Dracula: A Love Tale, Night of the Reaper, The Velocipastor, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, and Santo and the Blue Demon vs Dracula and the Wolf Man
That might be the longest title we’ve ever had. We’ll open on the brand-new “Dracula: A Love Tale,” which redoes Dracula yet again. We’ll then go to “Night of the Reaper,” a twisty slasher film. We’ll finally get around to watching “The Velocipastor” from 2018, and then go back in time to “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah” from 1991 and “Santo and the Blue Demon vs Dracula and the Wolf Man” from 1973.The latest issue of “Horror Monthly,” issue #49, is on sale now! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.comMainstream Films:2025 Dracula: A Love Tale* Directed by: Luc Besson* Written by: Luc Besson, Bram Stoker* Stars: Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoe Bleu* Run Time: 2 Hours, 9 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneThis is a big budget production with elaborate costuming, amazing sets, and excellent makeup and special effects. It kept reminding us of 1992’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” but even more so. If you’re a fan of Dracula and vampire movies, you really should check this one out. It’s great.Spoilery SynopsisIt’s 1480 AD, and Vlad and Elisabeta are in love, either that or it’s a teenage slumber party, it looks about the same. Soldiers come to the door and need King Vlad to lead them into battle. He reluctantly gets all armored up and goes with them after getting a blessing from the priest. Vlad makes a deal with the priest to watch over Elisabeta while he’s gone. While he goes off to battle, she’s taken across the country to a safe place, but the party is ambushed.Vlad rushes to the rescue, but she dies in his arms; he is not happy. He goes home and blames the priest. This goes badly for the priest– very badly. Vlad renounces God and bad things happen.Four hundred years later, in Paris, Dr. Dumont welcomes the priest to his church. Dumont has a very strange medical case that he needs help with in his mental asylum. He has a woman, Maria, whom he thinks is possessed. She’s got fangs and glowy eyes. She’s a vampire. She’s the first one taken into captivity, but the priest has seen them before. The doctor finds it all a little hard to believe, but it’s obviously true. The church has been looking for the Master for 400 years. She says the Master is coming to Paris to take a princess soon.We cut to Jonathan Harker, who is visiting Count Dracula’s castle. It’s surprisingly nice inside, and Prince Vlad is looking extremely old– but not monstrous. He has a habit of moving things without using his hands, which Jonathan finds very entertaining thinking it’s magic tricks and not realizing it’s real.The priest goes to see Henry Spencer, Maria’s husband. He goes through the woman’s bedroom looking for clues, like a detective. She has a page torn out of the book that Jonathan is reading back in the castle; it’s a drawing of Princess Elisabeta.Meanwhile, in the castle, Jonathan explores the place and finds Dracula’s tomb. He’s attacked by living gargoyles and hung upside down. Vlad explains himself to Jonathan, and we get a flashback to the rest of his origin story. Vlad’s been waiting for Elisabeta to be reincarnated, and it’s been a hard search. He developed a fragrance into a perfume that made all women love him, as well as some of the men from the look of it. There’s a montage of him combining his mind control with the power of the perfume to make rooms full of people in different eras dance to his tune as he searches for her. That didn’t work out so well for him or the entire court of France. He turned them all into servants and sent them out to look for her. Since then, he’s waited in that castle. Jonathan shows Vlad a picture of his own fiance, Mina, and guess who she looks like?Back in Paris, the priest explains the vampire curse to Dr. Dumont. Dumont’s assistant points out that Mina is in the next room. She’s a friend of Maria, and tells the story of what happened to her. She admits that she’s engaged to Jonathan, but also that she feels like she doesn’t really belong in this time.Meanwhile Dracula gets a bite of food on the road; he drains an entire convent full of nuns. He then travels to Paris, looking much younger now after feasting, and heads straight to the asylum where