Frankly, I'm not much of a Santo fan, but I watched "Santo y Blue Demon contra el Dr Frankenstein" (1974) mainly to catch the lovely Angelica Chain in her movie debut. She looks great too, and even though her role is not large, she does dominate a couple of scenes. Frankly, I found the well-rehearsed wrestling matches rather boring. In real life main events, something unexpected happens maybe once or twice, when one of the combatants muffs his cue, but that doesn't happen in the movies where even the ringside commentator is obviously reading from a pre-written script. One droll development for the movie-makers, however, was the way preview audience's enjoyed Agustin Meza de la Pena's performance as Professor Ruiz. Actually de la Pena (here making his on-camera debut) was the film's production manager who stepped into the role at short notice and there are actually a few inside jokes at his expense. In the original script, Ruiz was Frankenstein sans drugs, and at the climax the good doctor changed back into his real Ruiz self. This ploy outraged preview audiences who'd grown to love the vague, bumbling professor so the transformation now ends with an abrupt cut before Ruiz can actually be recognized. (The Rise Above DVD rates 10/10).

A woman is kidnapped and her brain is switched with another woman. When the operation goes wrong the mad doctor (Irwin Franenstien, grandson of the original doctor) sends the dead woman home as walking dead who kill the people at their homes. The police are baffled. The doctor sends his men out to get Santo so he can transplant his brain into a hulking monster. Some how this will help him revive his wife who was stricken with brain cancer 80 years earlier and create an army of super men to rule the world.Oddly polished and artificial this film seems more intent on looking good and flashy rather than having an exciting plot. There are lots of polished sets that seem to be aping the James Bond super villain lairs. There's way too much talk and very little action---almost none of it any good.half way in I was completely bored- which almost never happens with similar films. They may be bad, but never boring.This is boring and only occasionally springs to life in a moment here and there.

While it's far from the worst of the movies the two luchadores co-starred in, SANTO AND BLUE DEMON VS. DR. FRANKENSTEIN may very well have been one of the most disappointing. The potential for a true classic of the genre was there; all the ingredients but one: a decent script (the downfall of far too many of these movies). Santo and/or Blue Demon grappling with Frankenstein's monster- what fan wouldn't want to see THAT...? Unfortunately, grappling (of any kind, with anyone) is kept to a minimum here and the Herculean black Golem simply lumbers around looking big and menacing. If any of the Santo/Blue Demon movies deserves to be remade, it's this one- hands down.

'Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dr. Frankenstein' is one of the most enjoyable entries in the utterly bizarre Santo series. For those who don't know Santo is a Mexican silver masked wrestler cum crime fighter. He and his long time pal Blue Demon (Alejandro Cruz) are recruited by the local police to help in a perplexing investigation into a series of unusual murders. The evil genius behind them is none other than Dr. Frankenstein's grandson Irwin (Jorge Russek). The cigar chewing Irwin is experimenting with brain transplants and plans on creating a private army of radio controlled zombies and barks things like "We're beginning to lack fluid. Raise the charge of the transistors in the cerebellum to the max" and "They are wondering what I want to accomplish? If they knew they would pee their pants!". Santo and Blue Demon's bacteriologist lady friend Alicia (Sasha Montenegro) is kidnapped by Frankenstein's cronies in an attempt to resurrect his dead wife... or something like that. Believe me, it all makes some kind of sense when you're watching it. As usual in Santo movies there are a few wrestling matches, one of which is against Golem, an African zombie giant enslaved by Frankenstein who fights under the secret identity Mortis (with a mask - naturally!). My favourite bit in the movie apart from the Golem/Mortis scenes is a flash of a newspaper headline - "FOUR POLICEMEN TORN TO PIECES BY A STRANGE INDIVIDUAL. ONE OF THEM LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED". The Santo movies are pure entertainment, and if you haven't seen any, you're really missing out on something special!