... aka: Los leprosos y el sexo (Lepers and Sex)
... aka: Santo contre les chevaliers de la terreur (Santo vs. The Knights of Terror)
... aka: Santo in the Riders of Terror
... aka: Santo vs. The Riders of Terror
... aka: Santo vs. The Terror Riders
Directed by:
René Cardona
Putting Mexico's favorite silver-masked wrestling star in one of Mexico's most popular genres at the time is perhaps one of the most no-brainer green light concepts ever, but "Santo in a western" isn't quite as interesting or outrageous as it should have been. After a guard is shot during a botched hold-up, six hideously deformed and highly-contagious lepers escape from their leprosarium and descend upon a small western town. There, they peek in windows, break into homes, steal clothing and food and scare the hell out of the townsfolk just with their general appearance. Sheriff Dario (Armando Silvestre) and Dr. Ramos (Carlos Agostí) try to calm everyone down, instill in them that the lepers mean no harm and dissuade them from harming them, but the locals want blood, especially after learning that everything the lepers have come into contact with must be destroyed or else the contagion will continue to spread. That means burning everything the lepers have come into contact with, including entire homes, which further incenses the locals. Thief Camarino (Julio Aldama), desperate to find the means to "leave this cesspool of a town," decides to use the leper situation to his advantage to go on a robbing and killing spree.
Camarino and his men travel to Devil's Cave, where they find the lepers hiding out. Despite their off-putting appearance, the lepers are actually peaceful and merely want to be left alone so they can die in dignity. However, Camarino ropes them into his scheme with promises of food, booze, jewelry and money in exchange for them helping him pull off their heists. To win over their trust, he promises to bring all of their spoils to the cave and let them guard them before everything is split evenly. In reality, Camarino is planning on keeping it all for himself, making sure the lepers are solely blamed for the crimes and then having them killed or killing them all off himself if need be to cover his tracks.
Carmen (Mary Montiel), Sheriff Dario's girlfriend, and her father are two of the first robbery victims as a masked man enters their home, steals from their safe and shoots the father dead. Needing help, Dario decides to send for (you guessed it!) Santo, whom he lavishes with such OTT praise you'd think he was Jesus Christ himself ("An incredible man, amazing, legendary!") Santo arrives just in time for a charity traveling wrestling show (?!) to be passing through town and jumps in to kick a near-unstoppable brute's ass so he can win money to help save an orphanage run by nuns. Seeing a wrestling mat set up in the middle of an old western town with a cowboy audience is comical enough by itself, but throw in some nuns cheering ("Kill him!") as Santo slaps, punches, kicks and pummels his opponent unconscious just makes it that more hilarious!
Meanwhile, Camarino and his men continue their crime spree, whipping the townsfolk into near mass hysteria in the process and trying to turn everyone against Dario so he'll be fired and replaced. Camarino becomes especially angry after Santo kicks his ass in front of the entire town. After torching a house to distract everyone, the bad guys pull off a bank robbery but are forced to flee after shooting a bunch of townsfolk and have to kidnap Carmen to ensure their getaway. She's taken to the leper cave and tied up as Santo, Dario and others try to locate them. There's also a minor subplot about leper leader Jose (Gregorio Casal), who still pines for his former fiancée Lupe (Ivonne Govea) and goes to visit her so the two can reminisce about the good old days.
Seeing a wrestler in a western setting is, of course, a bit out of the ordinary, but underneath that veneer this is a disappointingly routine western without much to brighten things up. While this is competently made and watchable, and it's nice to see the lepers treated compassionately, there's barely enough plot to keep things going, forcing this into a corner where it has to repeat the robbery-fight-escape formula for most its running time.
Cardona directed quite of few of these Santo adventures, including Santo vs. The Strangler (1965), Santo vs. The Ghost of the Strangler (1966), SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA (1969), Santo vs. Capulina (1969), Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy (1971) and Santo vs. The Headhunters (1971). He also co-wrote this one with (former wrestler) Jesús Murcielago Velázquez. Santo himself was one of the producers and Santo film regulars Nathanael León ('Frankenstein') and Carlos Suárez also appear in small roles.
In an effort to expand the Santo brand name, this one was released theatrically in France, Italy (with the wrestling hero re-branded as Zorro!), Spain and in other countries. In the U. S., a Spanish-language only "sexy" version (which probably had some nude scenes spliced in from time to time) was distributed by Azteca Films, whose new subtitle translates to Lepers and Sex! Knowing the Euro market at the time, their release was probably also this alternate "sexy" cut, though this version doesn't appear to be in existence any longer.
This was first made available to English speaking viewers by Rise Above Entertainment, who offered an English subbed (though not remastered or very high quality) DVD. It's now being distributed by VCI in a restored print that has gorgeous, vibrant colors and new opening credits but a misspelled title screen (Santo Verses [sic] the Riders of Terror)! VCI have also taken it upon themselves to give this a brand new English-language dub, which is awkward, silly and pretty atrocious; something that may very well have been done intentionally to give this a more retro / campy feel. Also worth noting that the VCI release is missing a couple of minutes, including a scene where a screaming saloon girl gets cold cocked with a gun.
★★
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