Mexican Masked Wrestler And Monster Filmography

by Robert Michael "Bobb" Cotter

McFarland & Company (series)

Any on-screen schmuck can take down a wolfman with a silver bullet. It takes a certain kind of hero, however, to hoist that wolfman overhead into an airplane spin, follow with a body slam, drop an atomic elbow across his mangy neck, leg-lock him until he howls, and pin his furry back to the mat for a three-count. It takes a Mexican masked wrestler. Add a few half-naked vampire women, Aztec mummies, mad scientists, evil midgets from space, and a goateed Frankenstein monster, and you have just some of the elements of Mexican masked wrestler and monster movies, certainly among the most bizarre, surreal and imaginative films ever produced.

This is a comprehensive filmography (from the 1950s on) arranged by chapters; the roots of the phenomenon, El Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Mascaras, the three most prominent masked wrestlers; and the insane mish-mash of monsters pitted against the heroes. Each chapter includes background information and full casts and credits. A wide assortment of striking illustrations - posters, lobby cards and other graphic material, some better than the movies they advertised - accompany the text.