Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 103 Minutes
Audio: Spanish DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Michael Skaife (Miguel Madrid)
Cast: David Rocha, Helga Liné, Inma de Santis, Elisenda Ribas Marina Ferri, Lupe Rocha
Set in France, but shot in Spain, the Spanish psychological-trauma arthouse thriller The Killer of Dolls (1974) concerns a young man named Paul (David Rocha, Night of the Werewolf) who lives with his father, the gardener on a lovely estate belonging to Countess Olivia (Helga Liné, The Mummy’s Revenge). Paul's just been thrown out of medical school at the start of the film because of his blood phobia, returning home he seems only to happy to stay in his room and cut apart the many dolls that are littering his room, performing make-believe surgeries on them, extracting their hearts. He makes a new friend in youngster Robert (Rafael 'Indio' González Jr.), a kid who also happens to love cutting apart dolls. As the youngster and Paul hang out it becomes clear that Paul is a very strange young man, even stranger than has already been established, stemming from psychological trauma dating back to the death of a sibling years earlier, with a very strange upbringing that recalled 80's slasher Sleepaway Camp (1983) and a mannequin motif that brought to mind elements of William Lustig's gritty psycho-thriller Maniac (1980).
When Paul's parents leave for vacation they leave him in charge of the estate gardens, and Olivia the estate owner begins immediately comes around lusting after the young man, but so to does her lovely daughter Audrey (Inma de Santis, Devil's Exorcist), with the estate owner becoming a bit irate when Paul won't give in to her Mrs. Robinson styled seduction. It's weird stuff all around already, and then there's a voyeuristic
masked-killer stalking the estate wearing a white porcelain mask who is murdering love-lorn visitors to the estate's botanical gardens.
Kudos to David Rocha for a wildly unhinged and off-kilter performance, he's so very strange and a bit flamboyant, his way of moving is overly-dramatic and oddball, I found myself fascinated by his quirky portrayal, though I could see his performance making or breaking the film for some, but it worked for me.
The film certainly has a bit of a Spanish giallo feel to it, including a very cool score from Alfonso Santisteban (The Mummy's Revenge), but the identity of the killer here is never really in question, becoming more of a psychological study than a proper whodunit, but delivering the goods with a stylish and quirky production from director Miguel Madrid under the pseudonym Michael Skaife.
Audio/Video: The Killer of Dolls (1974) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro with a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. There's a disclaimer warning of poor storage conditions for the elements over the years, plus the use of some standard-def inserts, but overall it's hard to complain about the viewing experience. Colors are impressive, blacks are decent and there's some nice grain presence throughout the presentation.
Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono with newly created optional English subtitles. It's fairly clean and sounds good, there are source limitations but it's a solid enough track.
Extras include a pair of audio commentaries, the first with Kat Ellinger who does her usual bang-up job, getting into the voyeurism and psycho-sexuality of the film, and touching on how it borrows from the Italian giallo film. The second commentary comes from Robert Monell and Rod Barnett, I've only previewed it a bit this time around but it seemed solid.
Actor David Rocha shows up for a 25-min interviews, discussing his self-predicted suicide, working with the director to fine-tune the psychology of his strange character, the controversy surrounding his nudity, and how his sister and brother were also cast in the film.
Dr Antonio Lázaro-Reboll, author of the book Spanish Horror Film, gets a tasty two-part interview that spans 49-min speaking about Spanish horror in general before focusing in on this very strange film. The disc is buttoned-up with an always entertaining 11-min MM trailer reel.
MM offer a great set of extras that that I found thoroughly interesting, not only do we get a cool history of Spanish horror from a scholar and a pair of commentaries, but we also get Rocha himself commenting on the film, and he is such a strange and unique presence in it that it makes the release. The single-disc release arrives on region-free Blu-ray from MM with a single-sided sleeve of artwork that I think is an original movie poster illustration.
Special Features:
- NEW Interview with actor David Rocha (25 min)
- NEW Interview with Dr Antonio Lázaro-Reboll, author of the book Spanish Horror Film (49 min)
- NEW Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger
- NEW Audio commentary by Robert Monell and Rodney Barnett
- Mondo Macabro Trailer Reel (11 min)
The Killer of Dolls (1974) is a gem of a Spanish psychological-horror entry with a fascinatingly weird performance from David Rocha, a strange doll motif, plus some nifty break-from-reality hallucinations that make this obscure film stand-out. If you're looking for Spanish horror beyond the films of Paul Naschy and Jess Franco, and you dig weird arthouse cinema of the psychologically
fascinating variety, this off-kilter thriller should have plenty of appeal.