Maria is held prisoner. He breaks her out and feeds the orderly to her as a reward for her help. The priest and the doctor rush to warn Mina.Along the way, Jonathan makes a difficult escape from the castle.Meanwhile, Maria goes to Mina and says she’s been released from the hospital. They go to a hotel where she meets Dracula. He tags along with them around the carnival like a stalker. It’s all surprisingly romantic, and just maybe it’ll work out for Dracula this time. During their date, she gets repeated flashbacks to her earlier life.When Mina goes home that evening, she finds Jonathan there along with the priest and doctor. The priest explains the facts about Dracula to Mina. Dracula shows up to convince her about his side of the story and about who she really is. She immediately wants him to bite her, and he does.The priest, doctor, and Jonathan go to visit Henry, but Maria has gotten to him first. The group works together to kill Maria, but then they have to go to Transylvania, where the count has taken Mina. They bring the whole army with them, cannons and all.There’s soon an all-out battle between soldiers, gargoyles, and Dracula himself, who’s very efficient at killing soldiers. Soon, it’s just Dracula and the priest, and they talk about motives and philosophy. The priest says Dracula can repent and the curse will end. He needs to let Mina live. There are more troops coming in, and more cannon fire.Mina’s in danger, so Dracula goes to her. He talks about her being free if he dies, as if he knows what’s coming. He goes back out to the priest and surrenders. The priest stakes Dracula, who, after saying how much he loves Mina, turns to dust.Brian’s CommentaryWhat could they have told the Transylvanian army to have them bring cannons to the castle?There’s a lot of borrowing from “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992), and I mean a lot. Even the music seems to steal from that film. I expected to rag on this for being a ripoff, but well, this is actually really good.This one has a lot of intentional humor mixed in, which is probably the best thing about it. I didn’t like the CGI gargoyles at first, but they grew on me. The sets and makeup are impressive. The actors, with the exception of Caleb Landry Jones, are all Europeans, and everyone does the proper accents, unlike the earlier film.This was exceptional, and we’ll certainly be talking about it again in our “Best of the Year” episode in January.Kevin’s CommentaryI too recognized some elements from 1992’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” but this version dials it up to 11. The sets, costumes, and makeup are all very impressive. They don’t shirk at showing the full extent of Dracula’s fighting abilities and powers.I do wonder how the small band of heroes who go to Romania to strike at Dracula when he and Mina get back to his castle persuaded the military to join them in a multi-troop heavily armed assault. “You see, general, he’s a vampire. No really. He is. And we need your help to take him down.”Overall, I’d rank it as one of my favorite Dracula movies. Awesome.2025 Night of the Reaper* Directed by: Brandon Christensen* Written by: Brandon Christensen, Ryan Christensen* Stars: Jessica Clement, Ryan Robbins, Summer H. Howell* Run Time: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneIt’s set in the 1980s so we can have landline phones instead of cell phones and VHS tapes, both necessary for the plot. And they do a good job of capturing the 80s vibe. It hums along with suspense and some mystery for the first 2/3 or so. It’s well made, but we were both very disappointed with the final act.Spoilery SynopsisA little boy tells the babysitter about the “Skin Eater” that lives in his closet. As the babysitter leaves them alone, we soon see that this couldn’t be more 80s if it tried, and it’s trying hard at least until the parents open the garage door to come home. No, that’s not them, the door just opened on its own. She goes outside to smoke and finds a dead dog in the street. When she goes inside, she finds a note: “Your pretty.” She assumes it’s the kids, but the strangeness continues. When she finds out it’s not the kids, it’s too late for her. The TV comes on, and a man in a cultist’s hood and skull mask is on there. We also see the same man grab her from behind… Credits roll as the grainy VHS-ish footage continues.Deena has come back to town and she