For over seven decades Mexico has had a love affair with luchalibre, prompting influential Mexican  writer, Carlos Monsivais, to discuss at length the Mexican need to go to wrestling arenas and cheer  or curse at their heroes or villains. One of those heroes was Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, better known as “ElSanto”. His popularity was such that the El Santo comic book series, launched in 1952, ran for 35 years. Besides a wrestling megastar, he was a bona fide matinee idol. The production values of his films may have been low by Hollywood standards, but they made for highly entertaining exploitation films with a winning formula. From the Guanajuato mummies to La Llorona or the Wailer, Santo was placed against armies of supernatural foes, many of which were autochthonous (read Mexican monster mythology); though later he would take on Hollywood’s Frankenstein, Dracula andWolfman. His film career took off in 1961 with his 3rd film, Santovs. the Zombies, and he made over 50films from 1961-82. Four of these found a niche in the United States, where they were regulars on TV’s midnight B-movie circuit, although one of his best, Santo vs. the Vampire Women, appeared as an episode on the acclaimed cult series Mystery Science Theatre 3000. By the late 1970s, his stock of monsters depleted, Santo turned to US-Mexican border foes or to Bruce Lee wannabes to choke hammer. But super-hero wrestler films were also starting to wane and Santo retired from the ring and cinema in 1982 at age 65. A genuine folk hero, his legend continues today through myriad tributes in the form of cartoon series, cinema and Santo-inspired wrestlers.