del Castillo	...	Sergio Morales
Mary Montiel	...	Susana
César del Campo	...	Prof. Romero
Carlos Ancira	...	Prof. Jiménez
Alejandro Reyna	...	Plácido (as Tío Plácido)
Carlos Suárez	...	Chief guide
Alma Rojo	...	Rosa Bermúdez
Hijo del Santo	...	Agapito (as Niño Jorgito)
El Rebelde Rojo		(as Rebelde Rojo)
Gori Casanova
Dik Angelo
Goliat Ayala
Enrique Llanes	...	Announcer

Also Known As:

Santo and the Vengeance of the Mummy (USA)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Cinematográfica Calderón S.A.

A mummy stalks Santo and an expedition into ancient ruins

Bouyed by interesting pink and green advertising art which shows a close-up f the mummy's distorted face and a color insert of Santo fending off the monster with a blazing torch, this promises to be an exciting lucha title. While mummies had been heavily used in Mexican cinema (and, in fact, Santo faced them in another outing), the ad art on this film suggested a decent budget and an ambitious presentation. The mummy mask/make-up was also worlds above the job done on the Aztec mummy, being both unsettling and actually a bit alarming.

While the film is good, it's inexplicably one of the few Santo features which pulls its punch. Considering the wild excesses of the lucha film genre, the twist ending, which does anything but satisfy, makes little or no sense.

Santo is enlisted for Professor Romero's (Caesar del Campo) expedition to the lost tomb of Nonoc, an Aztec warrior. As usual, this is a cursed tomb and the dead warrior had been entombed and cursed for loving a maiden designated for the gods' use. This aspect is scarcely new, having already been covered in the Aztec Mummy series and other genre films.

The expedition also includes an old native guide (Amada Zumaya)and his grandson, two girls, and hunter Sergio (Eric del Castillo).

Arriving at the tomb, they find a scroll which explains that, by entering, they are now officially cursed. Nobody attaches much importance to this announcement, which is a mistake. Shortly thereafter, the party is being stalked and killed off by the avenging mummy -- or so it seems.

A decent adventure flick. Worth the watching.