| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Conrado San Martín | ... | ||
| Diana Lorys | ... |
Wanda Bronsky /
Melissa
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Howard Vernon | ... | |
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Perla Cristal | ... |
Arne
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María Silva | ... |
Dany
(as Mary Silvers)
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Ricardo Valle | ... |
Morpho Lodner
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Mara Laso | ... |
Irma Gold
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Venancio Muro | ... |
Jean Rousseau
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Félix Dafauce | ... |
Inspector
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Faustino Cornejo | ... |
Jeannot
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Manuel Vázquez | ... |
Klein
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Juan Antonio Riquelme |
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Fernando Montes | ... |
Malou
(as Fernando C. Montes)
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Elena María Tejeiro | ... |
Ursula Camila
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Javier de Rivera |
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Dr. Orlof, a former prison doctor, abducts beautiful women from nightclubs and tries to use their skin to repair his daughter's fire-scarred face. He is assisted by Morpho, a deformed monstrosity who delights in biting his victims. Orlof had better hurry, though -- a young police inspector and his ballerina girlfriend are onto his sadistic practices. Written by Christo Hoffmania <[email protected]>
As I ruminate over the matter right now, this is my favorite film of the genre. The general consensus of this film's silliness does not discourage me. Horror is the most cinematic of cinema avenues, and this one works for me because it evokes a mood through atmosphere and sustains it.
Ostensibly we have a story about a mad doctor who steals female bodies and uses their individual parts to patch up a unified whole. The real patching up lies in what Franco does here in regard to elements from horror past. We have Morpho, who is a composite of creatures: a Frankenstein, a Dracula, the deformed Karloff monster from The Raven. And we have Orlof, who embodies a myriad of established characters, notably Doctor Gogol from Mad Love.
And it's all wrapped up in the atmosphere of such Univeral classics. The atmosphere drips. This is a wonderful film.