talks to Chad and Willis. She’s decided on Criminology for her major. Deena goes to see her hyper friend Haddie, but she hasn’t gone to see her parents yet. Haddie babysits for Sheriff Rodney’s kids, and she’s hoping he’ll marry her eventually.Sheriff Rodney finds a package outside his door that’s got no label on it. Inside, he finds a garage door opener, which upsets him. He and the deputy test the opener on the house where the pre-credit murders happened, and it’s the same one that opened their garage door.Deena goes home to her parents and talks to them, but her father doesn’t respond to her at all. Haddie calls and says she’s sick, so could Deena do her babysitting gig tonight?Sheriff Rodney gets a videotape in a box at the office, and it shows a camper being killed by the same guy who did the babysitter. The sheriff says Connor Davis died in the woods two years ago, but it was assumed to be an accident. He and Deputy Butch find Officer Liz on the road burying a dead dog. The two men drive on to where Connor’s body was found years ago. They find another box there. This box has a videotape showing Emily the babysitter’s death. Also in the video is Chad’s van, which shouldn’t be there.Deena arrives at the sheriff’s house and talks to Max, his son. He shows her all around the house except for the basement, where they never go. Naturally, she wants to go down there and look around. She pays for that with a jump scare. Abby, the sheriff’s wife, died in a car crash not long ago.The police bring in Chad, who’s a video nerd who always carries his camera with him. They watch the tape on his camera, but it’s nothing. They’ve got nothing connecting him to the murders, so they have to let him go.Deena gets a call from the sheriff; just checking in. She’s seen someone weird outside, but she’s not too worried. She and Max watch horror movies after that. She hears a dog yelping in pain outside and goes out to investigate. When she finds it dead, she runs back inside.The sheriff checks out Willis’s house, since he was on Chad’s tape as well. He finds another videotape there, labeled “Night of the Reaper.” Willis walks in, and he arrests him on the spot.Deena calls Haddie, who has someone ringing her doorbell and can’t talk. Deena walks through the house jumping at every sound. She finds some objects in the house that indicate she’s not there alone anymore.The sheriff locks himself in his office and watches Willis’s tape. This one shows the murder of the sheriff’s wife, which he thought was an accident. If he was upset before, he’s way over the top now. He points a gun at Willis, who says he was told to give the tape to the sheriff. Before he can get any more answers, the police station gets a 911 call from a girl. All the cops hurry over there. We see that it’s really a distraction at the local drug store.We watch through the video camera as the Reaper menaces sleeping Max in his bedroom. Then we see Deena use a Taser on the Reaper.We get a flashback montage that explains what all has been going on tonight. It turns out that everything has been some kind of really elaborate set-up by Deena to capture Liz the forestry agent (whom we’ve only seen twice), who is the real killer [I think. This is really confusing].Deena and Liz play hide-and-seek in the sheriff’s big house. Outside, Liz finds a whole forest full of masked figures that look like the Reaper. Deena uses the distraction to shoot Liz in the leg. “You murdered my sister. You destroyed my family!” shouts Deena. She was Emily’s sister. Just then, Chad shows up and knocks out Deena– he really was involved in all this!Deena wakes up and admits that she followed Liz after Emily’s funeral. For a motive, Liz says, “Why not?” Liz and Chad explain it all, more or less. Suddenly, Chad’s head explodes when he keys up a walkie talkie that Deena had already rigged up.Liz forces Deena to watch her sister’s death on the videotape. Liz stabs Deena in the leg in the same way she did Emily. Suddenly, the sheriff shows up and shoots Liz. Liz tries to make excuses, but the sheriff doesn’t believe them and shoots her again. Deena admits she sent the tapes to the sheriff to set all this up.The sheriff promises to hide the body.Brian’s CommentarySo many horror films are starting to do the 80s retro thing that it’s beginning to get tiring. This one needs it for the videotapes and lack of cell phones.Whatever the Hell