El vampiro y el sexo/The Vampire and Sex (René Cardona 1969): El Santo, sexploitation films and politics in Mexico 1968

Taking a cue from Eric Schaefer and Linda Williams, whose work underlines the value of studying sex/adult films and sex in films as a significant part of cultural and social histories, this article explores the production and subsequent disavowal of El vampiro y el sexo/The Vampire and Sex, a Mexican erotic film and alternate version of popular horror/wrestling hybrid Santo en el Tesoro de Drácula/Santo and Dracula’s Treasure made ‘only for export’ in 1968. The article analyzes how El vampiro y el sexo’s ‘dirty parts’ might signify the context of dominant and countercultural values in Mexico in 1968: particularly in relation to its emergent student movement and the repressions imposed by the country’s politically authoritarian regime. The article explores El vampiro y el sexo as part of an upswing in production of sexy films, analyzing the textual and political reasons why softcore, alternate versions like El vampiro y el sexo were deemed problematic enough to determine them for export only whilst other sexy films could be shown with an 18 rating.