Andres (Victor Junco) is married to Marlene (Regina Torne) and they are very much in love. When Andres has an attack he insists on seeing mad scientist Dr. Favel (John Carradine). Favel’s diagnosis is that Andres has cancer. Favel tells Marlene that he can help her husband. When his treatment ends up killing Andres, Favel says has a way to bring him back to life and puts him in a state of suspended animation. He says in order to help Andres he needs fresh young blood cells. Marlene is not crazy about Favel but will do anything to help her husband so she volunteers. When Favel takes her blood cells Marlene has a reaction that disfigures her face. Once again Favel says he can fix it but he needs more fresh young blood cells. He tells her that he needs all of someone’s blood so she will have to kill to get it.
Marlene is a fashion designer of the ugliest fashions I’ve ever seen in my life. She has dozens of models working for her that have lots of fresh young blood cells. Her partner is Tony Winter (Miguel Angel Alvarez). Tony is married to Patricia (Alicia Ravel) but is having an affair with a model named Lisa (Isela Vega). Marlene overhears Tony say that his wife will be walking in the park. Marlene goes to the park and garrotes Patricia. She then pumps out all her blood and brings it to Dr. Favel. The effect only lasts so long and Marlene is in need of another transfusion of fresh young blood cells. This time she targets Lisa. She stabs Lisa, drains her blood and frames Tony.
Back at Dr. Favel’s place, when Favel’s hunchback assistant Laor (Carlos Ancira) makes a pass at her he accidentally knocks over the bottle of blood breaking it. Marlene must go out and kill again. Marlene is now a fully fledged serial killer.
“La Senora Muerta” AKA “Madame Death” was released in 1969 and was directed by Jaime Salvador. It is a Mexican horror movie. It’s an unusual combination of low budget mad scientist movie and sophisticated slasher film.
Many American stars did films in Mexico. Most of them at the end of their careers and living off their former name status. Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. did it. So did John Carradine, who did a lot of crap but in the most magnificent of Shakespearian ways. In this film, however, his voice is dubbed into Spanish and subtitled into English so it loses a little of its punch. Carradine had been in Mexico to do a movie with Basil Rathbone called “Autopsia de un fantasma” or “Autopsy of a Ghost”. Not too long after filming Rathbone passed away. Carradine stayed in Mexico and did a few more Mexican pictures.
Some of the acting is a little stiff and the special effects scream low budget. It also starts out a little slow but picks up quite nicely once Marlene gets going. Regina Torne as the tortured Marlene is actually really good. At first she’s a regular uptight business woman but once she becomes disfigured and her husband is in suspended animation she goes from boring to mentally unbalanced and quite conflicted. She doesn’t want to kill but she will do whatever she has to do to help her husband. She’s the most sympathetic serial killer ever.
Another sympathetic character is the hunchback and deformed assistant Laor. He goes from an attempted rapist to a deeply remorseful and pathetic man who is willing to give his blood to the woman he loves. The moment between the two of them when he presents her with a bottle of his own blood was, for some bizarre reason, endearing. Carradine may have gotten top billing but Torne and Ancira made the movie interesting and multifaceted.
One note about Marlene’s blood draining technique. The average person has about eight to ten pints of blood in their body. The jar she uses to drain her victims is far too small to hold eight to ten pints of blood.