happened at the 70-minute mark was the most incredibly confusing “twist” I’ve ever seen. I was lost for a good ten minutes until they explained everything. Even then, it didn’t make much sense. When did Deena have time to do all this? Why was she running all over the house being afraid? Why did they hide Liz’s body, when there was plenty of evidence against her?This was really good for the first hour, and then it went straight to garbageville with the final third. This is really dumb.Kevin’s CommentaryWhen Liz was revealed to be the killer and Deena set this night up to capture and punish her, I said, “Wut?” It’s a confusing and unexpected twist, but at least it is somewhat explained. But wait, there’s another twist that Chad was teamed up with Liz all this time, and Deena didn’t know about that.It did take an unexpected turn in the final third, but I can’t say I’m pleased with it. It was too abrupt and contrived.2018 The Velocipastor* Directed by: Brendan Steere* Written by: Brendan Steere* Stars: Greg Cohan, George Schewnzer, Janice Young* Run Time: 1 Hour, 15 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneWe’re just going to quote IMDB.com for the description because we can’t top that - “After losing his parents, a priest travels to China, where he inherits a mysterious ability that allows him to turn into a dinosaur. At first horrified by this new power, a hooker convinces him to use it to fight crime. And ninjas.” They make the most of a low budget, embracing the silliness and fun. It’s well put together - for what it is - and very entertaining.Spoilery SynopsisPastor Doug Jones gives a sermon at church. He goes outside, where his parents are waiting for him, but suddenly, their car explodes (with completely missing special effects). “Your parents died, Doug, that’s what parents do,” consoles Father Stewart. Doug’s starting to question his faith, so he decides to do some traveling. Credits roll.Doug goes to China. As he walks through the woods, a Chinese girl runs from a hunter who shoots her with an arrow. The dying woman hands Doug some kind of Claw. “Dragon Warrior” is all she says that we understand. Somehow, Doug gets cut by the claw and everything changes.Back at Doug’s church, he’s now having nightmares. Stewart doesn’t think much about it. As he staggers outside, he passes Carol, a prostitute, getting yelled at by her pimp.Night falls, and Doug looks at the full moon. He’s in a lot of pain, but then he roars and his eyes change. He’s in the same park when Carol is working, and kills the man who is robbing her. Except he’s not Doug anymore, he’s a vicious dinosaur.Doug wakes up in the morning in bed with Carol. She says “Last night was amazing.” He thinks they had sex, but she clears that right up. He had no idea he turned into a dinosaur and ate someone. He doesn’t believe dinosaurs ever even really existed. All she has for him to wear is a skimpy little dress, but she takes him out to see the robber’s body.He’s upset, but she says this could be a great thing. He could be like a religious superhero, killing all the bad. He runs off, in the mini-dress, to take confessions. The confessor is Carol’s pimp, and he’s not a nice guy. It’s quite a confession, and he admits to bombing Doug’s parents’ car. Doug starts twitching and changes right there in the confessional. The pimp doesn’t live long.Doug goes back to Carol for advice on what she suggested earlier. He needs rules, but he says it felt good killing the murderer. We cut to an exercise montage as Doug toughens up. Doug-o-saur starts eating bad people, and Doug starts getting closer to Carol.Meanwhile, a group of Chinese hunters are in town looking for the “Dragon Warrior.” This group also deals in drugs and laughs evilly. Father Stewart spots Doug and Carol together and doesn’t like it.Doug and Stewart talk about Doug’s changes. Does God really want all these people dead? Doug thinks he does, and his parental-flashback proves it. Father Stewart takes Doug to Altair, a man who– flashback to the Vietnam War, where Stewart, Ali, and the squad talk about the future. We see that Stewart had a girlfriend and everything, but that didn’t work out so well. Anyway, Altair does a ritual for Doug, who gets all dino-y and pulls out Stewart’s eyeball.Out in the woods, the ninjas catch up with Doug. We get a flashback from one of the ninjas. They close in on Doug, who makes short work of