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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Horror doesn't get any creepier than this…, 24 November 2006 Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls
Strrrrrrrrrrrrike TWO for Mexican horror cinema! After seeing the already astonishing "Curse of the Crying Woman", I got really intrigued by this nation's extremely underrated horror heritage and – big surprise – this "Black Pit of Dr. M" is even better! This is one of the darkest and scariest films ever made and it features some of the absolute greatest Gothic-horror themes imaginable. We've got mad scientists, eerie graveyards and mental institutions, loud thunderstorms, séances and of course a tragic love affair. The film starts with an atmospheric voice-over reassuring us that whatever lies beyond death should always be kept a secret. Two obsessive scientists once tried to discover if there's any way of getting back among the living and "The Black Pit of Dr. M" tells their horrid story. Dr. M(asali) and his colleague Dr. Aldama made a pact stating that the first of them to die has to come back and inform the other about the secrets of resurrection. When Dr. Aldama dies, he keeps his promise but also warns his colleague about the dangers of toying with the afterlife. Naturally, Dr. neglects this good advise and mysterious events start to take place, all indicating his own death on the fifteenth of November. This is a super-creepy film with a constantly ominous atmosphere and some of the most petrifying set pieces I've ever beheld. Every sequence simply oozes suspense, whether set in the asylum (where a crazed gypsy woman runs amok) or in Dr. M's own hacienda, where Dr. Aldama's spirit still dwells around. The outdoor filming locations are always enshrouded with fog and the nights seem to last three times as long as the days. The sinister music and sober B&W photography only increase the creepiness, while the performances of these fairly unknown Mexican actors and actresses are more than reasonable. There are some minor holes in the plot occasionally, but I'm really not in the mood to nag about those, as I personally was too overwhelmed by the intensity of this film. Horror films, especially Gothic ones, really don't get any creepier than this one. Make this a top priority on your must-see list.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Another Mexican Horror Masterpiece, 9 April 2008 Author: ferbs54 from United States
Mexican director Fernando Mendez' 1958 horror masterpiece "The Black Pit of Dr. M" originally appeared under the title "Misterios de Ultratumba" ("Mysteries of the Afterlife"), certainly a more appropriate appellation. In this film, you see, Dr. Masali, head of a rural insane asylum, coerces a dying associate, Dr. Aldama, to show him the secrets of the realm of the dead, and then return him to the land of the living. But poor Dr. Masali should have known that when you make a deal with the soon-to-be-dead, things don't always turn out quite as expected! And they don't, in this very cleverly plotted story that conflates a predestined love affair, an insane gypsy woman, a cursed dagger, disfigurement by acid, transmigration and so much more. Rafael Bertrand is truly excellent as the obsessed Dr. Masali, and special praise must also be heaped on cinematographer Victor Herrera for his work on "Dr. M." His B&W nighttime photography (most of the film does transpire at night) is a thing of real beauty, replete with moving shadows and dense, swirling mists; his work on another of Mendez' horror films from 1958, "The Living Coffin," seems far more pedestrian, in prosaic color. "Dr. M" is the kind of film that serves up a startling plot twist every few minutes or so. I would hate to spoil things for any potential viewer by saying too much, but thus feel that this minireview is not doing this tremendous picture justice. So please just trust me on this one--this film should be required viewing for all horror fans. The fine folks at Casa Negra should be thanked for rescuing this little gem from obscurity, and presenting it via a great-looking, excellently subtitled DVD, and with many fine extras, too. Again, gracias, Casa Negra.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Will somebody please find the dubbed print of this?, 10 July 2001 Author: reptilicus from Vancouver, Canada
Ages ago a dubbed print of this movie used to run frequently on "Chiller Theatre" on Saturday nights. I saw it so many times I memorised it and it is still among my fondest memories. The music was what I first noticed, it stood out in my mind (many years later someone "borrowed" it for a direct-to-video picture called THE VIDEO DEAD). Rafael Bertrand, who later played "Capt. Labiche" in ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE; one of Boris Karloff's last movies, is Dr. Masali, master of an insane asylum. He makes a deal with colleague Dr. Harrison Aldeman (Jacinto Aldama in the undubbed print) that whoever dies first will come back and tell the survivor what lies behind deaths door. Dr. Aldeman dies first and returns during a séance to tell Masali a set of events have already begun that will enable him to solve the mystery. He does, but not nearly in the way he had expected to. An insane gypsy woman and an orderly named Elmer figure in the mystery very prominently; so does Dr. Aldeman's daughter who is summoned to the asylum by a mysterious messenger who turns out to be her fathers ghost! Along the way there is unrequited love, mutilation, murder, ghosts and death. I always thought this was a scary movie when I was a child. Somehow I think it still is. Now here is the complicated part. A dubbed print does exist, at least it used to, because New York's Channel 11, WPIX had it. That was more years ago than I care to remember but I would like to think they did not just toss the print out with the trash when they stopped running "Chiller Theatre". Maybe it is still in the vault gathering dust and waiting to be found. For cryin' out loud will somebody go look!
