Doctor Infierno

I saw this at FantasticFest in Austin, TX 2008. In 2007 we got TimeCrimes (also from Spain) which was a huge success, and this was another brilliant, fun, action-packed adventure.

A mad scientist & his sadistic genetically-altered nurse, along with their horde of experimental mistakes vow to take over the world and turn all humanity into invincible super-powered slaves, but a few decide to fight back. Chock full of style, humor, a litany of great characters portrayed by an excellent cast, with enough story elements for several movies, this is film-making at it's finest, low budget or otherwise. Give these guys some real money so they can make the sequel!

combining comedy and horror has become a formula in cult films, and so, this one won't be an exception.

turn after turn, from the original b-movies, the homages and parodies have been changing, like the photocopy of a photocopy, and so on. call this a "Spanish flavor" turn of that cycle. at this time of history, the recipe is set. ingredients: 1 oz. of horror, 3 tbsp. of action and 2 1/2 cups of comedy. add your flavor of choice and don't spoil it with any attempts of telling a "big story". this is fun, that's it, and the references are clear: 80's TV, comic books, b-movie classics and contemporary digital independent cinema.

from dogma to troma, many things have happened and this movie is aware, yet it's decided to take what it needs from them and then ignore the whole thing just to go another way.

visually, it's very much influenced by hongkongese, Japanese and u.s. films, yet in dialogs and acting, the main reference we must search resides in Spanish 60's and 70's movies, from berlanga to the crappy pajares & esteso films. as it's very usual in spaniard comedy, many of the characters (from doctor infierno himself to most of the secondaries) are based on other "characters" from real life: the "actors" that play their own cracks and jokes, that imprint their "freaky" personalities into the choral excuse plot line. as i said, pure cult b-movie, yet very well done! characters like the mad megalomaniac gynecologist, the mysterious assassin with an identity crisis, the nurse with the endless rage or the deadliest comedy relief ever seen are just the tip of an iceberg full of unexpected secondary characters designed to provoke surprise and an endless frenzy of plain entertainment, without complexes.

you might notice the "low budget" feeling in certain tiny details, and a hard work and resourcefulness in the rest of an impressive yet not at all pretentious piece of film making. technically, the narrative pulse is controlled shot by shot with precise rhythm, never leaving the viewer much time to think. just sit back, relax, have a laughter and enjoy the thrill. freaks with make-up and without it, pursuits, gore, jokes, action, terror... even fights and many unexpected surprises. this is delirium, so don't try to make much sense out of it.

this movie is made for us, the young adults, the rejects of a failed generation x that fount an escape in the fight club, but yet never have enough. from "bad taste" to "los bingueros" and further away from it... welcome to the most pleasurable and delirious infierno. let's hope this is just the first step of many freaky underground and fresh fun to come.

Before Peter Jackson won 11 Oscars and made thousands of million dollars with his movies, the New Zealander had to work real hard to finish his first film "Bad Taste". More than four years of filming, the savings of all his life, the death of one of the actors during the filming, to achieve that all your friends collaborate in your movie the most of the times for free, and do everything from acting in two different roles to directing, producing, writing, editing, even the special effects to do … Practically everything Paco Limon had to made " Doctor Hell " a reality.

And the comparison is not gratuity. For almost all that has had pass Paco Limon and Melanoma Films in order that his diabolical Doctor opens consultation. They have been capable of doing so much with almost anything that Reminds me Jackson's first adventure and with that one other that was "El Mariachi". And when I say this I say it completely seriously, since he is capable of doing that a jet plane bombs one Hospital in Madrid with a budget that in other even Spanish productions they have assigned to the catering.

"Doctor Infierno " is one rare Avis in the cinematographic Spanish panorama. I'm not a fan of the kind of humor which the Doctor displays, but he still get i was laughing my ass off for several times. In spite of the poster, the trailer and everything else " Doctor Hell " is basically a comedy, wild, brutal, gore and hallucinated but a comedy, that will not leave anybody indifferent. It's a movie done with the guts, the liver and the intestines (especially with a lot of guts). So, It's not for everybody. If had to define it i would say this is half a way between the first Peter Jackson and Takashi Miike. Because there is space for everything in the consultation of the Doctor: from Mazinger Z, to social drama, from KungFu to incredible aberrant mutations, everything goes in thename of the science and of the medicine. The history is simple enough; one miraculous cure appears in a hospital in the shape of flasks of tablets capable of treating the cancer. Behind these healings is the Doctor Infierno but there are twisted intentions are hidden behind this good action. Personifying the sinister doctor we find the mythical Arturo De Bobadilla in one of these performances that you will not forget. I liked too Ana Luna in a pretty difficult role. Summarizing a movie that does not stop surprising from beginning to the end in a continuous Tour de force. If i were you I would be asking for an appointment with the doctor.

Movies like "Doctor Infierno" make me sad, but only on a completely personal level… Sad about myself, because I don't have the guts to make my very own demented horror movie like Paco Limón did. He proves that it doesn't require an immense budget, a large crew of people or even a properly elaborated and coherent screenplay! All that he had to work with was an admirable portion of courage and a vast knowledge of the horror genre's greatest classics. I deeply respect Limón for that, even if his film is likely to get misunderstood and ridiculed by mainstream horror audiences (if they ever get to see it, that is).

"Doctor Infierno" is one gigantic tribute to the twisted world of independent horror cinema, made by a genre lover and exclusively intended for the eyes of fellow genre lovers. The script doesn't make sense at all, but simultaneously it covers all of horrors' favorite topics and delightful clichés. We have mad scientists, gore, vulgar humor, absurd characters, perverted sex, cheesy make-up effects and a climax that actually raises more questions than it answers. The plot is virtually impossible to summarize, but this is as close as I get: Doctor Infierno, who's actually a gynecologist, found one single cure for all the major diseases in the world. In exchange for a worldwide and free distribution of the medicine, our good doctor only asks for one thing… World domination! Meanwhile, he tries to get rid of some of his human guinea pigs, but the medicine gave them superhuman strengths and they fight back. Paco Limón did practically everything by himself (direction, sound, editing, producing …) and for the extended cast he probably depended on his friends and/or people who owned him a favor. So, you can imagine the whole thing looks pretty amateurish, but I prefer to describe it as charming and experimental. The entire film is filmed in black and white, except for one outrageously insane flashback sequence. Usually it's the other way around. Some parts in the films are hilarious, others are downright inept, but the wholesome is definitely a triumph for free-spirited filmmakers. Horror fanatics all over the world, especially the ones that one day aspire to make their own homage to the genre, should rejoice and support Paco Limón by watching his film.