Crimson, the Color of Blood (1976)

• Year: 1976
• Released: 07 Jun 1976
• Country: Spain, France
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070593/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crimson_the_color_of_blood
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: Spanish, French
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Horror
• Runtime: 87 min
• Writer: Juan Fortuny, Marius Lesoeur, H.L. Rostaine
• Director: Juan Fortuny
• Cast: Paul Naschy, Silvia Solar, Olivier Mathot

4.3/10

Crimson, the Color of Blood Storyline

A mad doctor performs a head transplant on an injured criminal, which results in him being even more dangerous and murderous than before.

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Crimson, the Color of Blood Movie Reviews

Robbers and mad scientists in this vivid Spanish chiller thriller

Despite its obscure status, CRIMSON is actually a fairly tight little crime thriller with touches of science fiction (the brain-transferral plot harks back to ’40s B-movies) and horror to make it watchable for the genre fan, and a gem of a film in my opinion. There’s plenty of interest going on in this movie and the machinations of a small, but well-drawn cast mainly located in one location make for a pretty gripping movie. It’s also a rather sleazy one, especially with one leading character’s reputation for being a sexual pervert.

Sadly the British release has been cut by 13 seconds which I can only assume may be scenes of open brain surgery or alternatively some of the sexual moments – and rumours also abound of a “harder” version of the film existing somewhere in France. Thankfully these cuts don’t affect what is a suspenseful little movie, one of those films where every character is on the verge of having a nervous breakdown, and you can feel the violence simmering and ready to erupt at any moment. That’s what gives CRIMSON its own hard edge.

The film puts us right into the middle of the action as Spanish genre icon Paul Naschy attempts to break into a safe. Unfortunately, his fellow accomplice, Karl, is a bit of a goon and decides to take a pearl necklace for himself. Uh-oh, the necklace was a decoy and the alarms go off, forcing the gang to escape by car. Along the way, Naschy is somehow shot in the head, the bullet lodging into his brain. The commanding Henry – a tough but honourable gangster – takes over and immediately enlists the help of Doctor Ritter, a washed-up alcoholic who in turn takes the gang to the country retreat owned by an eminent Professor and his family. After blackmailing the Professor and his wife (in a twist somewhat reminiscent of FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL, the Professor’s hands have been destroyed, so his wife must perform all the surgery herself under his instruction), a fresh brain is needed for a brain transplant, and a rival gangster – known only as “The Sadist” – is decided up as being the ideal, if unwilling, donor.

What follows is a blackly comic scene of Karl and a fellow thug laying the deceased Sadist’s body on a train track and waiting for a train to come past, which it does, and watching as the severed head bounces down a dirt bank towards them – there’s something you don’t see every day. After a tense brain transplant, which is totally successful, Henry – the eminent joker – sends the Sadist’s head to his girlfriend, wrapped in wrapping paper. From then on, the Sadist’s men, demanding revenge, surround the house in which the gang are hiding and the body count gradually rises until just about the entire cast has been decimated by the end of the movie!

The film’s main strength is in its well-drawn characters, most of them acting believably which gives a high level of realism. Paul Naschy (or Jacinto Molina, whichever you prefer) is as great as ever as the recipient of the Sadist’s brain, with a fairly static first half – he spends most of it in bed or on an operating table – leading to a dramatic conclusion, Once again he has a distinct, bandage-wrapped appearance which makes him look like one of Hammer’s Frankenstein creatures. The supporting cast are all pretty good too, with glamour from Silvia Solar and Gilda Arancio as the women involved, and especially Carlos Otero as the sympathetic drunken doctor who gets caught up in the crimes. However, acting honours must go to Olivier Mathot (THE DEVIL’S KISS), who is frankly excellent as the gang leader, creating a truly ruthless and tough bad guy you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Despite a minor amount of blood and violence, CRIMSON isn’t really a horror film, although it was advertised that way. Instead it’s an extremely tense hostage drama with a volatile atmosphere and good camera-work done on a low budget – the scene in which Karl finds his friend hanging in the air is superbly shot and done in a really creepy fashion. With a budget this low, the editing is pretty poor and the dubbing unbelievable, but these are minor niggles for the genre fan – I’m just glad it made its way into the English-speaking world, unlike a number of Naschy’s other minor thrillers and non-horror productions. This is thrilling, sometimes sleazy, grimly comic stuff and recommended to all.

