Muñecos infernales

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)).

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.

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.

I was looking forward to this Mexican horror film - released on DVD not by Casanegra but rather by BCI as a double-bill with NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES (1969), which I should be getting to presently, and where the two films are accompanied by their alternate English-dubbed variants - because of its similarity to Tod Browning's THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936), but it turned out to be something of a disappointment!

Even if the villain of the piece is appropriately flamboyant and the fact that the voodoo expert in this case is a woman is, in itself, a novelty with respect to this type of film, it's all rather uninspired - with even the trademark atmosphere coming off as somewhat flat! However, my biggest gripe with the film concerns the titular creatures: their movements are so awkward and sluggish, and their appearance (obviously midgets wearing a none-too-convincing mask!) so poorly realized that the suspense in their numerous attacks (and the terror they're supposed to evoke) is greatly diluted!!

The script, too, is something of a hack job, as we basically get an uninterrupted succession of people being rushed to hospital after an attack by the dolls (made in the image of previous victims - with the funniest-looking being one sporting a large pair of glasses!) where the doctors are apparently dumb-founded as to the source of their 'ailment'!! Equally ridiculous is the hulking zombie whom the sorcerer uses to do his evil bidding: how he's never noticed by anyone out on the streets as he's carrying the dolls (in large packages) is anybody's guess; incongruous, too, is the fact that the sorcerer has relocated to Mexico from Haiti (going after the infidels who stole the all-important statue of one of the gods of his sect) but, apparently, has contrived to bring along with him a whole set of exotic paraphernalia to decorate his new residence - including an enormous sarcophagus for the zombie to sleep in!

Still, even if there are several long-winded explanatory scenes, some moments are undeniably effective - for instance, the doll autopsy scene, with the creepy effect of its eyes (after the head has been disembodied) suddenly starting to gleam...even if the scene does include a hilarious shot of a male doctor closely inspecting a pair of tiny boots!; and the climax - as is typical of many of these films, it all ends in a blaze (and where one reluctant doll proceeds to exact revenge on its master!) - is also nicely handled.

The extras are minimal (only a still gallery - I have little use for the English-dubbed version prepared by K. Gordon Murray, especially since it's cut by some 13 minutes!) and the print quality is quite poor, when compared to the Casanegra releases...