Hunchback of the Morgue
Hunchback of the Morgue
R | 01 September 1975 (USA)
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Hunchback of the Morgue Trailers

A hunchback working in a morgue falls in love with a sick woman. He goes berserk when she dies and seeks help from a scientist to bring her back from the dead.

Reviews
Dynamixor

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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Helloturia

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

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Robert Joyner

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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Roxie

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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BA_Harrison

A surprisingly jaunty theme tune introduces what proves to be one of Paul Naschy's more exploitative and downbeat movies, a gory Gothic tragedy in which the Spanish horror star plays Gotho, a hunchbacked morgue attendant in love with a terminally ill girl named Ilse (María Elena Arpón). When Ilse finally pops her clogs, a grief stricken Gotho steals her body (after brutally killing the doctors who try to half-inch her necklace), and takes her to a subterranean hideaway where he assists a trio of slightly mad scientists to construct a laboratory (in record time) with which they can create life, a process that requires a continuous supply of fresh body parts...Taking its cues from the classic horror novels of Victor Hugo and Mary Shelley, The Hunchback of the Morgue is full of irresistibly silly horror clichés—a sympathetic 'monster', a dusty Spanish Inquisition torture chamber, grave-robbing by moonlight, a sulphuric acid pit—and also benefits from some delightfully tacky special effects: a gory decapitation, a gutsy evisceration, assorted dismemberment, Ilse's corpse being devoured by rats (which, in a shocking moment of genuine animal cruelty, are set on fire by Gotho), and a delightfully daft man-made creature that consumes everything from live frogs to human heads, and ends up looking like a giant walking turd.It all adds up to a whole lot of demented fun, easily the most entertaining Naschy film I've seen so far.

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EyeAskance

Paul Naschy plays a hunchback morgue attendant who loves a terminally ill woman. When she dies, he takes her body to a filthy subterranean torture chamber(where rats eat away her face), and implores a nut-case scientist to resurrect her. He agrees, and the two begin an experiment which(naturally) requires various body parts(donated generously by murder victims). Said experiment yields a mushy, growling primordial entity, ever-starved for human flesh.This over-the-top cheap thrill ride plays out like a classic vintage horror melodrama, but is loaded with pretty gross gore spots. A weird and worthy slice of old-school film trash. As they say-- they sure don't make them like this anymore.5.5/10

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Scott Mosley (Legba)

Even though it doesn't feature one, I can't think of a better example than HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE for a film capturing an all-encompassing feeling of atmosphere and oddity that surrounded those side show carnivals that were equal parts curiosity, repulsion, and pathos for the things paraded on display. FREAKS has the revenge tale morality of its real life freaks covered, carrying with them a sense of uneasy understanding and likability. But HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE is more designed like one of those things in a jar that pits your stomach against your lunch like it used to when you saw a preserved human limb suspended in a laboratory vat, while also being inspired by Naschy's own unnerving personal experience with a miss-fortuned humpback. There is no denying the exploitative nature of the attractions.HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE invites the viewer from its opening polka like musical theme, to a seemingly sleepy little Austrian town in the fall or summer depending on what version you see, but it was shot in the summer. Paul Naschy plays the titular hunchback Gotho, who works at the local morgue 'cleaning' up and falls in love with Ilsa, a young women at the infirmary who eventually dies. He meets a deranged scientist who promises to help bring Gotho's love back if he'll supply his experiment - in Burke and Hare fashion - with fresh cadaver parts.Like director Javier Aguirre's other Naschy vehicle COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE, the star is painted as sympathetic and world weary from his lot in life, but who's prone to indefensible acts with corpses also, and like a malignancy his madness grows from his obsession to restore Ilsa. The film works off this to a delirious pitch shifting from sick dismemberment, heart felt romanticism, obligatory female nudity, and scaling stunt theatrics at the drop of a hat; with Naschy supplying one of his most physical performances. Cobble this with the authentic air of subterranean catacombs from The Crusades as a backdrop for the depravity that poses a genuine stench of decay and mystery, as science takes the place of religion blinded by its own power, and shot in an expressionistic style for optimum effect.The film never loses sight that it's an anomaly of the absurd though, embracing it to the very end when the thing in the jar breaks loose in a folly of gelatinous mass. Whatever it is hardly matters, its fitful existence doomed by the hands of its creator. A suitable hodge-podge of every mad doctor film that came before it, Hugo's Quasimodo, with characteristic elements of over the top dramatics and carnality that signified Naschy's unbridled charm. Just pull back the curtain...9/10

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matt zodiac

Paul Naschy is great in this gory and old-fashioned horror flick. He plays the soft-spoken and (initially) gentle morgue attendant who is in love with a terminally ill patient in the hospital. She is the only person in the hospital who is nice to him, and he brings her flowers every day until she inevitably dies, and ends up in the morgue. Naschy loses it, and takes her corpse into a hidden cave. Once a mad doctor discovers Naschy's secret, he blackmails him into supplying bodies for his ghoulish experiments. This film is imaginative and fun. In one scene, Naschy is attacked by lots of (real) rats. There's plenty of gore too, and the ending is outrageous.

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