Dona Leonor (Emma Roldan) runs a boardinghouse with her daughter Marta (Patricia Conde). Marta is also a nurse who works with Dr. Raul (Julio Aleman). Raul has known Marta since they were kids and has loved her almost as long. He is one of the tenants at the boardinghouse. Marta, on the other hand is in love with one of her mother’s other boarders, Luis (Joaquin Cordero). Luis used to be a famous actor, but an accident left him with a limp and no prospects for work. He now runs a wax museum that is housed in an old theater.
Also living in the rooming house is Professor Abramov (Carlos Lopez Moctezuma). Abramov is a taxidermist who is trying to perfect a new way of embalming animals. Dr. Raul pays local body snatchers to procure the bodies of dead women for his experiments. Dona Leonor’s most recent tenant is a singer named Norma Ramos (Olivia Michael), who works at a local club.
Recently there have been disappearances of beautiful young women. The police have no witnesses and haven’t been able to find any suspects. The only possible clue is that the disappearances have all happened in the same area, near the cemetery. A prostitute name Sonia ends up being the most recent woman to disappear. Sonia’s friend Lencho (Armando Soto La Marina) witnesses the kidnapping and goes to see Dr. Raul to tell him about it. Raul excuses himself for a moment. While he is out of the room Lencho is killed with a poison dart. The death of Lencho brings the boardinghouse to the attention of police Commissioner (David Reynoso).
Eventually Marta becomes the killer’s next fixation.
“Museo del horror” AKA “Museum of Horror” was released in 1964 and was directed by Rafael Baledon. It is a Mexican mystery with horror touches. The film is loosely based on “Mystery of the Wax Museum” 1933 and Vincent Price’s “House of Wax” 1953 but, as with most Mexican horror style films, it has some really nice Mexican touches, including one victim that ends up buried alive.
Produced by Jesus Sotomayor, the movie is steeped in eerie atmosphere, including dark streets and a fog shrouded cemetery. Considering that the film is a low budget pulp style horror movie, it is quite entertaining. It takes the standard wax museum horror subgenre and tweaks it ever so slightly. With some decent acting and dialogue the movie easily keeps you watching to the action-packed conclusion.
There is a short dream sequence that features stock footage from Mario Bava’s Italian sword and sandal movie “Hercules in the Haunted World” 1961.