Hunchback of the Morgue is a 1973 horror film about a mad scientist who is trying to reanimate the corpse of a young woman.
Directed by Javier Aguirre (The Killer is One of 13; Count Dracula’s Great Love) from a screenplay co-written with Alberto S. Insúa and Jacinto Molina [aka Paul Naschy].
The Eva Film-Janus Films co-production stars Paul Naschy, Rosanna Yanni, Víctor Barrera [as Vic Winner], María Elena Arpón, Manuel de Blas, Antonio Pica, Kino Pueyo, Ángel Menéndez and Fernando Sotuela.
Plot:
Wolfgang Gotho (Paul Naschy) is a hunchback with below-average intelligence who works at the local morgue. He is in love with a sickly girl who happens to be the only person who is kind to him, each day bringing her flowers until the day she dies. He never really accepts her death and believes she is just sleeping. The girl eventually ends up at the morgue where she is being prepared for burial.
Gotho flips out at the desecration of the girl’s body and stabs and decapitates the men prompting the police to look for him. The hunchback meets up with a mad scientist who’s work isn’t accepted by the general society. The scientist promises the hunchback that he would re-animate the girl’s body if the Hunchback brings him fresh body parts from the graveyard and live victims which he uses to create an ungodly monster.
Review:
The film is focused on Spain’s answer to Boris Karloff/Lon Chaney, Paul Naschy (real name: Jacinto Molina Álvarez), who most famously portrayed the doomed werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky, in a dozen films but featured in a smorgasbord of horror films as well as many other genres.
Hunchback of the Morgue is deliciously over-the-top, the gothic tone and atmospheric underground catacombs a wonderful backdrop to Naschy’s gritted-teeth slap in the face with a wet fish of a performance. Despite the ever-more ludicrous plot, Naschy plays the role with an oddly straight bat giving great empathy for the picked-upon character which is aided by a movie which moves as a rattlingly enjoyable pace.
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The film is not without gore and brief nudity and is one of the strongest Naschy made. Permission was sought to use real corpses to depict the beheadings which, remarkably, was granted but due to practical reasons (Naschy made a mess of it) dummies were eventually used.
The film is also notorious for the use of rats that attacked both Naschy and actress María Elena Arpón and can be seen in the finished film (Naschy had to have shots to prevent rabies afterwards). One scene shows some rats being set on fire.
Hunchback of the Morgue is well worth sticking around to see the diabolical, in all respects, a monster that was created for the bring-the-house-down finale.
Daz Lawrence, MOVIES and MANIA
Other reviews:
“This one really does have it all: decapitations, eviscerations, proclamations (of L-U-V), and just enough grue to please discerning gorehounds. It also has a lot of heart which flows directly from Naschy himself.” Daily Dead
“El jorobado de la morgue is full of the expected illogicalities, particularly when Gotho earns the love, physical as well as emotional, of Rosanna Yanni’s gorgeous Elke – yet still remains mystifyingly hell-bent on resurrecting Ilse […] But none of this matters in a film that draws so much energy from its own absurdity that it has become a bona-fide trash classic.” Jonathan Rigby, Euro Gothic
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“Thanks to this visceral environment, some impressive gore effects, and a memorable final-reel rubber-suit monster, Hunchback of the Morgue is must-see for both new and experienced fans of Spanish horror. It is a movie that endures through the ages because of its moving love story… as well as the horror story that lives inside it.” Rubén Íñiguez, Elena Romea, Hidden Horror
Buy Hidden Horror: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Buy Paul Naschy: Memoirs of a Wolfman from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Notes:
Hunchback of the Morgue was filmed in December 1972 back-to-back with Count Dracula’s Great Love (El gran amor del conde Drácula) using many of the same cast members.
Trailer:
Cast and characters:
Paul Naschy … Wolfgang Gotho
Rosanna Yanni … Elke
Víctor Barrera/Vic Winner … Doctor Frederick Tauchner
María Elena Arpón … Ilse
Manuel de Blas … Police inspector
Antonio Pica … Police inspector
Kino Pueyo … Hans Burgher
Ángel Menéndez … The Commissioner
Fernando Sotuela … Udo
Filming locations:
Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria (village)
Guadarrama, Madrid, Spain
Pelayos de la Sierra, Madrid, Spain
Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Viella, Lérida, Catalonia, Spain
Technical specs:
1 hour 27 minutes
Mono
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
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