El asesino de muñecas

I'm probably being rather generous here, but I enjoyed the film and found David Rocha's performance so bizarre it was mesmerising. Director Michael Skaife wrote and acted but only directed two other films. Rocha make a reasonable number of films, including a small part in Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire and not much larger part in Naschy's Night of the Werewolf. But back to the surreal film before us and that extraordinary performance by Rocha. Many horror films allude to manikins and dolls by way of introducing something of the uncanny but here there is barely a scene without one or the other or lots and Rocha seems to have been asked to move as if he too were some plastic zombie. Effective and strange and the teaming of him with a young lad who looks more like a young girl just ratchets up the weirdness. There is a back story surrounding his upbringing and the presence of a countess underplayed by Helga Line and of course there is death and destruction. indeed the film starts at a pace it barely lets up as we helter skelter from mangled dolls and manikin heads to the real thing. The music varies from sublime to something you might expect in a TV quiz show but never mind, there is surely enough here to keep the lover of the obscure well happy.

The Killer of Dolls (1975) - original title: El asesino de muñecas, is one of the all time most bizarre movies I've ever seen! It seems to have elements of the Italian Giallo genre but with a very Spanish twist (it was made during Franco's regime.) Basically it's a study in abnormal psychology.

I found it so over the top bizarre and strange that although I'm sure it was intended to be a serious horror film it at times is so outrageously bizarre that it is absurdly humorous. And I see that as a good thing! It's a very, very weird move that does not always go where you expect it to go and may shock some viewers. They could never get away with making this movie today! The 1970s were even more weird than the psychedelic late 1960s.

One of the themes of this movie is the odd "friendship" between the protagonist Paul (...you know...the guy who likes to dress up as a doll and works in a doll factory then steals the dolls to dissect and 'kill' them...) and a neighborhood boy of around 9 named Robert (played by Rafael 'Indio' González Jr.) Paul bonds with the chubby looking boy Robert who comes to the park daily with his Grandfather. Robert enjoys smashing dolls and setting things on fire. Paul connects with the bratty kid's anarchy and rage.

There seems to be a strange undercurrent of homoerotic lust in Paul for Robert (and Robert is blissfully unaware of anything...always so cheerful, naive and guileless.) But this is not your ordinary horror movie...don't expect a happy ending. In fact it left me wondering...whatever became of Robert? Strange, weird, bizzare, absurdly over the top, sometimes disturbing movie. Keep an open mind and just go with it. If you hate weird movies you won't like it. But I liked it because it is indeed so beyond weird that it is entertaining.

This 'giallo-style' film from Spain is reminiscent of other films of it's time, that dealt with psychotic serial killers who are tortured by their own sexual repression. This is one weird movie, and the protagonist is even more strange. Paul is extremely handsome but mentally unstable, due to being raised as a girl! As children, Paul's sister dies in an accident and, not being able to cope with the loss, the mother deals with it by pretending her son is actually her lost daughter. Problems begin to surface when Paul comes of age, and starts to think about his sexuality. Up until this point his only companions were the dolls that he inherited from his sister; dolls which he grows to hate, as they are reminders of his sick and lonely upbringing. As he becomes more deranged, Paul begins to lose his ability to tell the difference between dolls and live human beings. That is when the killing starts.

Fans of obscure and bizarre horror films should seek out this rare title. Reminiscent of more well-known cult horror movies like "Peeping Tom," and "The Collector," and particularly the low budget "I Dismember Mama," "El Asesino de Munecas" is a creepy, stylish "giallo-style" gem. It is also one of the first films I recall that utilizes the "shaky- cam" style that is so popular today, but only in several intense scenes. It features an excellent score too. This has become a personal favorite of mine.

This is a very strange Spanish film that seems to have been equally inspired by the 1970's Italian gialli thrillers AND the earlier 60's British "psycho" films like "The Psychopath" or "Twisted Nerve" where handsome (and usually very effeminate) young men are driven to serial murder by their psychosexual neurosis. I actually like both of these "genres" a lot, but they don't necessarily mix very well (although they both do owe a significant debt to Hitchcock's original "Psycho").

The disturbed protagonist here is the sexually repressed son of a gardener who likes to play with--and mutilate--dolls he steals from a doll factory where he works. The lady of the house, a contessa (Helga Line), tries unsuccessfully to seduce him. He befriends a young boy, who he seems in constant danger of molesting and/or murdering. Meanwhile, he spies on couples having sex and subsequently murders the girls, turning them into more of his "dolls". Things finally come to a head though when he falls for the pretty daughter (Inma DeSantis) of the contessa.

The direction by Miguel "Necrophagus" Madrid is pretty incompetent and the camera-work is downright awful. This does not have the visual flair of your typical Italian gialli, but it is also way too overwrought and hysterical to succeed as a more mannered British "psycho" thriller. The lead has the right look, but his performance is often hilariously unsubtle. Helga Line meanwhile is largely wasted. Perhaps, the best reason to watch this is Inma DeSantis who, along with Sandra Mazurowsky, was one of young, ill-fated "lolita" actresses of 70's Spanish exploitation (both began working in films as teenagers and both died tragically young--Mazurowsky by her own hand and DeSantis in a car accident). DeSantis is very pretty and appealing, but doesn't show up unfortunately until at least halfway through the movie when it is way too late to salvage much. This movie is uniquely strange--if that can be considered a virtue--but there's not much else you can say about it.

Miguel Madrid's second film after "Necrophagus" is a psycho thriller with dolls,mannequins and giallo elements."Killing of the Dolls" is even more bizarre than his campy debut as it features some surreal hallucinations seen by the main character,who enjoys killing sexually active women.The film is more competent than horrible "Necrophagus" and it has enough creepy looking dolls and mannequins to satisfy me.The camera work is shoddy and the acting is over-the-top,but there are some bloody murders via knife,axe and scissors plus cheesy musical number.I truly adore mannequins,unfortunately they are used in horror movies very rarely.During production of our third horror short "Nightmares of Mutantoid" we used many charred,dismembered and bleeding mannequins."Killing of the Dolls" was finally released in Spain on DVD by Filmax.6 out of 10.