ferbs54 From the jaunty circus music that plays during its opening credits to the closing shot of a steaming, bubbling pit of sulfuric acid, "The Hunchback of the Morgue," a Spanish offering from 1973, literally busts a gut to please the jaded horror fan. Cowritten and starring "The Boris Karloff of Spain," Paul Naschy, the film is a wildly over-the-top, cheesy affair that yet succeeds in its primary intentions: to stun and entertain the viewer. In it, Naschy plays the title character, Wolfgang Gotho, a hunchbacked janitor in the morgue of the Feldkirch Hospital, in what the viewer must infer is Germany, in modern times (although the film, with very minor revisions, could just as easily have been set 200 years ago). Shunned, reviled and even stoned by the town's populace, Gotho's only joy in life is bringing flowers to Ilse, a beautiful young woman in the hospital who is dying of some unspecified lung disease, and played by the luscious Maria Elena Arpon. When Ilse ultimately does expire, the distraught Gotho steals her body, hides it in the subterranean crypts (once a torturer's lair during the Inquisition) conveniently near the hospital, and asks the head man at Feldkirch, Dr. Orla (Alberto Dalbes), for assistance in bringing the dead lovely back to the land of the living. Orla agrees, but on one condition: that Gotho will help him in his experiments to create artificial life....As I said, "THOTM" really goes out of its way to present itself as some kind of total horror show. The film boasts any number of satisfyingly tacky grossout effects, including some slit throats, various dismemberments, decapitations, a nasty ax blow to the stomach (as mentioned, literally busting a gut!), rats, rats on fire (apparently, some animals really WERE harmed in the making of this picture!), rats nibbling on corpses, acid-melted bodies, a gruesome iron-maiden spiking and on and on. The creature that Orla creates, at first shown as a large jar of quivering viscera feeding on human heads, ultimately morphs into yet another pleasing horror image: a humanoid entity that looks like a glob of melted mud! Naschy is quite fine as the simpleminded Gotho, even eliciting viewer sympathy for the grotesque character, despite his murderous tendencies; the early scenes between Gotho and Ilse are actually fairly touching, and even--dare I say it--a bit poetic! Besides the catchy circus music that opens the film, composer Carmelo Bernaola has also provided a morbid, dirgelike piece that permeates the picture very appropriately, and director Javier Aguirre does a better than competent job at creating an atmosphere of decay and unease. On a personal note, as an old fan of horror great H.P. Lovecraft, I must automatically give extra Brownie points to any film that mentions the "Necronomicon," as this one so cleverly does. "THOTM" may be some kind of perfect film to watch with your favorite 12-year-old nephew, who will surely delight at the loopiness of the plot and the film's many yucky visuals.As for the Mya DVD that I recently viewed this picture on, it looks good enough, I suppose, if a tad dark in sections, but sports subtitles (for the English, Spanish and Italian language options) that have been very poorly rendered and, in spots, amusingly translated. Thus, in one scene, Elke--a beautiful psychologist at a women's prison from which Gotho is abducting some victims, and played by Rossana Yani--says to Gotho, "I'll medicate your wounds." But at least the DVD comes with more extras than you might expect to accompany a film of this nature. Bottom line: a highly pleasing horror outing, one that I have a, um, hunch that you'll enjoy, although not terribly scary. Indeed, the film's single most frightening scene might occur at the very outset: the sight of one of Gotho's future victims downing TWO gallon-sized glasses of beer in rapid succession. Now THAT'S scary!

Ben Larson Paul Naschy stars in a version of Frankenstein that features a bit more gore than the original.He is a hunchback in love with a dying girl (María Elena Arpón), who is the only one who treats him decently. After her death, he enlists the help of a mad scientist that promises to reanimate her. He is, however, only interested in creating life a la Dr. Frankenstein, and has Gotho (Naschy) running all over for body parts.The film features decapitation, spilling guts, and rat scenes that are all the more creepy when you know they are real.Fans of Eurohorror will find much to enjoy here.

