Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Santo in The Treasure of Dracula Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 23, 2021

There's almost a delirious insanity to the Santo movies, and whatever their perceived and/or actual real deficits may be, in the "delirious insanity" category, Santo in The Treasure of Dracula certainly fills the bill quite well. This is the kind of film where a bunch of businessmen types gather around a conference table where it's casually announced that Santo is arriving to help fight crime, at which point Santo, clad in a natty sharkskin suit and his trademark mask, saunters in and engages them in conversation. It turns out Santo is something of a scientist, though, and so he shows them his newest invention, a time machine that disintegrates people but also magically transports them back to inhabit previous lives, which one assumes supposes that Santo also believes in reincarnation. If all of that isn't enough delirious insanity for you, the sole female at the meeting, Luisa (Noelia Noel), volunteers to be Santo's first test subject with the device, because as scientist Santo informs everyone, the device will only work with a female. When Luisa is evidently disintegrated and beamed back to a former life, it unfortunately turns out to be as a quasi-Mina Harker being preyed upon by the nefarious Count Alucard (Aldo Monti). Luckily (?), and for a reason that the film offers absolutely no explanation for, Santo and his crew can keep track of Luisa's peril(s) courtesy of a closed circuit television system, which certainly makes time travel more convenient for everyone.

Adding to the fun of this film, at least for those who enjoy female nudity, is the fact that Santo in The Treasure of Dracula was filmed in two versions, a black and white "chaste" edition for the Mexican market, and a more lurid color version that offers ample pulchritudinous displays of several of Dracula's winsome (but unbelievably well endowed) female victims. That probably gives the film a bit of prurient interest, though it's all so patently ridiculous that any sexual energy may be completely dissipated by uncontrollable laughter.

Santo in The Treasure of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Santo in The Treasure of Dracula is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual and VCI Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The front cover of this release states "restored in 4K" without offering any information on what the source element was, but one way or the other, this unfortunately has little of what videophiles have come to expect from a "4K" imprimatur. While colors are generally decent, they're faded so that reds can be on the orange side, and flesh tones tend to skew toward florid pinks. There appears to have been some pretty aggressive filtering done, as there are a lot of "waxy" looking passages, and there's quite a bit of color bleeding with splotchy macroblocking in some of the darkest scenes in particular. All of this said, individual moments can provide actually relatively good detail levels, as in the shiny threads in Santo's suit in the first scene or even the ribbing on his mask, but this is not going to be a mind blowing transfer for most fans.

Santo in The Treasure of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Santo in The Treasure of Dracula features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track in an English dub, which seems to be a new "mission" for VCI, as evidenced by both previous releases and the trailers for upcoming releases included on this disc as bonus items. The track is perfectly fine from a fidelity standpoint, but there's not a ton of dynamic range. A narrator type translates Spanish text that can appear on things like building plaques, and of course lip movements can be wildly off from the sounds supposedly emanating from them. Optional English subtitles are available. VCI might be well advised to offer the original Spanish language tracks on these releases, just for completists.

Santo in The Treasure of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Santo in The Treasure of Dracula Version Comparison (HD; 24:58) starts with a brief text explanation stating that there were two versions of the film shot, per my above comments in the main body of the review. A couple of lengthy excerpts are then presented from both versions, with the color version offering copious female nudity.


• Though not listed as such, the following are trailers for "new, improved" English language versions of the following films:

  Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Werewolf (HD; 2:40)

  
  

  Santo and the Revenge of the Mummy (HD; 2:42)

  
  

  Santo vs. The Riders of Terror (HD; 2:03)

  
  

  Santo in The Revenge of La Llorona (HD; 2:57)

Santo in The Treasure of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's no getting around how patently goofy just about every Santo film is, and if you're in the mood for completely ridiculous plotting and characters, Santo in The Treasure of Dracula may provide a bit of passing entertainment value. Unfortunately video quality is on the iffy side, and fans of the original film would have probably preferred that the Spanish language track was included. The comparison between the prim and proper black and white version and the "let it all hang out" color version is kind of amusing, for those who are considering a purchase.