The Curse of The Doll People (original title – Munecos Infernales) 1965, Paul Nagel (Original Director- Benito Alazrahi ), Ramon Gay, Elvira Quintana
Web Threads
Why write something when someone else has obviously done a better job than what I could do? Mirek Lipinski has been doing a bang up job of doing the liner notes for the spanish horror releases for Deimos, the horror arm of BCI/ Eclipse. Besides that and being a driving force behind Latarnia forums, he maintains a blog called Vampiros and Monstruos which focuses on the Mexican Horror phenomenon and the upcoming book he is editing on the subject. The movie originally hit the states due to K. Gordon Murray, the man who imported The Aztec Mummy, an iconic cult horror figure if there ever was one. K. Gordon Murray’s efforts, seem to me, to be more about making some money than anything else. Still his efforts are appreciated if many times unintentionally funny. Or was it? Intentional that is.
I think The Brainiac is hilariously twisted! But we are here to talk doll people and their curse, right?
Impressions/ Observations
Such a great mix of absurdity of atmospherics and absurdity. For some reason the imagery makes me imagine a version drawn by Charles Burns . That name will become more known when David Fincher’s version of Burns’ comic opus Black Hole hits the screen someday, But I digress… To call the Paul Nagle dubbing work on this off or mismatched is being kind. I know I should watch it in the original Spanish ( included on the flipside of the disc) but there is something endearingly kooky about the dub. I am afraid it will destroy some of the charm of the film for me. The imagery is styled after the vintage 1930s black and white horror flicks that Universal released in the day, albeit south of the border and more visceral in a non-visceral sort of way. The frission between the boneheaded dialogue and creepy low budget black and white images creates something close to insanity. I can’t see someone who doesn’t atleast like classic horror taking to this. Nope, no Chucky-style witty banter or those annoying Puppet Master creations. The voodoo elements of the story, which managed to be knotty and full of holes, are strictly witchcraft with the serial numbers filed off. The doll people do their thing in a silent killer kind of way. That they look the last victim in miniature is a nice touch. I thank the lords of the b-movie realm that their routine is pretty basic. Creep up on a sleeping or unaware victim and puncture them with a big needle. Repeat. My favorite character is the occult savvy wife of one of these possibly doomed men. Some may see her as a proto-feminist heroine but I just see her as a slightly arrogant plot device. On the other end of the conflict is Zontar, the puppet master of this witch’s curse scenario. Not really that compelling but his dress sense seems suspiciously Asian. A voodoo Fu-Manchu if you will. Lucky for the long time horror fan, his zombie servant looks like he escaped from a Jack Davis drawn EC Comic. But to be honest if you are coming into this for memorable characters you are going to come up…uhhh…short. Sorry. The concoction is full of surreal incident, hysterical exchanges of dialogue and nostalgically charged cheesiness which make this a good late night diversion. I imagine with the right crowd this would be a great party disc. The movie is for people with a high lactose tolerance for those Saturday afternoon double features of the past.
Tags: Charles Burns, Cult Films, curse of the doll people, Deimos, Jack Davis, K. Gordon Murray, Mexican Horror, Mirek Lipinski, Movie View, Zontar