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: The Black Pit of Dr. M, 13 May 2007 Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Dr. Masala(Rafael Bertrand), the prestigious doctor of a sanitarium, wishes to know what lies beyond life, but wants to return to flesh after death. He, through a séance, summons the recently deceased Dr. Jacinto Aldama(Antonio Raxel)wanting that promise they made in a pact(..that being which ever passed first would provide the other with the answer and return to flesh)fulfilled. The spirit of Aldama informs Mazali that if he goes through with what he desires, certain horrific consequences would occur to him after returning from the death to flesh. Mazali doesn't care so Aldama tells him that certain events will unfold as a chain reaction leading to his wish being accomplished. Aldama visits the daughter he neglected in life(..although, she doesn't know it is him at that moment), the lovely Patricia(Mapita Cortés)and explains to her that a key should be taken to a man named Mazali. Meanwhile, a new student of Mazali's, Eduardo Jimenez(Gastón Santos)has envisioned Patricia in a dream and upon seeing her in a dance hall, he is pretty flummoxed to say the least. Even odder is that she has dreamed about him, also. It's as if they were fated to meet. They meet again at the office of Mazali who had just finished plastic surgery on an orderly named Elmer(Carlos Ancira)whose face was horribly scarred when a wacko goes berserk during an experiment gone awry. Mazali was testing the nutcase's ability of calm with the tune of a music box which accidentally shuts with the result being her violent outburst on the staff. The acid burn on Elmer's face results in his madness which later culminates into violent revenge when he kills the wackjob with a certain knife..this certain knife that is found in a box opened by the key Patricia hands to Mazali! Each event unravels the unfortunate demise of Mazali who is framed by the spirit of Jacinto Aldama himself for the murder of his insane patient. Later Elmer dies and is buried(he has written, however, a confession to the dead woman's murder) After Mazali's is hung by the neck at the gallows, the dead body of Elmer is resurrected and whose spirit fills that corpse risen..Mazali himself! Dr. Gonzalez(Luis Aragón)was Mazali's assistant doctor at the asylum and present to all of his activities. Much to his amazement, Gonzalez realizes that the pact made between two doctors was met and that Mazali is now alive in the scarred Elmer. The tension is ratcheted up when Mazali, growing mad and in love with Patricia, will do whatever it takes to remain alive even as the confession of the one who used to possess his host body is found.The main theme here is the tragedy of Mazali, an atheistic scientist who wished to remain alive yet understand what lies beyond this mortal world. Atmospherically rich with an often pounding, unnerving score(with good use of the organ)really give this Gothic Mexican flick it's flavor. Spooky, with good contrast between shadow and light..not to mention fine photography and the setting around an asylum is perfect for a supernatural story.