Witchfinder General 666 Is "The Hunchback of the Morgue" the greatest film of Spanish Exploitation icon Paul Naschy? One of the greatest without a doubt, and probably my personal favorite, as this highly atmospheric, creepy and incredibly entertaining Gothic gem unites all qualities that we love about Naschy flicks. Personally, I've been a fan of the prolific Spanish Horror deity for years, and while most of his films don't usually qualify as 'good', they are usually immensely entertaining. Javier Aguirre's "El Jorobado De La Morgue" aka. "The Hunchback of the Morgue" of 1973 was a fantastic surprise to me, as this wonderful little film is both entertaining in the typical Naschy-manner, AND an actually very good film of its own right. One of the great aspects about Naschy flicks is that they usually unite the creepy mood and settings of atmospheric Gothic tales with typical exploitation qualities such as gore and sleaze, and, out of all his films I've seen, this one is the greatest example for that. My admiration for "The Hunchback of the Morgue" may seem exaggerated to some, for a film like this that is doubtlessly not flawless. It is, however, a rare film that is so successful in creating a rich and genuinely creepy atmosphere, the intriguing storyline of a classic Horror tale and typical exploitation qualities from an obviously low budget as this one does."The Hunchback of the Morgue" terrifically narrates a traditional Horror story in the delightful form of a Creepy and quite gory Naschyesque Gothic Exploitation flick. In classic Horror tradition, the eponymous hunchback Gotho (Naschy) is a murderous yet tragic, pitiable and almost likable character. A man of low intelligence and ugly appearance, Gotho, who works at the morgue, is despised by most people, except the beautiful Ilse (María Elena Arpón). Driven by his immortal love to this terminally ill beauty, Gotho responds to kindness with kindness, to humiliation with murderous violence. The obsessed scientist Dr. Orla (Alberto Dalbes) decides to use the hunchback for his sinister goals... No role has ever suited Paul Naschy better than that of the eponymous hunchback Gotho. Naschy seems predestined to play morgue employees and gravediggers - in the runner-up on the list of my favorite Naschy-films, "La Orgia De Los Muertos" from the same year, he plays a deranged gravedigger. The role of Gotho here is, in my opinion, the greatest he ever played, since he is truly deranged, yet at the same time pitiable and even likable. Jess Franco flick regular Alberto Dalbés is great in the role of the unscrupulous scientist. The supporting performances are actually also very good for a film of the kind. The ravishing Rosanna Yanni is sexy and lovable in the role of Elke, a woman who, unlike others, treats the hunchback with kindness. The film is terrifically shot in the great setting of a small town in the mountains (in the film, the name is "Feldkirch", but I don't think it is meant to be the town of the same name in my home country Austria). Settings like old houses, dark alleys, castle ruins, subterranean crypts and secret passages give the film a great Gothic mood, which is increased by a very good cinematography and score. The gore is pretty intense, with some truly gruesome scenes. The film isn't actually very sleazy, nudity occurs only once, briefly, by Rosanna Yanni (***drool***). It is undeniable that the plot has holes and sometimes lacks logic - but that has to be expected in a Naschy flick. Overall, "The Hunchback of the Morgue" is, in my opinion, the Naschy film that has the greatest storyline AND the most intense atmosphere. The mood often resembles the style of other Gothic films, such as those by the British Hammer Studios, but, again, with a typically Spanish touch. All things considered, "The Hunchback of the Morgue" is my personal favorite Paul Naschy film, and also one of the most outrageously enjoyable Spanish Gothic Horror productions from the early 70s. No true lover of cult-cinema should miss it!

Michael_Elliott Hunchback of the Morgue (1972) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A deformed hunchback (Paul Naschy) is picked on by everyone except for a beautiful woman. When that woman dies the hunchback goes to a scientist in hopes that he can bring her back to life. The doctor says he can but in return he wants the hunchback to do some killing for him. Loosely based on Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue, the film also mixes in elements of Frankenstein and the end result is a rather entertaining movie that works on several levels but the biggest is the fact that the movie is just downright nasty at times and it takes pleasure in it. HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE offers Naschy a tasty role and he really delivers.The film works best as long as you don't take it too serious or go into it expecting some sort of art film. I mean, the movie is pretty sleazy throughout but things get really crazy during the second half when we get all sorts of strange violence from body parts being cut off to guts pour out and there are even rats eating faces. All of the gore is handled quite well and the overall sleazy nature of it perfect fits the atmosphere of the movie as well as the beautiful set design.As far as Naschy goes, he got to play just about every monster possible and this here was certainly his most sympathetic role, which is shocking when you consider that this character is a murderer. I thought the actor did a very good job in the role and the sympathetic nature was a major plus. The supporting cast are all fine as well but there's no question that the picture belongs to Naschy.