Enter Santo: The First Adventures of the Silver-Masked Man: Limited edition - Indicator Series (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Mexico/Cuba, 1961 (Santo vs. Evil Brain, Santo vs. Infernal Men)
Director: Joselito Rodríguez (Both Films)
Cast: Santo, Joaquín Cordero, Norma Suárez, Enrique Zambrano, Alberto Insua (Santo vs. Evil Brain), Santo, Joaquín Cordero, Gina Romand, Jorge Marx, Fernando Osés, Enrique Zambrano (Santo vs. Infernal Men)

Release Date: February 13th, 2023 (UK), February 14th, 2023 (USA)
Approximate running times: 72 Minutes 38 Seconds (Santo vs. Evil Brain), 76 Minutes 12 Seconds (Santo vs. Infernal Men)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Films)
Rating: 12 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: LPCM Mono Spanish (Both Films)
Subtitles: English (Both Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK), $49.99 (USA)

"In Santo vs. Evil Brain (Santo contra cerebro del mal), the dastardly Doctor Campos is kidnapping and brainwashing scientists. When undercover detective Santo falls prey to Campos’ scheme, Lieutenant Zambrano (Enrique Zambrano) and El Incognito (Fernando Osés) must come to his assistance to foil Campos’ plans. Meanwhile, in the same year’s Santo vs. Infernal Men (Santo contra hombres infernales), the trio of Santo, El Incognito, and Zambrano team up once again to fight a band of drug smugglers." – Synopsis provided by the Distributor

Video: 4.25/5 (Santo vs. Evil Brain, Santo vs. Infernal Men)

Here’s the information given about the transfer, "4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negatives."

Santo vs. Evil Brain comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.9 GB

Feature: 20.8 GB

Santo vs. Infernal Men comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 37.2 GB

Feature: 21.8 GB

The transfers for both films are in great shape; any source-related blemishes are minor. Image clarity, gray levels, and black levels are strong. Also, compression is solid and grain remains intact, albeit thicker in some scenes.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Spanish - Santo vs. Evil Brain, LPCM Mono Spanish - Santo vs. Infernal Men)

Each film comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Spanish, and removable English subtitles for both films. Both audio tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced. Also, range-wise ambient sounds are well-represented.

Extras:

Extras on the Blu-ray disc with Santo vs. Evil Brain includes a featurette about Santo vs. Evil Brain, and Santo vs. Infernal Men titled Looking for El Santo (30 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with actor Joaquín Cordero titled A League of Gentlemen (11 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), and a featurette about the luchador film genre titled Mascára vs. mascara (11 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles).

Extras on the Blu-ray disc with Santo vs. Infernal Men include a documentary by Viviana García Besné, granddaughter of Jorge García Besné and Mate Calderón, exploring her family’s major contribution to Mexican cinema, including initiating the Santo series titled Perdida (95 minutes 45 seconds, LPCM stereo Spanish with non-removable English subtitles), and Perdida image galleries: The Calderons: A Family Business (42 images), Azteca Studios: Behind The Scenes (57 images), and The Alcazar Cinema Chain (85 images). 

Other extras include reversible cover art with Santo vs. Evil Brain on one side and Santo vs. Infernal Men on the other, as well as a double-sided poster, and a   Eighty page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled The cinematic El Santo was born in Havana. written by Luciano Castillo, an archival newspaper article on Mexican wrestling titled Rasslers are new matinée idols for Mexico City’s red-hot fans written by Virginia Snow, an essay titled The Legend of the Mask written by Christian Cymet, an extract from Carlos Monsiváis’ The Rituals of Chaos titled El Santo: Being Yourself by Being Someone Else, an extract from Jimmy Pantera’s Los tigres del ring titled Las Historietas De Ediciones Jose G Cruz, an archival interview with Griselda Cruz titled Santo Versus the Brain of Photomontage, cast & crew information for Perdida, an essay about Perdida titled Cinema Bizarre written by Michael Donnelly, an archival interview with Viviana García Besné and Alistair Tremps titled Perdida: An Interview with the Filmmakers, and information about the restorations.

Summary:

Santo vs. Evil Brain was shot back-to-back with Santo vs. Infernal Men in Cuba in 1958 (both films would not be released until 1961). These two films mark the beginning of the adventure of a character named Santo. In all, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, aka Santo, would star in fifty-three Santo films.

Santo vs. Evil Brain and Santo vs. Infernal Men feature a similar narrative. In both films, an undercover agent who wears a silver mask takes on an evil doctor who invented a brainwashing drug and drug smugglers.

Though there are a lot of similarities between Santo vs. Evil Brain and Santo vs. Infernal Men, Tone-wise, the two films could not be further apart. Santo vs. Evil Brain is a campy film that does a great job blending action and fantasy elements, while Santo vs. Infernal Men is more of a pedestrian detective story.

The main attraction of both films is Santo, a mask-wearing crime fighter whose connection to law enforcement is never fully fleshed out. Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta’s portrayal of Santo is primarily physical. Santo is a man of few words. Most of Santo’s screen time is spent showing off his wrestling moves as he disposes of bad guys. The rest of the performances are best described as melodramatic.

Both films feature strong cinematography that takes advantage of Cuba’s landscapes. These films also provide a time capsule look at Cuba pre-Castro. Santo vs. Evil Brain has a briskly paced narrative, while Santo vs. Infernal Men’s narrative has too many drawn-out mundane moments. Another weakness of Santo vs. Infernal Men is its padding of the narrative with footage from Santo vs. Evil Brain. Though Santo vs. Evil Brain is clearly the stronger of these two films, both are must-sees if you're a fan of Santo or lucha libre films.

Powerhouse Films gives Enter Santo: The First Adventures of the Silver-Masked Man is a solid release as part of their Indicator Series, highly recommended.

Note: Limited edition of 6,000 numbered units for the UK and US.

Written by Michael Den Boer