BUY IT AT AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Brentwood Home Video
MSRP: $14.98
RATED: R
RUNNING TIME: 83 minutes/ 82 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Booklet with liner notes
• Outtakes from Night of the Bloody Apes
• Still galleries
• Trailers for Night of the Bloody Apes
The Pitch
“We don’t really know much about the things that are possible with modern medicine, but it seems pretty plausible that you could put an ape’s heart in a man’s body and he would be fine. Except that he would transform into a blood ape and wreak havoc in an orgy of destruction. Yep, that’s definitely what would happen.”
The Humans
Old favorites like Ramon Gay, Carlos Lopez Moctezuma, Elvira Ouintana and Jose Elias Moreno
The first step towards becoming a blood ape is developing hairy palms.
The Nutshell
In the thrilling Curse of the Doll People, based on the Tony-award nominated musical of the same name, a group of archaeologists travel to Coombas and steal a sacred idol away from the natives. Of course, there’s a curse attached to the idol and the keeper of the tomb from which the idol was snatched puts his bloody revenge into action.
He commands an entire legion of unholy dolls that do his bidding, which usually equates to stabbing people in the neck with a needle. Given that Andre Toulon already had puppets with six shooters and drills back in World War II, this curse guy is a bit of a slouch. If you’re not going to outfit your puppets with anything cool you might as well just hire some murderous midgets.
Night of the Bloody Apes is a chilling tale of medical science gone wrong. In a desperate effort to save his dying son, a talented doctor replaces his heart with that of an ape. This act causes his son’s head to change into that of an ape and grants him superhuman strength. With a new ghoulish appearance and a thirst for human blood, he effectively becomes what scientists call a bloody ape.
Funky Tut.
The uncontrollable beast runs from house to house in his fashionable velour tracksuit. As the trailer so enthusiastically reiterates at least a dozen times, “he rips, he tears, he claws. It’s an orgy of destruction!” The full potential of the blood ape concept isn’t utilized though, as he never hurls his bloody feces at passer-by or transfers HIV to an unsuspecting victim.
The Package
The two films come on separate double sided disc. The English versions of the films are on one side with the original Spanish versions on the other. You can watch the Spanish versions of the film with English subtitles, but what’s the point when the dubs are half the fun? There’s nothing better than seeing a Mexican wrestler being voiced by a man affecting a British accent.
Both films are lacking in special features, with Curse of the Doll People being totally shafted on the extras front. All it gets is a crummy still gallery while Night of the Bloody Apes gets outtakes and perversely entertaining trailers. The trailer actually repeats the same exact spiel a few times and seems dead set on making you realize what an orgy of destruction this film really is. The trailer is also expertly timed to feature breasts at the pinpoint second the word “orgy” is spoken.
Thanks for helping me with my contact lens. That was really starting to bother me.
The Lowdown
Both of the films included in this set are the type of harmless B-movie garbage that the writers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 would have no trouble riffing on. Curse of the Doll People is a cheap entry into the creepy doll genre that allows filmmakers to put a mask on a midget and save a bunch of money. The American horror film Devil Doll tried a much more serious approach in regards to murderous dolls, but this film has no such aspirations.
The evil and mysterious bohemian villain uses his army of dolls to exact revenge upon those who cross him. Deep inside his lair of evil which features an Egyptian sarcophagus and a disco ball, he brings them to life and arms them with giant needles they use to stab people. The carnage continues for 80 minutes until the greatest power of them all, the almighty Lord, is summoned to defeat the evil.
The only thing that keeps the little people going is their burning hatred for the "normals" and their groins.
Night of the Bloody Apes is less of a cheesy fifties horror flick and more of a Fulci-esque gore film. It even includes a gratuitous eye gouging to make you feel incredibly uncomfortable. Much like Curse of the Doll People, the film just goes on its merry way with directionless violence for 80 minutes until it’s simply time for the film to end and the monster is vanquished.
Both films are from the same school of cheesy drive-in horror and would be right at home on a cheapie 20-dvd set of generic horror films. For the price involved and the quality of the transfers, this two pack is a decent bargain for anyone in the mood for some quick and dirty schlock cinema.