the ninjas.Doug goes to Carol for help, which leads to a sex montage. In the morning, three more ninjas show up at Carol’s apartment, and they fight together.The old Chinese master, Wei Chan, has taken Stewart prisoner. He explains that he smuggles drugs for God; the addicts will have nowhere to go but the church. When confronted, Stewart calls Wei Chan an infidel, but is then killed.Doug knows where Wei Chan is, and he goes there to battle. We see that Wei Chan’s number two man is Sam, Doug’s completely ignored and forgotten brother. Carol beats up most of the ninjas while Doug and Sam go one-on-one.Carol is hurt, but still manages to give Doug a pep talk before dying. Doug then turns into a dinosaur and tears up all the ninjas.Suddenly, Wei Chan shoots the dinosaur with an arrow, and Doug turns human. Doug’s still got dinosaur hands, however, and he uses it to rip off the old man’s head.Doug takes Carol to a surgeon who saves her. Doug quits the church and decides to travel the world fighting evil.Brian’s CommentaryThe special effects, when there are actual special effects, are probably the worst I’ve ever seen, which are hilarious in themselves. The whole thing is clearly intentionally goofy, from the concept right down to the acting and dialogue. The story itself is straightforward and easy to follow, and, although silly, makes perfect sense.It’s stupidly good.Kevin’s CommentaryWhen we saw the car explosion effect, I knew we were in for something special, and I was right. I kept waiting to see what silliness would appear to us next. That beheading scene near the end though, was really hilarious. It’s not a classic of cinema, but it’s a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it.1991 Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah* Directed by: Kazuki Omori, Koji Hashimoto* Written by: Kazuki Omori* Stars: Kosuke Toyohara, Anna Nakagawa, Megumi Odaka* Run Time: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes* Trailer: Spoiler-Free Judgment ZoneIt starts out with a deep-water submarine discovering the body of King Ghidorah. Then a flying saucer appears in the sky over Japan. Things build from there with time travel back to the 1940s, and the origin of Godzilla, and of course a giant creature battle. It’s a big story this time, and on the silly side, but pretty entertaining overall.Spoilery SynopsisIt’s 2205 AD, and a submarine searches the ocean floor. They find what looks like a dinosaur head. And then they find another. Yes, they’ve located King Ghidorah, who used to have three heads but now has two. Credits Roll.In 1992 AD, we see a flying saucer above Japan. It’s a full-on mass UFO sighting. Kenichiro works for the “Super Mystery Magazine” and doesn’t want to write about silly UFO stories. Elsewhere, an old man rants that the dinosaurs will one day return to save us all from disasters. Then he’s arrested. He claims a dinosaur protected him and his squad in WWII. There’s no record of the encounter, no one would have believed him.Experts discuss the UFO and have no explanation other than it’s from space. Miki, from the previous film, gives a briefing about the previous film. The UFO went straight to the point where Godzilla is buried, so that can’t be good.Elsewhere, Professor Mazaki has read the story about WWII and believes it. He thinks dinosaurs are still alive today. Kenichiro thinks that the dinosaur from the story was hit by radioactivity in the atomic tests at the end of the war and mutated into Godzilla.Businessman Shindo was also on the island in WWII, and now he owns Dinosaur World - a museum and tourist attraction. Kenichiro goes to interview him, but Shindo clearly doesn’t want to talk about that. He explains his theory about Godzilla, that he used to be a dinosaur mutated by radiation.Meanwhile, the UFO has landed, and Japan sends all its tanks to deal with it. Three people “beam down” from the ship, Wilson, Glenchicki, and Emmy admit that they are just holographic projections, while they are physically still in the ship. They say they’re from 2204 and have come back to talk to the Prime Minister. They are here to warn us about a coming catastrophe. Nuclear pollution will destroy Japan, and Godzilla will cause it.Kenichiro is called to the Prime Minister’s office along with Professor Mazaki. They are shown the book that Kenichiro is going to write in the future. The time travelers plan to go back