Scan barcode
A review by colleenaf
Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: The Bizarre and Honorable World of Wild Mexican Wrestling by Dan Madigan
3.0
All true lovers of bad movies have to respect the role luchadores have played in the history of film. You haven't seen camp until you've seen the silver masked legend EL SANTO wrestle vampires to the ground and single handedly beat up a bunch of lepers (yes that's right, lepers). And who can ignore the equally revered BLUE DEMON in such films as "Blue Demon vs The Infernal Spiders" and the classic "Blue Demon vs The Infernal Brains". The man was good with infernal things I guess.
Now a love of bad movies was not the right reason to pick up this book, a rather detailed account of the history of lucha libre mexican wrestling with more of a focus on the blood-baths than on the glued on werewolf hair. The book in general took too personal an approach to the subject, the author being incredibly aware of himself. If this were marketed as a personal memoir about an American finding a love for the luchadore world I would have been more forgiving, but marketed as a history I was truly disapointed.
There were fantastic moments, such as learning the origin of the masks including the first mask maker. There also were enough old movie posters to satisy my bad-movie intentions and I did enjoy the personal lives of the legends of the sport, Santo and Blue Demon being given their own large sections. Did you know El Santo NEVER took over his mask in public during his career? And when he finally unmasked himself on a television show he died one week later? *insert DUNT DUNT DUNNNNN! here*
One thing I have to give this book credit for is the fantastic photographs. Eye-catching from afar, I was approached by more folks while reading this book than probably any other I've carried around. Single ladies out there, forget going to the bars, just walk around with this book open and surely you'll get hit on...though I can't promise the kind of fella that will be doling the hitting.
If you are a luchadore fan, you might want to check this out, but if you are new to the world of the sport this book isn't going to entice you to buy a mask and join the screaming crowds.
Now a love of bad movies was not the right reason to pick up this book, a rather detailed account of the history of lucha libre mexican wrestling with more of a focus on the blood-baths than on the glued on werewolf hair. The book in general took too personal an approach to the subject, the author being incredibly aware of himself. If this were marketed as a personal memoir about an American finding a love for the luchadore world I would have been more forgiving, but marketed as a history I was truly disapointed.
There were fantastic moments, such as learning the origin of the masks including the first mask maker. There also were enough old movie posters to satisy my bad-movie intentions and I did enjoy the personal lives of the legends of the sport, Santo and Blue Demon being given their own large sections. Did you know El Santo NEVER took over his mask in public during his career? And when he finally unmasked himself on a television show he died one week later? *insert DUNT DUNT DUNNNNN! here*
One thing I have to give this book credit for is the fantastic photographs. Eye-catching from afar, I was approached by more folks while reading this book than probably any other I've carried around. Single ladies out there, forget going to the bars, just walk around with this book open and surely you'll get hit on...though I can't promise the kind of fella that will be doling the hitting.
If you are a luchadore fan, you might want to check this out, but if you are new to the world of the sport this book isn't going to entice you to buy a mask and join the screaming crowds.