This is one of the more notorious Santo films, but primarily because it exists in a version entitled "El Vampiro y El Sexo" which contains nude scenes. This "nude version" was finally rediscovered in 2009 and released in 2011. This is the original 1969 B/W version of Santo en el Tesoro de Drácula (Santo In The Treasure of Dracula) without the nudity and censored. This film has all the makings of the original 1957 Hammer Horror Film "The Horror of Dracula" except for the "Time Travel" ala "Time Tunnel" TV show. Alfredo Salazar was one of the most notorious recyclers among Mexican screenwriters, and Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y el hombre lobo borrows ideas and even whole scenes from this picture. However, an even closer "remake" was La venganza de la Llorona, another Calderón film, but Salazar didn't even receive screen credit this time! Of course, Tesoro also borrows parts of its plot from Salazar's earlier Las luchadoras contra la momia (especially the part about a wrestling match to determine ownership of an artefact which reveals the location of a hidden treasure) ! Santo en el tesoro de Drácula isn't a really bad film, but it is seriously flawed structurally: the period sequence (without Santo--Rafael García Travesí seemed to have the patent on the "colonial-era" Santo character) is a fairly straightforward (and decently-done) version of "Dracula" (using the original novel and previous vampire films as "inspiration"), but the transition to the contemporary plot was very well made and Dracula's reappearance is even more contrived and abrupt. Aside from this artificially-applied aspect ratio difference, the different main title, and the colour/black & white dichotomy, the two films are virtually identical except for the nude scenes. These are responsible for the approximately 4-minute difference in running time: Vampiro is just over 86 minutes long, while Tesoro is a bit more than 82 minutes in length. Recommended and companion title to have alongside "El Vampiro y El Sexo" (The Vampire And The Sex), starring Santo, Aldo Monti, and Noelia Noel. Uncut Spanish Version with English Subtitles and Bonus DVD Extras. 1969 B&W 82 Minutes on DVD-R.
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