The Naschy with the Severed Head

I remember stumbling upon this film a couple of years ago on a cheap looking DVD edition under the appealing title “The Man with the Severed Head”, but without any type of additional info like cast members, year of release or plot synopsis. Since I couldn’t trace the film around here on this website, or any other website for that matter, I didn’t want to risk a blind purchase. Now I found this film with the exact same cover image, released under the acclaimed “Euroshock Collection” label and with the box proudly exclaiming Paul Naschy’s name as the lead star, so this time there weren’t any more excuses not to watch it! I consider myself to be a big fan of Paul Naschy, in spite of his gigantic ego and his often terribly inept and gratuitously sleazy Spanish film productions. In case you are just even slightly familiar with Naschy’s usual repertoire, you will notice straight away that “Crimson” is an extremely atypical film for him. Naschy literally loves himself and he’s always profiled as a powerful, strong and womanizing type of anti-hero. Here in this film “Naschy” hardly has anything to do or say, as his character lies half-dead in bed most of the time because most of his brains were blown out by the police during a failed jewelery theft. I honestly wonder why Naschy even accepted this type of inferior role in a movie he didn’t even co-wrote or directed himself.

“Crimson” isn’t necessarily a bad film, but horror and Euro-sleaze fans should definitely beware as there are hardly any gore elements and absolutely no nudity. Yeah, I have no idea what that’s all about neither. This was mid 70’s and European exploitation production, right? Instead of all this, writer/director Juan Fortuny attempts to come up with an ambitious and extremely convoluted mixture of heist movie, revenge thriller and mad scientist shlock. Following the heist gone wrong mentioned here above, Jack Surnett’s gang members don’t want their leader to die and force a drunken doctor to come up with a solution. He brings the whole posse to a secluded place in the countryside, where a brilliant scientist and his wife are on the verge of accomplishing a breakthrough in their brain transplant experiments. As the involuntary brain donor, the gangsters select Surnett’s arch enemy – a guy named “The Sadist” and acting like one too – and hope that a happy ending will ensue. Needless to say the operation doesn’t go as planned and Surnett doesn’t wake up as the man he once was. “Crimson” is an odd and difficult to categorize exploitation effort. It’s reasonably fast-paced and mildly compelling, but still there’s a lot of redundant footage and unnecessary dull sub plots (like the love history between the scientist and his wife, the distrust and hostility between the gang members mutually, etc…). The absence of actual horror aspect and bloody killing sequences is a huge disappointment, especially since the DVD cover showcases some promisingly bloody tableaux. The delirious jazzy soundtrack is great and some of the supportive cast members deliver splendid performances, like The Sadist and the double-crossing dude with the sleazy mustache. Worth a look if you’re into curious and offbeat European exploitation cinema, but nothing really special.

What will become of me now?

I am a Paul Naschy fan and he is always worth watching.

No, this will not garner any awards, but I bet it is on Quentin Tarantino’s shelf. A perfect combination of crime and horror and a bit of Frankenstein thrown in, this is the perfect film to sit around and get drunk to with a group of friends.

Silvia Solar, Euro-trash veteran, and remembered for her role in at least one video nasty, is the wife of a mad scientist (Ricardo Palmerola), called upon to save Naschy, who was injured in a botched robbery.

They have to find a brain for a transplant. These hardened killers don’t want to cut the head off the person they found, so they put him on train tracks to let the train do it. LOL Gilda Arancio (Zombie Lake) plays Naschy’s girl, and plays a crucial part in getting the head they need, as she used to be the girlfriend of The Sadist (Roberto Mauri), the man who’s brain they took.

Things don’t turn out as planned – do they ever? The Sadist brain turns Naschy into a madman.

Just pure fun.