Dr. Arozamena AKA Dr. Satan (Joaquin Cordero) makes zombies. He kills people with a serum called XX-34 and then brings them back to life using a different serum XR-6. He must give the victim the second injection within 48 hours of the first injection or the victim will die permanently. He wants to make lots of zombies and take over the world. Dr. Satan worships the devil and has made a pact with him.

Dr. Satan is also involved in a counterfeit money ring. An agent from the ring named Luisa (Gina Romand) visits Dr. Satan to tell him he is doing good work but a man named Rodriguez (Quintin Bulnes) is not holding up his part of the bargain. Dr. Satan is assigned to kill him. Dr. Satan is OK with that.

Luisa also tells him that there is an Interpol Inspector Tomas Mateos (Jose Galvez) that is snooping around. Mateos has an assistant Nora (Alma Delia Fuentes) that helps him in his investigations. Dr. Satan believes that Mateos may have to be dealt with too. As for Rodriguez instead of killing him Dr. Satan suggests that he be turned into a zombie. Luisa thinks this is a sexy idea.

While Dr. Satan is playing with his zombie and Luisa, his secretary Elsa (Judith Ruiz Azcarraga) is spying on him. It seems that her father went missing at some point and she suspects Dr. Satan of being involved. She has spent a lot of time making recordings of his conversations and even made copies of his keys. She goes to Nora and offers her services.

Nora and Elsa go to Dr. Satan’s office and look for evidence. They find his underground laboratory, his serums and some counterfeit money. Nora thinks she has hit the jackpot and can now bring charges against the doctor. At least until Dr. Satan catches them and sics his zombies on them. One of them being Elsa’s father.

You do get to see the devil a couple times but only in shadow. Still it’s a cool looking shadow and pretty much like most people’s idea of what a devil should look like.

“Dr. Satan” was released in 1966 and was directed by Miguel Morayta. It is a Mexican crime/horror film.

I don’t think it’s ever been dubbed or subtitled. There may be a fan based subtitled bootleg out there somewhere, otherwise, brush up on your Spanish. The quality of the film is also not the best but since there are no restorations in the foreseeable future then what’s out there will have to do.

The movie was interesting. The plot wasn’t complicated so much as it was varied. Satan, zombies and a counterfeiting crime drama are an interesting combination. Not too many criminal world characters have zombies for henchmen. The spooky sets in the underground lair and in the woods and cemetery give the film a vampiresque vibe that adds to the seriousness of Cordero’s performance. Cordero himself is quite the evil Satanist scientist. He is wonderful as the grave robbing zombie master.

There are a bunch of Dr. Satans out there. In 1966 the American made serial “The Mysterious Dr. Satan” was edited into a television movie. That one had a robot. There is also a character in “House of 1000 corpses” 2003 that was called Dr. Satan so it may be a little difficult to find anything on the Mexican variety.

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