Santo y Blue Demon contra Dracula y el Hombre Lobo Frank sits on the observation deck of the Connecticut-bound ferry. His 1973 Chevy Impala is stowed (he hopes) safely in the berth below. He sips a lukewarm black coffee from the snack bar and wishes that either A. It wasn’t $1.63 a pop or he’d shell out for another shot, or B. The warm apple pie Portuguese girl shivering next to him would notice his plight and offer him some from her own black and red plaid thermos. Still, he had already disturbed her for a sheet of ruled notebook paper to jot his thoughts down about the shipboard movie: Santo y Blue Demon contra Dracula y el Hombre Lobo (1973). Thankfully, the El Santo series (ca. 1961-1982) featuring the crime-fighting Mexican wrestler and his friends are now available, (along with some new features; the original El Santo passed in 1984) from Rise Above Entertainment. Meanwhile, the Portuguese-girl reads and her tiny little foot in mountain boots occasionally rubs up against his leg like a lost kitten and Frank loves this very much. Santo and Blue Demon, for their parts prefer black beatle boots and colorful sweaters while not in the ring. While Dracula dresses in his familiar perma-eveningware but with kickass sideburns, Rufus the Wolf-man (El Hombre Lobo!) arises from his 400-year slumber ready to do the Hustle in an open-chested gold number with braided leather belt. But! Somebody has broken into a silver Bronco and soon the boat ride will come to an end and Frank isn’t going anywhere except to get out of the city for a moment and Jennifer was in a girl’s home-slash-sanatorium in Nassau County and Iris had hooked up with an acting troupe and peyote ritual circle in Austin and Frank was plugging away at a six hour shift spinning adult contemporary on a low-wattage station in Queens and supplementing his income at the Belmont and in various dog-tracks and Indian casinos. Of course this wasn’t a huge feat. Santo was indebted to maintain his undefeated wrestling career against the likes of Angel Blanco and Renato the Hippie, defend his girlfriend’s (Nubia Marti is lovely despite small pox inoculation scar) family from Dracula and the Wolf-man and still have time to take tag-team partner, Blue Demon, in a no-holds-barrded game round of masked chess. Note, here, that some have complained of the non-seamless insertion of the wrestling bouts into the film, but while clumsy, they are a metaphor (i.e. While Angel/Dracula, Hippie/Wolf-man) for the action of the film.Over-stimulated, Frank is glad when the coffee bean-eyed Portuguese girl puts down her childhood development textbook (Pshaw! Poor Frank! She cannot be but all of 19 or 20.) And totters over to the ladies room to pee. Frank takes a break from both Santo and the various burnouts and gamblers and retirees and WASPy tourists to check out the racing form. There is a chocolate-colored 3-year-old named “Carnivale Season” and this seemed to Frank to be an omen for the first race. Surely he would lose. His heart was breaking already and he chose a firebrand named “Davy Jones’ Locker” in the second race.The Santo Collection, however, is a pure win. Santo y Blue Demon is delightful romp for the hardcore kitsch fan; remember its not only camp, but Mexican camp! Special effects are often silly or poor (watch Dracula appear several feet away from where the rubber bat hangs before the jump cut) and plot points are whimsical (With Santo armed with a magic dagger, Dracula send his henchman after him, for it has no power over mortals---but, dude! Its still a DAGGER!), and the sfx are the same for every hit (kicks sound like wood blocks dropping). Also Santo and Demon sport two-way wrist radios ala Dick Tracy, though they seem to be just regular watches with the wrestlers desperately twisting the winding knobs for use. However, the dialogue is immediately priceless and worth he cost of admission:· Dracula: “Santo is a retrograde man: He still believes in good and justice.”· Blue to Santo: “When you say more than ten words together, I know you are worried.”· Eric the henchman, stabbed by magic dagger: “I’ve committed so many crimes, I’ve ceased to be human!” But, it is good to see the good-guys win after a brave bout with evil. That sure don’t happen in life so much, thinks Frank; the Portuguese girl has returned and he sighs longingly at her now-dozing form and circles “Whiskey Bottle” in the final race.