Spain, 1972
87m
35mm film, Eastmancolor, 1.85:1
mono, Spanish
Reviewed at The EOFFTV Review
A Spanish horror film directed by Javier Aguirre.
Plot Summary
Wolfgang Gotho is a simple-minded hunchback who works at a morgue in a small Mittel European village. He carries a torch for Ilsa, a former childhood friend and one of the few villagers who hasn’t abused, insulted or mocked him because of his appearance. But she’s in hospital with an undisclosed terminal illness and he’s heartbroken when he arrives to visit her too late to say his last goodbyes after being bullied by a group of drunken medical students. When fellow morgue attendants steal her jewellery, Gotho finally snaps, murders them and steals Ilsa’s body, hiding it in catacombs beneath a cemetery. Dr Orla, who has been experimenting with reviving the dead, turns up and promises to revive Ilsa if Gotho lets him set up his laboratory in the catacombs, and when her body is thrown into a pool of sulfuric acid by mistake promises to make him a new girlfriend from scratch if he can supply suitable women kidnapped from the nearby Feldkirch Woman’s Reformatory.
Credits
Crew
Director: Javier Aguirre
Deposito legal: M-29528-1972
Eva Film, S.L., F. Lara Polop presents
Producer: Kara Polop
Screenplay: Jacinto Molina [aka Paul Naschy], Javier Aguirre, Albert S. Insua
Story: Jacinto Molina [aka Paul Naschy]
Director of Photography: Raul Pérez Cubero
Editor: Petra de Nieva
Music: Carmelo Bernaola
Wardrobe: Peris Hnos.
Make-up: Miguel Sese
Hairstylist: Francisca Guillot
Special Effects: Pablo Perez
Art Directors: Cubero-Galicia [real names: Jaime Pérez Cubero, José Luis Galicia]
Cast
Paul Naschy [Wolfgang Gotho]
Rossana Yani [real name: Rosanna Yanni] [Elke]
Vic Winner [real name: Víctor Barrera] [Dr Frederick Tauchner]
Maria Elena Arpon [Ilse]
Manuel de Blas [police inspector]
Antonio Pica [police inspector]
Kino Pueyo [real name: Joaquin Rodriguez, Kinito] [Hans Burgher]
Adolfo Thous [man killed in crypt]
Angel Menéndez [the commissioner]
Fernando Sotuela [Udo]
Antonio Ramis
Alfonso de la Vega
Sofia Casares [Eva]
Antonio Mayans [Hans’ friend]
Susan Taff [nurse]
Jose Luis Chinchilla [morgue worker]
Richard Santis
Iris Andre [woman in bar]
Ingrid Rabel [victim in morgue corridor]
Fco. Javier Martin, Blaki [real name: Blaki] [Dr Orla’s butler]
Susana Latur [screaming waitress]
Dani Card [Marlene]
Saturno Cerra
Julio Martin [real name: Julio Martin Pérez]
Victorio Ayllon [older waitress]
Alberto Dalbes [Dr Orla]
Maria Pershy (Dr Maria Meyer – credited on screen as Frieda)
Alternative Titles
Bårhusassistenten – Sweden (video)
Le bossu de la morgue – Belgium (French), Canada (French), France
De Bultenaar van het lijkenhuis – Belgium (Flemish)
O Corcunda do Necrotério – Brazil
Hunchback of the Morgue – Canada, Ireland, Sweden (video), USA
The Hunchback of the Rue Morgue
O kabouris tou nekrotomeiou(transliterated title) – Greece
Il mostro dell’obitorio – Italy
Den pukkelryggede går amok – Denmark
Rue Morgue Massacres
Die Stunde der grausamen Leichen – Germany, West Germany
Ο καμπούρης του νεκροτομείου – Greece
Горбун з моргу – Ukraine
Горбун из морга – Soviet Union
Links
Extracts included in
Eurotika!: Blood and Sand (1999)
An Interview with Paul Naschy (2009)
References
Periodicals
- AGR Coleccionistas de cine no.30 (Summer 2006) pp.98-115 – illustrated article (Montalban: inolvidable by Victor Zarza)
- Cineinforme no.182/183 (September 1973) p.59
- The Dark Side no.64 p.26 – credits, review
- Dreadful Pleasures no.8, 9 p.19 – review
- Écran no.17 (July-August 1973) p.24 – review
- Écran Fantastique no.3 (1973) p.63
- Guilty Pleasures no.2 p.60 – review
- Is It Uncut? no.1 p.26 – illustrated review
- Shock Xpress vol.2 no.1 p.31 – review
- Stars & Cinéma vol.3 no.5 (May 1975) p.22 – review
- Variety 16 May 1973 p.32
Books
- Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.256 – credits, review
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.282, 283-85
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.184 – credits
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.233 – credits
- Sex, Sadism, Spain and Cinema by Nicholas G. Schlegel pp.99-108 – illustrated essay