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Another Mexican horror winner!, 29 August 2006 Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee
Another Mexican horror winner! Until just recently, I doubt I could have named more than a half dozen Mexican horror films that didn't feature a masked wrestler. As I'm quickly discovering, Mexican horror has much more to offer – especially for fans of Gothic horror. Films like The Black Pit of Dr. M appear to be heavily influenced by the classic Gothic Universal films of the 1930s. They have the same thick atmosphere, similar looking sets, a familiar grand but foreboding score, and common plot themes. In fact, if the actors weren't speaking Spanish and you could replace the main actor with Boris Karloff, you would essentially have a 1930s American horror film.The Black Pit of Dr. M is the story of a couple of doctors who have made what is in essence a death pact. The one who dies first will do whatever he can to comeback to let the another know what the afterlife is like. But Dr. Mazali isn't content with knowing what happens after death, he wants to experience it. His recently departed friend, Dr. Aldama, informs Dr. Mazali that it might be possible him to experience the afterlife, yet return to the living. But is Dr. Mazali willing to pay a heavy price to cheat death? If I have one complaint with The Black Pit of Dr. M it would be with the predictable nature of some of the plot points toward the end of the movie. Maybe I've seen too many similar movies or maybe the movie really is predictable, but a few more plot twists in the films finale would have made this one even better. As it is, The Black Pit of Dr. M is a wonderfully entertaining movie even with this weakness. Fans of Gothic horror are sure to enjoy this one.Casa Negra's new DVD is amazing given the obscure nature of the movie. I sincerely doubt that The Black Pit of Dr. M ever looked better. The DVD includes a warning about some brassy moments in the film's soundtrack, and while I noticed it, the audio weaknesses never distracted or took away from the film's enjoyment. The extras are nice and include a very informative commentary with IVTV founder Frank Coleman. Overall, it's another solid job by Casa Negra.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: The Black Pit and the Dubbing Question, 3 January 2009 Author: Swithin from New York City
"The Black Pit of Dr. M." is indeed a very special horror film. But I miss the dubbed version -- not because I need to understand every word, but because there was something special about the dubbed version of this particular film. It was a kind of strange, funny, translation, with lines like, "Yes, it's me, I came back in Elmer's body." And the actors sounded kind of odd as well. For years, I thought the violin piece played by Dr. M./Elmer was simply the theme from "The Black Pit of Dr. M." But then at a concert I attended it was on the program! It's called "Csardas," and is by a composer named Monti. You can find it on YouTube.But somebody, give us back that glorious dubbed version we enjoyed on Chiller Theater so many years ago!
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: A Pit worth falling into, 24 February 2008 Author: FilmFlaneur from London
After Dr Mazali (Rafael Betrand) makes his dying colleague Dr Aldama (Antonio Raxel) promise to reveal the secrets of the afterlife to him, in a séance he is then given a stark warning: in a few months time, he will indeed learn what lies beyond death, but at great personal cost. For even as "science senselessly struggles to break the barrier which separates us from God," one door will close just as another opens, in an irrevocable and fearful process. Meanwhile a mysterious stranger contacts Aldama's estranged daughter Patricia (Mapita Cortes) and brings her to Mazali's sanatorium where events will reach their climax in madness and tragedy...After two successful vampire pictures, El Vampiro and El Ataud del Vampiro, made in just the previous year to this film, director Fernando Méndez next opted for this more ambitious project, a complicated and atmospheric zombie tale in which some have seen anticipations of much Mexican genre production due the following decade. The Black Pit Of Dr M (aka: Misterios de Ultratumba) can therefore be seen as the culmination of his short career in horror, as only the unsatisfactory western hybrid The Living Coffin (aka: El Grito de la Muerte, 1959) remained before Méndez worked on a couple of further, more nondescript, projects and retired from directing a couple of years later.While some parts of Black Pit are hugely impressive - leading its effusive DVD commentary track to claim it as a neglected 'masterpiece', some of its strengths are arguably also its weakness. For instance the insistent, melodramatic tone, studio acting, or the conflation of several horror elements (zombies, apparitions, mad scientists, disfigured assistants, private asylums, etc) into one heterogeneous mixture that's both daring and ultimately diffuse in effect.Méndez's black and white film looks splendid in this reincarnated