I've seen quite a few Santo films and was surprised when I saw "El Puño de la Muerte" ("The Fist of Death"). This is because I had no idea he made any films in the early 1980s, as the famous luchador died in 1984 and most of his movies were made in the 60s and 70s. Here, the masked hero is a bit elderly, though of course it's tough to tell with his mask.
Now Santo is NOT the only luchador who made films. He is, however, the most famous and made 52 weird movies. Other luchadores to look for in films are Blue Demon (who also made quite a few with Santo), Mil Mascaras and several others. All of their movies are strange, cheesy and yet mostly enjoyable a kitsch.
The plots of all the Santo films I have seen are simply insane, as Santo battles the likes of mummies, Dracula, Frankenstein, space aliens as well as Neo-Nazis. But the story in "El Puño de la Muerte: might just be the weirdest. It is set in a strange Asian kingdom, strange because no one looks the least bit Asian and everyone is either a Caucasian or Black who speak Spanish.
As the story begins, you can see that there are two twins (both played by the same gorgeous actress), one good and one evil. To make it easier on the viewer, they usually have the evil twin in black and the good in white! Anyway, the good incredibly buxom twin is using some glowing meteorite to heal various illnesses...including blindness. But the other sister is jealous and she has her henchman, the luchador Tinieblas, beat up folks and steal this 'star fragment'. Now with all this power, who knows WHAT she'll do next?!
After the theft, the good buxom twin goes to tell their god (who looks almost exactly like C3PO and the magic mirror from "Snow White" combined) about the evil buxom sister's deeds. Their god informs her that he's sending a hero from the west to help her restore the stolen artifact...and soon the god communicates with Santo telepathically telling him to come to this freaky Asian land.
In the meantime, the jungle goddess (a blonde who was raised by 'wolves' who look amazingly like normal German Shepherds) is supposed to marry. But this cannot happen until the star fragment is returned, as her fiancee is on this quest as well as Santo.
Does any of this sound normal in any way? If so, please consult a doctor immediately!! But, despite being very stupid, it's also so silly and so over-the-top that it sure keeps your attention!! Utterly ridiculous, cheesy and poorly made* but enjoyable trash.
By the way, although IMDB says that the movie was filmed in Mexico, I think at least part of it was filmed at the famous Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida. Note when the evil twin is on her outdoor throne....and it looks exactly like part of this famous tourist destination. Plus there are some American Alligators throughout the film...a reptile not found in Mexico.
*A great example of this is when the evil twin keeps turning herself into various things. At one point, she becomes a cobra. It was so sloppily done that it is night but the video of the cobra was filmed in broad daylight...and in an entirely different location!!
