LUCHA LIBRE
Ringing the changes
These three newly restored rarities, all by the same director, showcase different ways the Mexican wrestling film could be hybridised with other genres.
The Panther Women foregrounds gothic horror, as female Satanists vow revenge on descendants of the druid who killed their cult’s warlock founder. A Santo-alike called Angel helps out, but it’s female wrestlers who are the focus. Cat People is in the mix too, as the cultists sprout comical fangs and claws – and spy-fi, via Angel’s radio-watch!
The budget is threadbare (a coffin looks suspiciously plywood), but there’s some attractively shadowy cinematography, and the cult – whose big hair and pencilled eyebrows recall classic soap opera matriarchs – are delightfully camp.
Shot in glorious Eastmancolor, lawyer-baiting hokum The Bat Woman mashes up the Batman TV show with Creature From The Black Lagoon. Maura Monti’s voluptuous crimefighter – resplendent in a costume considerably scantier than Adam West’s – takes on a mad doctor who says things like “Resistance is futile!”. His plan: using pineal fluid drained from wrestlers to create a remote-controlled fish-man.
You have to admire the sheer gall. The underwater photography is impressive, and the wrestling is mercifully minimal. But the endless rounds of capture and escape eventually grow tedious.
Western Santo Vs The Riders Of Terror sees the silver-masked wrestler – a weirdly anachronistic presence – called in by a sheriff after six lepers escape from a hospital. An odd choice, as Santo’s key skill is holding people, but then the real villains are hoodlums manipulating the lepers into carrying out robberies.
It’s very by-the-book (the lead baddie wears a black hat), with the pizza-faced lepers adding a dash of horror – though nobly, Santo’s sympathy for them never wavers.
Extras The Panther Women
has two talking heads. One discusses the wrestlers who were stunt doubles (14 minutes). A second (24 minutes) addresses gender representation – expect phrases like “normative identity”.
The Bat Woman has a new interview with star Maura Monti (18 minutes); a fascinating character, who later opened a cultural centre. Two talking heads place the film in its pop culture context (20 minutes) and explore Mexican precedents for its amphibian monster (14 minutes).
Riders Of Terror presents Lepers And Sex, an export cut which inserts six minutes of gratuitous softcore. In a 2009 interview (12 minutes), the lead recalls that Santo wore a half-mask to dine in the studio restaurant! There’s also a general critical discussion (12 minutes), and a quick canter through the director’s filmography (eight minutes).
All three films come with expert commentaries, galleries, trailers, and 80-page booklets. Ian Berriman
Maura Monti nearly died twice filming The Bat Woman: once when a parachuting scene went wrong, once when diving.
There’s some attractively shadowy cinematography