Originally released in 1970 as Santo Contra Los Jinetes Del Terror, Santo Vs the Riders of Terror is a horror/ western in the popular Mexican wrestler series of movies. This instalment is directed by René Cardona (Night of the Bloody Apes, Neutron Traps the Invisible Killers, and The Bat Woman) who had already directed a handful of other Mexican wrestling movies in the same franchise.  The movie stars Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, better known as El Santo, in the titular role (Santo Vs Frankenstein’s Daughter, Santo in the Wax Museum and Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy ) alongside Armando Silvestre (Two Mules for Sister Sarah, Night of the Blood Apes and The Bat Woman ), Mary Montiel (The World of the Dead, Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy and The Witches Attack ) and Julio Aldama (Guns for San Sebastian, Tlayucan and Hermelinda Linda).

Santo Vs the Riders of Terror is the 27th entry in the popular Lucha Libre franchise. It tells the story of a group of lepers who have escaped from a hospital and have begun to cause havoc amongst the townsfolk by walking into their homes and taking what they want from them. This causes mass panic among the villagers and leads to homes being burned to the ground. The sheriff (Aldama) and the doctor from the hospital lead a posse to track down and capture the lepers to no avail. Before long, a series of crimes begin to take place and it appears to the townsfolk that the lepers are responsible, however, the Sheriff is not so sure and sends for El Santo to try and get to the bottom of the situation.

I have to be honest; I’ve loved these movies ever since I first saw them featured on Jonathan Ross’s Incredibly Strange Film Show back in the late 1980s. Since that time, I have taken every opportunity to catch these movies wherever and whenever I can, however, this is my first viewing of this particular title. Santo Vs The Riders of Terror is a really enjoyable entry in the franchise, the story is a solid one and the performances are good. El Santo is his usual heroic self and the movie appears to have a pretty decent budget. 

This release features a lovely new 4k restoration of the movie drawn from the original negatives and as with most PowerHouse releases it looks and sounds as good as you could hope for. Also on the disc is an alternative version of the movie under the title, Lepers and Sex. This alternative version was expanded for the export market and features an extra 6 minutes of softcore footage. Interestingly, El Santo himself was not told of the existence of this softcore version as he strongly believed his movies should always be family-friendly. This release marks Lepers and Sex’ first-ever appearance on the Blu-ray format. The disc also features an audio commentary from Mexican cinema expert, David Wilt, a previously unseen interview with Armando Silvestre, an appraisal of the movie from the masked critic and a short documentary featurette on Cardona’s career. As well as this, we get the alternative French opening credits and trailers and an image gallery. The set features an 80-page booklet with a host of essays on the topic and is limited to 8,000 units in the UK and US.

Overall, if like me, you are a fan of the El Santo movies, there is plenty here to keep you happy. If you’ve never dipped your toes into the world of lucha libre cinema then this is a good time to do so. This is an excellent release for a most enjoyable movie and I would recommend it very highly.