to 1944 and change what happened. Kenichiro, Mazaki, and Miki will be going along. Emmy and Android M-11 will also be going along. They all discuss time travel. Emmy introduces the modern people to her Dorats, little genetically created pets.They “do the time warp” and go to 1944 Lagos. The Americans are shelling the island, and there’s soon a land battle. Then, the dinosaur shows up; it’s a T-Rex, and he soon drives off the Americans. Wounded, it stomps off back into the jungle and collapses. The Japanese soldiers apologize to the big monster and ask him for forgiveness.The time travelers teleport the dinosaur to a place beneath the ocean. Emmy releases her three dorats before leaving, and lies about it to the others. Godzilla is gone from history forever– except now King Ghidorah has taken his place. The dorats were exposed to the radiation that once created Godzilla and they mutated instead. It was created by the future people on purpose.We see the future people, who can control the three-headed monster. They want to destroy all of Japan except for Tokyo and then rebuild it. Emmy is angry; she was tricked into causing all this.Ghidorah flies over Kyushu with his three lightning-shooting heads. Emmy drops in on Kenichiro and offers him help. She says they lied about Japan’s fate; Japan became super prosperous and became bigger than any other country; that’s why some people want to destroy it before all that can happen. She makes it clear she’s not on the side of Wilson and Glenchicki.The modern Japanese have a secret nuclear submarine, and they plan to irradiate that old dinosaur on the ocean floor. Miki, on the other hand, can still sense Godzilla, even though he’s not supposed to exist anymore. Maybe he found some nuclear waste or something.M-11 is still on the case, and he tries to kidnap the heroes. He succeeds and takes Emmy back to the ship. She later reprograms the robot to assist her.Meanwhile, Godzilla eats that nuclear sub. Somehow, Godzilla has returned.Also meanwhile, jet fighters harass King Ghidorah. Godzilla reaches land, and he’s even bigger than he was before– this time, he was made by modern, more efficient nuclear energy. The future men send Ghidorah to kill Godzilla. Shindo says, “Our savior has come back again. He’ll protect us like he did before.”The battle begins. Godzilla loses the battle pretty clearly, but then Kenichiro, Emma, and M-11 sabotage something on the timeship, and they lose control of their monster. He’s not as smart now, which gives the “new” Godzilla more of a chance. Godzilla uses his heat ray to burn off one of Ghidorah’s heads.While the monsters fight, M-11, Emmy, and Kenichiro fight to get off the timeship before it can return to the future. They use the teleportation device in the smaller ship to send the main ship right into the middle of the battle. Godzilla takes a moment to kill them all before fatally blasting King Ghidorah.Godzilla is now in Japan with nothing holding him back. He’s going to attack Tokyo, and it will go like the future people said it would. The human soldiers are no match at all for Godzilla. They wonder if Emmy could go back to the future, revive the dead Ghidorah, and then bring him back to defeat Godzilla again. Emmy and M-11 go back to the future.In 2204, we see that sub from earlier, and characters we know are aboard. Ghidorah’s heart is still beating… Can they revive him and make him a cyborg? No problem.Mr. Shindo is in Tokyo, which is being attacked. He finds that all pretty ironic. They come face-to-face out the tower window, and Godzilla remembers him– before blasting him to dust. As he continues to rampage, the sky opens and Ghidorah shows up from the future with a new, robotic third head and heavy armor. Emmy is literally inside him controlling him with a joystick. She blasts Godzilla, and there is another epic battle with lots of collateral damage.Emmy mentions that Kenichiro is actually one of her ancestors, and she needs to go back to her time. Down at the bottom of the ocean, we see that Godzilla still isn’t dead.Brian’s CommentaryI like this is maybe the first time that Godzilla really had an origin story that more or less makes sense. At least it starts that way, but with the time travel, it’s a little sketchy. As always, the special effects are slightly improved from the previous film. The character Miki makes another appearance, but she’s the only one.With