random_avenger Over the course of his long career, the masked Mexican wrestler hero Santo the Silver Mask (Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta) appeared in dozens of movies, including this one. A group of scantily clad human-looking Martians is planning to teach us Earthlings to live peacefully without nuclear weapons and if a verbal warning is not enough, they are prepared to disintegrate mankind completely. Besides their primary mission, they also intend to kidnap some elite individuals for research purposes, among them the righteous muscle hero Santo and a brilliant scientist named Ordorica (Manuel Zozaya). However, Santo is not easily fooled by the Martians' schemes: the strong alien men and their seductive women, who all go by names taken from Ancient Greek mythology, must work hard to achieve their goals.The movie is clearly all about the heroism of Santo; the goofy plot is secondary to the numerous and endlessly long fight scenes where Santo gets to show off his wrestling moves while everyone else just stands still watching their friends getting beaten. Some of the wrestling is pretty fun though and the seductress-Martians' hypnotic dance number is worth seeing, so even if the acting couldn't possibly be any more wooden, there's plenty to like in the movie: the futuristic but crude spaceship set and the Martians' tight outfits and wigs look rather amusing indeed. I don't think it was ever supposed to be a serious sci-fi thriller in the first place, but seeing it now, it's pure comedy and recommended to any wrestling fan and cult movie aficionado.

poe426 Having witnessed the failure of peacemonger Klaatu (Michael Rennie, in the original version of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL), the Martians decide to try a slightly different approach: teach Earthlings peace and brotherhood through pain and suffering. Not a bad strategy (let's not forget THE ARCHITECTS OF FEAR episode of the original OUTER LIMITS- nor the "shock and awe" approach to politics of the late Republican Reich). Unfortunately, the Martians make the mistake of starting with Mexico- the home of El Santo. SANTO VS. THE INVASION OF THE MARTIANS is superior Santo: he's on screen most of the time and, when he's not trying to outwit the invaders, he's stomping the crap out of them in some very well-choreographed fight scenes. In one of my favorite scenes, he is unmasked in the ring- but has a second mask on underneath the first. (In another scene, a dream sequence, he is unmasked by one of the femaliens- but it's clearly not Huerta himself; in fact, it looks like one of the guys playing one of the aliens.) Topnotch entertainment.

JohnHowardReid My introduction to the Santo cult proved to be a somewhat disappointing experience. Santo is not so much a Mexican Super-Hero as a Mexican Bruce Lee. Instead of kung fu, we are treated to wrestling. Mucho lucha. Demasiado lucha! It never stops. Santo cannot step into a room without stepping into the fray. I admit it was well staged, but the sound effects were overdone. I liked the girls best, especially Belinda Corell. On the other hand, the male Martians were totally unconvincing. Complete with ridiculously fake wigs, they looked about as much like men from Mars as refugees from Central Casting. Not that the rest of the players were much better. Only the always reliable Manuel Zozaya (who rarely received decent roles matching his abilities) as the professor and the impressively voiced "Picoro" (doing his customary stint as the ring announcer) stood out in a very mediocre cast.Production values were also second-class with ho-hum special effects that wouldn't gladden the hearts of a group of seven-year-olds; plus competently routine photography by Jorge Stahl (who did such good work on Henry Hathaway's 1954 Garden of Evil); and all topped off by capable but blissfully unimaginative direction from that veteran workhorse in Mexican cinema, Alfredo B. Crevenna (who helmed no less than 150 features between 1945 and his retirement at the age of 81 in 1995).Sci-fi fans will be hard pressed to find anything to cheer about in this effort. It's the sort of film that a quickie serial producer like Columbia's Sam Katzman would have been proud of, but it didn't strike many chords with me.

movieloving i would put this Santo film as among the best with SANTO VS. LAS LOBAS & SANTO Y BLUE DEMON VS Dracula Y EL HOMBRE LOBO. there is a lot of action here in SANTO VS LA INVASION DE LOS MARCIANOS and Santo looks as though he is really going at it with wrestlers in the ring and the villains who are aliens from another world vaporizing citizens of Mexico with a 'third eye' on their hoods. you can hear Santo's grunts in the fight scenes. i saw this on DVD and the black and white here is beautifully clear and great direction by alfredo d. crevenna. the DVD cover is misleading since santo doesn't brandish a gun nor head to another planet. he does enter the martians' spaceship to whack off the aliens. and santo does some brilliant planning here. 1)before a match with a masked wrestler (who is the head martian that knocked out the original masked opponent in his dressing room), santo suspects that an alien (real life wrestler ham lee) is hiding in his dressing room. the alien vanishes, santo soon knows trouble is coming. since the match is decided by the loser's mask ripped off, santo dons a mask within his mask. santo meets his match in the ring, and sees his opponent with a large silver transporter belt meaning it is the martian. santo's 1st mask is ripped and then he pummels the villain until he disappears using his belt.2)santo stages a wonderful plot of staging a match in a ring but no spectators. this is to lure the martians in and santo goes at it with 3-4 aliens at once and it is a terrific sequence. and this whole actioner is santo's best work despite the silly plot and what the aliens, male and female are wearing. i had a good time. if you raise the TV volume, the sounds of the bodyslams, the grunts and the martians' pinging are pretty loud.