Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

GazerRise Fantastic!

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Leofwine_draca The third of the Mexican wrestling movies picked up by K. Gordon Murray for US television (the others being INVASION OF THE ZOMBIES and SAMSON IN THE WAX MUSEUM), SAMSON VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN is more atmospheric but even less action-orientated than the other two, trading numerous run-ins with henchmen for an extremely slow pacing, with lots of lingering pans across creepy, cobwebby rooms, dark crypts, and cheesy rubber bats flying about on strings. As such, the film is only for the die-hard Santo fan. Anyone else watching from a modern perspective might well find it dull, clichéd, and utterly predictable.This time around the villains are a bunch of sexy female vampires, who lurk around looking through windows and occasionally transform into ugly old hags (surprisingly efficient make-up effects are utilised here). They also have a couple of male zombies (including one weird alien-looking bald type) to do their bidding, which is mainly kidnapping and strapping prone victims to stone slabs and then draining them of their blood. Unfortunately the viewer must wade through dozens of minutes worth of exposition, badly dubbed dialogue about nothing in particular, some excruciating musical numbers and some minor characters being offed before he gets to the good stuff, which is almost worth waiting for.We first meet Santo about thirty minutes into the picture. Amusingly, our doctor protagonist attempts to call him on one of those flat television screens all Mexicans seemingly have in their homes, only to find that Santo is away at a wrestling match! Later, the vampires send an undercover agent in to attack Santo, and a lengthy match ensues before the bad guy turns into a hairy werewolf and runs amok in the audience. After numerous encounters with the villains, the admittedly strong finale is set in the vampires' crypt, where a devastating ray of sunlight turns most of the bloodsuckers into burning ash, at which point (the coolest moment in the whole film) Santo runs in and finishes off the rest of the evil ones with the help of a fiery torch.Sadly, the film offers little flair or excitement for one's money and the deathly slow pacing never seems to pick up until the very end. On the plus side, the set design is of a good standard, especially with the vampire's crypt which is very atmospheric. Sadly the low budget means that this is the only detailed set in the whole movie, with the rest of the action taking place in parks, wrestling rings, and people's houses. The human characters lack interest and the film spends far too much time concentrating on their activities when a look at the vampires and Santo himself would be far more interesting. As for Santo, he proves to be reliable as ever although his presence is sorely lacking in the opening stages and he needs far more screen time in my humble opinion. As such, this curio is for collectors only, and if you've never heard of Santo my opinion is to not bother.

José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) In a dark mansion deep in the woods, a clan of vampire women awakes of a 200 year slumber to complete a cycle. Thorina (Lorena Velazquez), queen of the vampire women, must find her successor before returning to hell, so she sends Tundra (Ofelia Montesco) to kidnap Diana Orlof (Maria Duval), since she has the mark of the chosen one. Diana's father, the revered Professor Orlof (Augusto Benedico) has been waiting for this moment, and with the aid of his friend, the mysterious Santo (wrestler Santo himself), they will try to stop Thorina's plan.This is the plot of the film considered as the best in the infamous Mexican wrestler sub-genre. "Santo Contra las Mujeres Vampiro" was the forth in Santo's career as an actor, and it sets the basis for his future films as his movies started to move away from the action genre and got closer to the realm of fantasy, horror and science fiction.The wrestling sub-genre was a mixture of action films & superhero comics taking as main characters the famous wrestlers of the time. Santo was without a doubt the most popular of them, so he starred on a long series of films as a mysterious man devoted to justice. While in his earlier films he battled crime lords, soon he started fighting the supernatural creatures (mainly because horror started to be popular), and this film is the perfect example of that.While this movie contains the typical flaws of the early Mexican b-movies (low-budget & cheap effects), it excels in other aspects such as the acting, and specially, in the beautiful Bava-influenced cinematography. The Gothic surreal look the movie has owes a lot to the Universal films of the 30s and the school of Mario Bava ("La Maschera del Demonio" comes to mind). The film has a visual composition that no other Mexican movie could surpass on a very long time.The acting is very good for a movie of its kind, and the script, while very campy, tells a very entertaining story. Ofelia Montesco steals the show, not only with her stunning beauty but also with her powerful presence on screen; a presence only beaten by Santo himself, who with only a few lines but a lot of action demonstrates why he was the best. A word of advice, DO NOT get the dubbed version, since the awful dubbing makes the film a lot cheesier than what it already is.Of course, as I wrote above, the movie's biggest flaw is the poor budget, resulting in very cheap SFX; also, the action scenes are a bit too long. On the top of that, it has dated badly and now it looks very kitsch. However, Santo's charm remains untainted and makes the film a jewel of entertainment.With this film, Santo the wrestler/actor was transformed into Santo, the iconic cult figure; and his film persona grew to mythical proportions. While this is not an award-winning film, it makes an enjoyable experience and the best way to experience the Mexican wrestler sub-genre. 7/10

poe426 I remember watching this one when I was a kid, and covering my eyes whenever things got a little too spooky (only to peek at it from between my fingers, of course). Then there was Mil Mascaras, wrestling on American television, in the mid-70's. Professional wrestlers- in particular, those wearing masks- were the next best thing to superheroes: they displayed the physical prowess of a superhero and, in a series of movies lensed in Mexico, fought every type of monster known (and unknown) to Man. The combination of masked pro wrestlers and monsters was a natural. (And, in fact, childhood memories of El Santo and Mil Mascaras inspired me to create my own pro wrestling superhero, THE AVENGER. I wrote and drew a series of black and white comics featuring The Avenger several years ago, and he even appears on The Homepage Of The Dead website, in my story THE ISLAND OF DR. ROMERO.)SAMSON VS. THE VAMPIRES is as entertaining as they come. Beautiful sets and sustained suspense, solid performances, underrated direction- it's all here for anyone interested in being genuinely entertained. Much has been made of the "cheesiness" of this movie. Is STAR WARS any less "cheesy"? Or the vastly overrated LORD OF THE RINGS? (Or the much-talked-about upcoming HELLBOY movie?) If you like superheroes slugging it out with vampires, this one's for you.

AlbertoAbreu In the late 50's and early 60's Mexican wrestling was flowing with renewed popularity. El Santo, The Man in the Silver Mask, was the most popular wrestler at the time, a true idol of the masses. So somebody at some point decided to make "wrestling movies" transforming popular wrestlers into superheros (after all, they are masked and caped, aren't they?) and pitted them against criminal mobsters, evil scientists and in one occasion, a martian invasion. Of course these movies are on par with the best (and worst) of B movies of the time, but this particular movie is considered an icon, receiving awards in Europe and Asia. Today this movie would only inspire chuckles and outright laughs, but its a nice history lesson of the time when caped and masked men were in the imaginations of millions of Mexican kids.