time travel, androids, and beams of all kinds, this one is way more sci-fi than most. It’s pretty decent.Kevin’s CommentaryOnce again, there is an especially cool poster.I want to have a Dorat for a pet.It was pretty obvious that the time travellers were going to be nefarious, it just took a while to see how that was going to happen. Pretty cool story, if a bit on the silly side. And the science is… a stretch to say the least. But I thought it was entertaining. It’s another good episode in the series.1973 Santo and the Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man* Directed by Miguel M. Delgado* Written by Alfredo Salazar* Stars Santo, Alejandro Moreno, Aldo Monti* Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes* Trailer: SynopsisWe begin with a wrestling match between Santo and the White Angel. Santo wins the first fall. The Angel wins the second.Meanwhile, we cut to a crypt. A man prays to Satan, talking about how there have been seven eclipses since the magician Cristaldi killed Count Dracula and the werewolf. Tonight, the blood of another Cristaldi will spill.We see Professor Luis Cristaldi with his family; daughter Laura and a granddaughter. They talk about the wrestling match and wonder how it ended. Of course, Santo has won the third fall and the match. As Santo goes back to the dressing room, he’s told that his girlfriend Lina’s uncle has something important to tell him. They go to see Professor Cristaldi.He has gotten a note saying it’s time for him and his entire family to pay their debt. “The power of the avengers reaches everywhere.” Both Santo and Laura think it’s just a tasteless joke, but the old man thinks otherwise. He reads from a book about Count Dracula making an alliance with the king of the werewolves to dominate humanity. Their ancestor, Eric Cristaldi, found out about the plan and stopped it, killing Dracula and the werewolf with a magic dagger. Dracula swore to return, and all signs point to it happening now. Crisaldi is a scientist, but since there are things that science cannot explain, he believes all this. He even has the dagger. He’s old, so he doesn’t fear for himself, but he is worried about his daughter, granddaughter, and niece. Santo promises to protect them.Eric, the Satan-worshiper, goes to talk to his gang and while there, grabs a bottle of chloroform. Old Man Cristaldi gets ready for bed and the Satanist jumps out of the closet and abducts him. The man plans to sacrifice the professor to revive the monsters. He hoists Cristaldo above Dracula’s coffin and bleeds him dry in a scene much much like “Dracula Prince of Darkness(https://www.horrorguys.com/dracula-prince-of-darkness-1966-review/) (1968).” The blood reanimates Dracula’s skeleton and soon, Drac’s back, fully dressed in formal attire. The werewolf king, Rufus, also awakens. Their first order of business is to change humans into vampires and werewolves to create an army. They soon have a whole bunch of people chained in the dungeon for conversion.Cristaldi’s family goes to the police to report him as missing, but they don’t seem too concerned so soon. Elsewhere, the sun has come up, so Dracula has gone to sleep and the werewolf has become human. Eric wakes up Rufus and takes him to an apartment in the city.Santo can’t defeat the curse alone, so he plans to bring in “A faithful and courageous friend, a formidable ally who can be of great help to us.” We cut to Blue Demon in a wrestling match, and he wins too! Later, Laura is attacked on the road, and a man comes to her rescue– we see that it’s Rufus Rex, and now he plans to seduce her as her hero. “She will fall in love with me, and I will sacrifice her on the next lunar cycle,” he tells Dracula the next night. As planned, she does fall for him.Dracula goes to the Cristaldi house and goes into the little girl’s bedroom as she sleeps. He spots the dagger that the old man left on the nightstand and backs off in terror. The Blue Demon follows Rufus to a meeting with Eric and listens in on their conversation– except they see him and say things to make Rufus look like a good guy and imply that Eric has Professor Cristaldi as a prisoner. Blue Demon is completely fooled.Eric then leads the fighters into a trap, but none of them realize that Lina has hidden in the back seat and gone along behind them. Inside, the armed gang pull their guns. The leader of the gang has had run-ins with Santo