Curse of the Doll People is an early 60’s Mexican horror film dubbed in English, about 4 men who are cursed by a voodoo witch doctor for stealing a sacred idol from his temple.
After the men brag about stealing a voodoo idol at a cocktail party, they all begin to drop dead one at a time. A doctor couple set about to solve the mystery of their deaths. The wife doctor, Karen, is convinced that the deaths are the result of black magic brought on by a voodoo curse for stealing the idol. Her husband continues to be skeptical, convinced that there’s a rational explanation. As more murders occur, they are eventually lead to a mystery man who’s been sending large dolls to all of the victims prior to their deaths. The doctor soon begins to suspect that maybe his wife’s theory isn’t so far fetched.
This movie is completely ridiculous. The dubbed voice actors all deliver their lines with flat, monotone performances, as if they are simply reading off a page. The dolls are midgets wearing cheesy masks. The entire thing plays like one of those action serials from the 1940’s and less like a horror movie, with lots of scenes of the characters babbling about voodoo, curses and the unknown. Karen the doctor just so happens to be an expert on black magic, and pretty much solves the mystery with very few scenes showing how she came to those conclusions. Some of the “dolls” have creepy faces, but their scenes are so absurd that you’ll find yourself giggling instead of gasping. There’s also a zombie that looks like a primate with a shriveled up face, and the witch doctor is a hoot with his long hair, bulging eyes, and arrogant manner. The flick can get a bit dull at times due to the by the numbers plot, but there’s enough silly elements to make it watchable. A few alcoholic beverages might help. I watched this absurd thing on YouTube.
The next entry in my retro Mexican horror double feature was The Monster Demolisher, about a Professor who matches wits with a sinister vampire.
Professor Dolan and his assistant Anthony are convinced that the vampire Nostradamus is alive and up to sinister shenanigans. Nostradamus appears to Dolan and makes threats to kill a boy and a man condemned to die. Dolan desperately tries to convince his colleagues that are part of an organization to combat superstitious beliefs of the existence of the vampire, but they are skeptical of the Professor’s claims, so Dolan and his assistant take it upon themselves to combat his undead nemesis. They eventually cross paths with a man named Igor, who comes from a long line of vampire hunters. He, too, is hunting Nostradamus, so they partner up to destroy the vampire once and for all.
This movie is fun and entertaining, featuring bat transformations, a hunchback named Leo who’s the servant of Nostradamus, crypts, black magic and the reviving of the dead. The English dubbing, paired with the dramatic music, makes the film unintentionally hilarious. The actor who plays the vampire chews up the scenery with his campy performance, and the subplots with the vampire’s schemes to kill a young boy, send his hunchback to try and kidnap the Professor’s daughter, and the storyline involving the condemned man help to keep the plot engaging. The hunchback disappears halfway through the film and is never seen again, and the “climactic” ending is quite abrupt, feeling like they ran out of film and needed to resolve everything quickly. Seeing as the movie had a few seconds left, I was sure the ending was somehow cut, but then they defeated Nostradamus in such an easy and absurd way that I burst out laughing. That was just one of the many aspects that made this silly thing so enjoyable. This was also streamed on YouTube.
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