An ancient tomb is discovered deep in the Mexican jungle and a expedition team is assembled. Professors, overseers, chef, porters, camera girl, secretary, and a masked wrestler. You never know when you might need those luche libra skills, and need them bad. Warning outside the crypt: Do not enter lest the curse --- Of course they enter. Then on the Olmec mummy: Do not touch the sacred necklace or --- They remove the necklace. Deaths follow soon and often, as the mummy proves adept with bow and arrow. Plot races by, and the mummy back story has stock footage of an uncredited Aztec movie. Lengthy wrestling matches in Mexico City Arena bookend the film.

Santo and his tag-team partner win two out of three falls and then it's off to the jungle with a party of scientists in search of an ancient tomb. The local villagers, of course, think that Santo and Company are mucho loco en de cabasas, but that never stopped Santo nor any of his scientist friends before... En route to the aforementioned final resting place, Santo tussles with a (very young) black panther, tossing the child around like a bean bag. They finally find the mummified body of "Nonoc, the great Opache prince," and in a flashback that incorporates a couple of nice stock shots from another movie, we learn of his fate (which parallels that of another Mexican horror star, THE AZTEC MUMMY). Before long, the mummy is wreaking havoc on the group. "Fear is a bitch," the stalwart overseer tells Santo- just before he gets killed. The extended tussle between Santo and the mummy is good and there's a bit of a twist ending. Also notable is the fact that the boy is actually Santo's real-life son. Not bad.

To my mind, prolific but very competent director René Cardona made two minor mistakes with this entry. I found his variation on the zip pan (the camera buzzes into colored beads or baubles) distracting and I thought he gave away the plot far too early (halfway through to be reasonably exact). But it seems I was mistaken in this latter belief for nobody else seems to have noticed the particular close-up concerned (which is held for at least five or six seconds). I've just read a scad of reviews in which all the writers expressed surprise at the way the story is worked out. Presumably, all were too frightened or in such a state of shock, they failed to notice the giveaway details Cardona deliberately chose to reveal in the particular angle he selected for this camera set-up. And I will certainly agree that Cardona does keep the plot moving at such a fast clip that even in possession of the director's giveaway information, you really don't have time to work out the complete aspects of the resolution before it actually happens on the screen.Another thing that didn't grab my wholehearted enthusiasm were the boring wrestling bouts with which the main story was enclosed. Scrupulously choreographed though they were, it's easy to see how punches were pulled by undercranking the camera to speed up the action and then adding a loud soundtrack from the effects library.Once we delved into the story proper, however, my interest perked up considerably. Mind you, despite his silver mask, I found Santo himself to be an indifferent performer. Fortunately, in his capacity as co-producer, he does allow the other players a fair share of the running. The charismatic Eric del Castillo really impresses as the helpful engineer, the two girls are attractive, and (despite criticism from a number of fans) I really enjoyed the comic relief provided by Carlos Ancira as an absent-minded professor.However, to my mind, the player who actually walks away with the picture's acting honors figures right down at the bottom of the official cast list: Amado Zumaya brings a great deal of dignity to the role of the reluctant guide and translator. The scene in which he reads from the scroll is one of the most telling in the whole picture.As usual, production values are top drawer. Carrion's outstandingly atmospheric music score, however, deserves a special commendation.

As far as movies featuring Santo the masked Mexican wrestler/superhero are concerned, I thought this one was fair enough, and it's far from the worst in this very long-running series. Here, a professor enlists the aid of Santo in exploring the ancient tomb of an Indian warrior named Nanoc. What qualifies the world famous champion to join such an expedition makes no sense to me, but we're watching a Santo film, after all, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Santo travels to the jungle (man, doesn't he ever get hot sporting that ever-present mask?), with a small entourage, one of these rocket scientist's being a really irritating "funnyman" scientist who tries without much luck to add comic relief. Once entering the forsaken tomb, all sorts of killings start to occur every now and then by the mummified corpse of Nanoc who's apparently up and alive, shooting a bow and arrow through his victims. The production values for this type of thing aren't too bad, though the ending feels a bit of a letdown. ** out of ****