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.
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.