'Extra, extra, another woman killed by the Mad Doctor.'
Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
'Boooo, well join in, Boooo!'
Requested by one of our Patreon Shadows, Doctor of Doom is one of a series of films Rene Cardona made in the sixties,
mixing horror subjects with women’s wrestling.
Gloria Venus is one such wrestler,
Although I think she’s cheating wearing that helmet.
While her sister Alice works in the lab of Professor Wright.
‘Surely you have read all about that criminal killer in the city, they call the mad doctor?’
This mad doctor is abducting women.
And…
‘Police found marks showing the brain had been removed from the girl’s body.’
In the best traditions of mad doctors he’s conducting experiments on his victims,
that could have gone better.
‘Another failure and that makes the 4th one’
Maybe I should stop.
But he has had one success.
‘I’ve done what no one else has been able to do, I’ve transplanted a gorilla’s brain into a living human being.’
I say ‘success’.
So, what’s going wrong now?
‘All the brains we’ve tried to transplant up to now have come from totally uneducated women.’
the doctor’s assistant, Boris, is a bit of a snob.
‘And their IQs were extremely low’
You put a gorilla’s brain into a man’s body, but yeah, they’re the stupid ones.
Why focus on women?
‘In my opinion, the female of the species reacts more positively in these experiments. For many biological reasons’
Ooh, ‘biological reasons’, he's got all the terminology.
Keen to try out their experiment on a better class of woman,
the professor’s goons and Gomar the ape man kidnap Alice.
But…
'She's not going to pull through. She's dying.'
Another one down.
'One failure after another.'
‘The operation is tremendously difficult’
Don’t beat yourself up about it, this is hard.
Boris now has another idea.
‘Perhaps a stronger type of woman, an athlete’
We tried a nerd, next time we go with a jock,
didn’t this one have a sister?
Just pop out and pick her up.
The police have their own, nuanced take on this.
‘I only say that his criminal is disconcerting’
Criminal is believed to be armed and disconcerting.
Beyond that they are first baffled...
'I'm at a loss to find any motivation.'
and then horny.
‘Tommy wants to take you to supper and dancing.’
We’ve got some questions about your dead sister but as long we’re here.
‘I feel so safe and protected’
Gloria Venus and her friend Golden Ruby are used as bait, and it works.
Almost too well.
Policemen Mike and Tommy rush to their aid.
‘Where are the others, lets get going. Cha cha cha. Ghostie!’
They succeed in apprehending Boris.
‘So it’s you’
And I’d have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you pesky wrestlers.
But the mad doctor escapes and his identity remains a mystery,
'My experiment must not be held up, so you're going to look for another woman.'
mainly because he really overdoes the surgical mask.
‘Ha, ha, ha! Once again I make the police look like fools’
Not that difficult. Although Tommy is punching well above his weight.
‘You’re the marvellous one you lovely redhead’
‘I’d say the same thing about you, you five foot lightning bolt’
Next, the cops themselves end up caught.
'What's this?'
Shall we call for back up? Nah, just radio the wrestlers we’re dating.
‘You’d better hurry honey or we’re not going to be able to walk to the altar together’
‘Don’t say such things, small hero, I’ll be there like white lighting’
They are a weird couple.
In the ensuing melee the mad doctor takes acid to the face,
and…
‘The laboratory is going to blow up soon. There’s nothing we can do for this man’
Let him burn. It’s the only humane way.
'Hurry. get me out of here.'
Although the fact that Gomar rescues the doctor two minutes later does make me think they could have done more.
'My only desire is to make that girl pay for what she did to me.'
Now we learn the identity of the doctor.
‘It’s you’
Okay , now.
‘And then, my venegeance’
Mad Professor Wright now takes the gorilla brain out of Gomar and puts it into a woman.
‘She’s alive! She’s alive!’
Nice that it worked when he needed it to.
His plan is to make this new creature a masked wrestler.
‘Your name is Vendetta. Vendetta’
Who will be the instrument of his revenge.
‘Yes, a legal killing in the ring for all the audience to see’
Controlled by hypnosis.
‘And now I’ll transmit orders to you, although I’ll stay at a very great distance’
and, I’ve got to say, a mad scientist getting revenge for his disfigurement
by putting a gorilla’s brain into a hypnotised woman then entering her into wrestling match is why we do Dark Corners.
‘Destroy that table there, do as I say.’
now humiliate the sideboard,
'In this corner, the champion of our country Gloria Venus.'
and so to the big match.
‘Alright, these are the rules…’
Uh, the rules? No? Fine, see if I care.
The Professor controls Vendetta.
‘Run... get back… run faster’
Vengeance right on track.
Actually… it goes very well until he is spotted and…
‘Leave the ring, come to me I need you’
For some reason takes Vendetta with him,
which makes no sense and yet is still only the second dumbest thing he does,
as the pair escape up a water tower.
Now what do we do?
Rene Cardona actually remade this film 6 years later as Night of the Bloody Apes,
which we reviewed years ago and is officially our worst performing review.
'This is horrible.'
So after you’re done with this, why not give that a watch.
‘All the lengths that people will go to attract publicity to themselves’
Ah, lighten up, we don’t get that many views to start with.
'There is a strong possibility that you're right.'
Thanks for watching. Please dropkick the like button.
There’s a bunch of wrestling/horror films, what other sport horror mash-ups would you like to see?
Let us know in the comments below.
'Anyone leaving here needs my permission.'