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Mexico, 200 years ago: European nobleman Baron Brakola (Fernando Osés)
falls in love with local noblewoman Rebeca (Susana Robles), but she
detests him. And since the Baron is rather insistant in trying to get
Rebeca any which way, Rebeca's parents (Miguel Macía, Andrea Palma) hire
the Knight with the Silver Mask, a local hero whom Rebeca immediately
falls in love with. This is all the more reason to get the Knight out of
the way, so he lures him into an ambush ... but the trap springs the wrong
way, and the Knight kills the Baron. But the Baron doesn't die without
cursing the Knight and all his descendants - and since the Baron has some
knowledge of Black Magic, he soon enough returns to life ... as a vampire.
Soon enough, the Baron has vampirized Rebeca and made her his companion,
but the Knight has figured out where hte Baron hides out, and he enters
the place to stake Rebeca - and according to this film, a vampire falls
into a decades-long sleep if his companion is killed. Mexico, now (1965
that is): After a wrestling bout, the night watchman Don Luis (Manuel
Arvide) is attacked by a vampire - Baron Brakola of course - but is saved
by silver-masked wrestler and crimefighter Santo. Don Luis then reveals to
Santo that he is actually a scientist studying the occult, and he is a
descendant of Rebeca's family, while Santo is the last descendant of the
Knight with the Silver Mask - and Baron Brakola wants revenge on both of
them. Somehow, Don Luis thinks they'll be safe as long as Baron Brakola
doesn't learn about the whereabouts of Don Luis's daughter Sylvia
(Mercedes Carreno) - but then Brakola does find out, and he's already
sucking on Sylvia's neck when Santo arrives to chase him away. Santo has
a championship fight, but Brakola replaces his opponent with himself,
wrestles him to a standstill and then tries to suck his blood in the ring.
Fortunately, Don Luis arrrives with a crucifix just in time to chase the
vampire away. Baron Brakola makes another attempt to suck Sylvia's blood
in her sleep, but Don Luis has covered her place in crucifixes by now, and
the vampire is chased back to his lair. From an old scroll though, Santo
has learned about the whereabouts of the vampire's secret hideout - and
after an extended fight, he manages to stake him and rid the world of
Brakola once and for all. As Santo-films go, I'd
rate this one mediocre: On one hand, the whole backstory about Santo's
ancestor is fun, as is the wrestling vampire, on the other though, many
plot devices seem too far fetched to create a coherent story, the whole
thing is a bit on the episodic side, and the finale seriously lacks
tension or suspense. To put it simply, not a trainwreck, but could have
been better.
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