before, so it’ll look natural if he’s the one to kill the wrestlers. The bad guys are just about to de-mask the heroes when Lina runs a forklift through the wall, giving the men the distraction they need to defeat the mobsters. Rufus and Eric debate over how to proceed with killing the wrestlers.Laura’s new boyfriend (Rufus) tells Santo that he paid Eric to reveal the location of the missing Professor. He shows them on a map where to go. Blue Demon says it looks like another ambush, but they do see the professor in the window as promised. Zombified Cristaldi and Eric knock out Santo, who is soon rescued by Blue Demon. Elsewhere, it’s a full moon, and the werewolf abducts Laura.Dracula, on the other hand, only has eyes for Lina. He uses his hypnosis to lure her outside, but Santo finds her before he can bite her. One of the minion-vampires bites their maid. Dracula calls Lina through their psychic link, and Blue Demon follows her out as Santo reads in the library. Dracula then orders Josefina, the maid, to kidnap little Rosita, the granddaughter. Demon is captured. Santo goes outside and finds the gardener, who explains what has transpired while Santos was reading the lore.Dracula now has Lina and little Rosita right where he wants them. Laura and the old Professor are undead under Dracula’s control. Dracula orders the still-human Eric to deal with Santo and the magic dagger. Eric does manage to knock Santo out and get the dagger, but before he can kill Santos, he decides to demand a fortune from Lina. Turns out that Eric was so evil that the dagger turns on Eric and stabs him all by itself.Rufus punishes one of his own misbehaving werewolf minions by making him walk across a plank suspended above a bunch of wooden stakes. It ends badly for the minion. Dracula then forces Blue Demon to do the same thing, but Santo arrives in time to help him. Santo and the Blue Demon fight a whole pack of werewolves, as Rosita crosses the plank on her own. Lina takes the girl away, and now it’s time for a “boss fight.”Rufus Rex fights Blue Demon. Rufus starts to lose, so he wolfs-up and continues the battle as the werewolf. Dracula and the Werewolf close in on Santo, who swings on a rope and kicks them both into the pit of stakes, killing them both. All the minions turn to dust.Later, back at the house, Santo and the Blue Demon check in on Lina and Rosita, who are fine. The two men have to rest because they both have fights tomorrow.We then get another wrestling match where the two men tag-team against their rivals in the ring. Guess who wins?CommentaryThe wrestling matches are very obviously done on a set with no real audience or spectators, but we can hear cheering and the announcers talking about the fans, so it’s supposed to be a crowded auditorium. All three matches shown are clearly staged for the film, but they go on for a really long time, as if we are supposed to believe they’re real matches. They go on a bit too long for my taste, especially since you know how they’re going to turn out. This is especially true for the final match at the end, which had no connection to the story and only served to drag the run time out for another ten minutes.I couldn’t help but notice that Agustin Martinez Solares, who plays Rufus Rex, bears a striking resemblance to Paul Naschy from that other series of Spanish-language werewolf films that were popular around the same time. Still, those other films are from Spain, and this was clearly Mexican, so it may or may not have been a coincidence.It still has luchadores in full-head masks as the heroes, but this is a much more entertaining film than the previous one (“Santo and the Blue Demon Vs. The Monsters.”) The creature effects and masks are better than before, and this time, the monsters actually have plans and powers, and are not just an ugly bunch of fighters. Dracula uses his hypnosis, turns into a bat, and other things, while the werewolf does werewolf things. The plot makes sense, and most of the characters act within the context of the situation.The cinematography, soundtrack, and pacing are all quite good for a low-ish budget Mexican film. To me, it gave off a lot of the same vibes as the 1960’s Batman series, which, I suspect, is what they were going for. I mean, it’s still ridiculous and campy, but that’s not a bug, it’s a feature.Contact Info:Email: mailto:
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