Dr Satan
Entry updated 29 May 2023. Tagged: Film.
Mexican film (1966). Producciones Espada S. de R.L.. Directed by Miguel Morayta. Written by Sidney T Bruckner, José María and Fernández Unsáin. Cast includes Judith Ruiz Azcarraga, Quintín Bulnes, Joaquín Cordero, Alma Delia Fuentes and José Gálvez. 92 minutes. Black and white.
Scientist Dr Plutarco Aruzamena (Cordero) kidnaps and kills a beggar by injecting them with XX-36; he then administers XR-6, which revives them. He declares the experiment a success – he has resurrected the dead and can now turn any living being into an obedient Zombies (presumably the two that assist him were created by other means). The beggar, who will not remember a thing, has some money slipped into his pockets and returned to where he was captured. The kidnapping was witnessed, but as the victim is back home Interpol inspector (see Crime and Punishment) Tomás Mateos (Gálvez) dismisses the report: he and his assistant, Nora (Fuentes), have greater concerns – an influx of counterfeit money. However the two matters are not unconnected: Dr Aruzamena's experiments are being funded by the forgers, who now ask him to kill both Rodriguez (Bulnes), a member of their gang who has attracted police attention, and the investigating officer, Mateos.
Dr Aruzamena would rather turn them into zombies, so has Rodriguez poisoned with XX-36, then asks King Devil (see Gods and Demons) to transfer their soul into a small box: later, after injecting him with XR-6, Rodriguez becomes one of the undead. The doctor orders him to kidnap Nora – however, he is frightened off by her crucifix (see Religion). She recognizes Rodriguez, but Mateos does not believe her, so has his coffin opened to prove it could not have been him: it is empty. Their suspicions about Dr Aruzamena grow, and are confirmed when his secretary, Elsa (Azcarraga) – who has been gathering evidence he killed her father – contacts them. Believing the doctor is being held for questioning by Mateos, Nora and Elsa enter his secret rooms, where Nora displays her safe-cracking skills; but Aruzamena returns, having evaded the inspector, and has his zombies chain the pair up whilst he asks – and gains – King Devil's permission to imprison their souls.
Nora had given Elsa a radio alarm watch (see Technology) which had fallen to the floor during their struggles; they manage to fool a zombie – who turns out to be Elsa's father – into pressing the activating button, and Mateos arrives in time to save them from becoming undead. Dr Aruzamena releases his zombies' souls, saying fondly that they will meet again in the afterlife (see Eschatology); he is then arrested by Mateos (who calls him Dr Satan), though he considers this but a minor interruption; and so it proves, as he vanishes in smoke shortly after being imprisoned.
Though Dr Aruzamena achieves physical death and resurrection through scientific methods, he is also a Satanist (it runs in the family), with the manipulation of the soul falling under the purview of the supernatural. Despite an unremarkable ending, this is a memorable Horror film, with the music and atmospheric use of effects creating a suitably ominous mood, particularly when King Devil makes his brief but impressive appearances; there is also a good performance from the handsomely saturnine Cordero.
A sequel, Dr Satán y la Magia Negra ["Dr Satan and Black Magic"] (1968) followed. [SP]
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