Muñecos infernales

This film begins with an unmarried couple by the names of "Karina" (Elvira Quintana) and "Armando Vales" (Ramon Gay) who are both medical doctors and have been invited to attend a dinner with four distinguished men and their families. When they arrive they learn that these four men have just returned from a trip to Haiti and while there they secretly witnessed a voodoo ceremony which was strictly forbidden to outsiders. Having already committed one serious breach of etiquette, they make it even worse when one of them steals a sacred idol from the Haitian temple to add to his personal collection of artifacts. Needless to say, this infuriates the voodoo priest "Zandor" (Quintin Bulnes) who places a terrible curse upon all four of them-and their families as well. As it so happens, however, Karina is not only a doctor of medicine but a scholar of ancient cultures and the occult and this gives her special insight into the horrible events that begin to take place to the four men involved in the theft. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an unusual film in that the lead actress (Elvira Quintana) plays the role of the expert and the villains (for the most part) are essentially 2-foot manikins who come to life as midgets in order to do the bidding of the Haitian voodoo priest. Yet, as ridiculous as the plot may sound and as poor as the special effects were, the surprising thing is that this film actually wasn't as bad as it should have been. Of course, a great deal of the credit has to go to Elvira Quintana who essentially stole the show with her beauty and charm. Be that as it may, while this certainly isn't the best "Zombie movie" ever made it was good enough for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

My favorite Mexican Horror film Brainiac, aka Baron of terror, has got good competition here with this extremely eerie and moody terror drama about a voodoo curse involving menacing, murderous 'dolls' brought to life.

These 'dolls' are actually closer to the size of a ventriloquist's's dummy, and apparently are being performed by rather small midgets. However goofy this may sound, the dolls are actually very spooky and take the facial appearance of the people they have murdered, with rather stolid expressions. This is a very nice effect as it makes the dolls more menacing.

They are silent and lethal, and get away with ease, making quite a mystery, except for the viewer of course. The addition of a full-sized hideous zombie, plus a fine and eerie music score make this worthwhile viewing. As always, with Mexican horror films, it's quick pace keeps you from dwelling on some plot weaknesses and weird wording due to dubbing into English.

4 men defile a voodoo temple by stealing a sacred idol.They are cursed by a voodoo priest. He warns them that they and their families will die horribly.Sure enough the men are being systematically bumped off one by one by killer dolls.(The killer dolls are midgets in fright masks and they will give you the creeps.Hard to forget them).

Men die but are undead (for a short time anyways). The dolls then wear the likeness of their victims. The showdown at the lair of the voodoo priest is rip roaring.The absolute ending is somewhat hysterical.

This would be a 9 or a 10 if it weren't for the lousy dubbing (especially the hammy actor dubbing for the villain) and the editing is extremely choppy. Worth a look, especially late at night!

As the movie description states, this is a poorly-dubbed film, which makes it all the more creepy...I watched this movie as a child, at first in a room full of children on a rainy day, only to be left alone...I could not take my eyes off of the television set; I was memorized by those dolls and their faces..Still scared out of my mind, I would back away from the set, only to peek around for another look...needless to say, I watched this movie until the end, which I shouldn't have but am now glad I did...it affected me like no other movie of it's time...I could never find this movie again, not realizing as a child it was a Mexican film...when I was 18, I was at a friends' house and, lo and behold, this movie pops up...I ran to the TV Guide to find out the name of the movie that scared me the most, and this was it...This movie has stayed with me all of these years...it may have a campy affect on adults, but it was well worth watching again as an adult to see those doll freaks terrorizing the humans...I love horror films, and this one ranks right up there with the best of them...just the looks on the dolls' faces is enough to give you nightmares...!

Like most of K. Gordon Murray's imports from Mexico, this film has great black & white photography, terrific creepy atmosphere, and hilariously bad English dubbing. However, the scenes showing the dolls going about their deadly business still come across very well, since the dolls don't speak. (Item of interest: If you enjoy this film, you should also check out MGM's similar "The Devil Doll" (1936)).