# Mexican Wrestler movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wrestler-movies/15054 "2000-03-22T20:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wrestler-movies/15054/1 "2000-03-22T20:32:00Z")
Recently for a computer animation class I did a goofy little cartoon parody of those 1950’s mexican wrestler movies (El Santo, Sampson, etc.), complete with grainy black and white film effect and poor lip synch (sound editings a breeze when the voices and mouth movements are not SUPPOSED to match!). As an insomniac from an early age I use to see these crummy flicks on the late, late show. Well, the cartoon went over well with both the teacher and the class, but nobody had any idea what a mexican wrestler movie was! Attempts to explain them met with blank stares and intermittant drooling. Am I the only person who remembers these? I honestly thought everybody would know what I was poking fun at. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2000, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wrestler-movies/15054/2 "2000-03-22T21:02:00Z")
Sad news—the guy who played Sampson in “Sampson vs. the Vampire Women” (as seen on MST3K) died a couple of months ago. Get “Classic Images”—best obits you’ll find! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2000, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wrestler-movies/15054/3 "2000-03-22T21:15:00Z")
I own a copy of “Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy,” but I don’t have any of the “El Santo” movies. Off-topic, but along the subject, my favorite among the Mexican horror flicks is called “The Brainiac.” A warlock is burned at the stake as a comet is passing by, and he vows revenge. When it returns 400 years hence, he’s coming back, too–and with quite an attitude (as well as a neat new appearance). BTW, a lot of the Mexican movies, as I understand it, are not as available as they once were. Part of the NAFTA legislation reinstated copyrights on Mexican movies that were previously in the public domain. So a lot of distributors quit carryin’ 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wrestler-movies/15054/4 "2000-03-23T05:15:00Z")
One of my favorite writers is Kim Newman. And some of his best work is his _Anno Dracula_ series (_Anno Dracula_, _The Bloody Red Baron_, _Judgment of Tears_, and a fourth novel due out this year). The basic plot is a history of Dracula as a public figure throughout the last hundred years. But Newman throws in more cultural references than you can imagine. He’s apparently seen more cheesy movies than even Eve (along with a bunch of cheesy fiction). Among the characters to appear in the series are Jack the Ripper, Dr Jekyll, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes, Lord Ruthven, Lulu Schon, Fu Manchu, Lestat Lioncourt, Raffles, Chinese hopping vampires, Karl Kolchak, Herman Goering, Edgar Allan Poe, Frank Sinatra, Barnabus Collins, Kaiser Wilhelm, Franz Kafka, Mata Hari, the Shadow, Sadie Thompson, Simon Templar, Winston Churchill, James Bond, the talented Mr Ripley, Elizabeth Bathory, Orson Welles, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Michael Corleone, Clare Booth Luce, Charles de Gaulle, Dondi, John F Kennedy, the Count Saint-Germain, and a masked Mexican wrestler who’s wandering around Rome killing vampires (you thought I had totally hijacked the thread, didn’t you?). In case, it’s not already obvious I’m recommending these novels to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wrestler-movies/15054/5 "2000-03-23T05:20:00Z")
On a seperate note: > [@](#): > > BTW, a lot of the Mexican movies, as I understand it, are not as available as they once were. Part of the NAFTA legislation reinstated copyrights on Mexican movies that were previously in the public domain. So a lot of distributors quit carryin’ 'em. My understanding is that copyright is like virginity; once lost, it can never be regained. A work that is placed in public domain can never be re-copyrighted, even if it was placed there erroneously. My guess is that if NAFTA had any impact on Mexican copyrights it was that the existing ones are being enforced more consistantly.