Luchador films
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Luchador films (or Lucha Libre films) are Mexican
History
One of the most well-known Mexican luchador film stars was El Santo (Rodolfo Guzman Huerta), who starred in 52 films. Luis Enrique Vergara, the producer of the Santo movies and Mil Máscaras films, also created a Blue Demon series, similar to the stories then appearing in the weekly Mexican comic books. Blue Demon starred in 25 Lucha films. Vergara produced and at times wrote the scripts. He would cast beautiful, sensuous and well-built actresses in the movies, such as Altia Michel and Isela Vega as a foil to complement the masculinity of the superheroes.
In 1965, Santo walked out on producer Vergara over a contractual dispute, and Blue Demon suffered injuries and was thus unable to work. Vergara discovered
Lucha films also starred other masked luchadores including
When American producer K. Gordon Murray bought the rights to three of Santo’s lucha libre films, he dubbed them into English for domestic release and changed the name of the wrestling hero to "Samson". The best known luchador film made outside of Mexico is 1962's Santo vs. Las Mujeres Vampiro ("Samson vs. the Vampire Women"), which was featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Las Luchadoras ("The Wrestling Women") appeared in six films, the most famous being The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy (1964) and Doctor of Doom (1962). The popularity of lucha films started to decline by the mid-1970s and essentially came to the end by 1976. However, such films are still being created including the trilogy of Mil Mascaras films beginning with 2007's Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy and followed by Academy of Doom and Aztec Revenge.
See also
- Horror films of Mexico
- El Santo
- Blue Demon
- Mil Mascaras
- The Aztec Mummy