edition, with excellent cinematography that includes deep focus, adding immeasurably to the Gothic atmosphere it inhabits. Dr Manzali's mist swept, wet-paved hacienda for instance, containing the sanatorium, full of evocative visual pleasure and composition, or the Ulmer-like minimalism of the nightclub in which we first see Patricia. Add to this a splendidly sombre main theme by Gustav Carrion and fans are in for a treat. Such sustained sombreness is certainly streets ahead of the better-known, somewhat beloved, campy works of terror that were to follow shortly in the Mexican horror film, like The Brainiac (aka: El Baron del Terror, 1962). In fact the moody genre success of Mendez's film makes it hard to see why the American distributors felt obliged to change the title at all, let alone quite what the black pit in the English language title is. Dr Mazali has nothing like it on show, unless it is the metaphorical pit of madness into which he so dramatically plunges.Combining the disparate elements of the plot into one convincing whole is, as already mentioned, one of the film's biggest challenges. It's not that the result is a failure, far from it. But as a scarred henchman, gauche lovers, Dracula-like caped figure, a madwoman, obsessed medic and all the trapping of a B-movie asylum come together on screen in turn, by the half way mark Méndez has to make a decision about progressing the plot out of these complications, and then to its crisis which is only in varying degrees completely successful. One wishes that he had made more of an earlier stylistic decision, which incidentally makes up one of the film's finest moments: a startling jump cut from a close up of the terrified Patricia's eyes directly to an impending confrontation within the madhouse. Elsewhere the narrative abruptly (presumably for reasons of timing and clarity) skips a whole three months and a murder trial before it takes up matters again in a death cell - a process done through more traditional editing which leaves the development of one major character meantime at least to be desired. But perhaps one should carp too much; nightmares after all have their own disorientating logic (and the DVD blurb does refer optimistically to 'shocking jolts'), this while sacrificing some mundane events gives Méndez time to bring out some striking sequences: the eruption from the grave for instance, or those within the asylum.Elsewhere, and away from the intriguing complexities of the narrative, things are less original. As the central and necessarily doomed character, Dr Mazali suffers from the stereotyping dogging most scientists of his ilk; those to whom "There are more things in heaven and Earth... than are dreamt of in your philosophy," can be applied almost as narrative mantra. Actors Betrand and colleagues do a respectable job, but it's fair to say that most pleasure obtained by the viewer stems from the mounting of the plot, rather than the way it's acted.CasaNegra can be congratulated on doing a fine job in bringing this Mexican horror classic safely to disc, one of a series of such releases. Not everything is perfect (viewers are warned about some 'brassiness' in the soundtrack sound, but it's very minor especially compared to an unmentioned, persistent low hum heard throughout, presumably present in the original elements). The print, taken from vault materials, is admirably free from on screen damage or artifacts. Extras include an enthusiastic and welcome commentary by IVTV's Frank Coleman, a photo essay 'Mexican Monsters Invade the US', a director's biography, the original 1961 continuity script, cast bios, poster and stills gallery with the original trailer.All in all this is indispensable viewing for those who enjoy their horror in black and white, especially those who cherish the original 1930s' Universal cycle, from which much on offer here owes strong inspiration. Those who have stumbled across Mexican cinema of this type will see this is one of the best examples and not hesitate others should check it out as soon as possible.
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Emotional and creepy. Another lesson in atmosphere!, 10 February 2007 Author: insomniac_rod from Noctropolis
Thank you again CasaNegra. An extremely underrated if not forgotten key piece of Mexican classic Horror finally gets a decent release on DVD. To be honest, I have never found this one even on VHS and I'm from Mèxico damn it. The movie was shown at 11:00 P.M. on local t.v. but it's been a while since it aired for the last time. Oh, and forget about the English title! I has minimal or nothing to do with the plot. In fact, the word "ultratumba" was used in many Mexican Horror movies from that time. "Graveyard Mysteryes" would be a more adequate title.Anyways, this movie perfectly displays how Mexican Horror cinema was highly influenced by Gothic atmospheres and stories. In the likes of "La Maldiciòn de la Llorona", this movie centers it's creepiness on settings and atmosphere. The settings are ahead of it's time because it was very difficult back in the 50's to film on mental institutions; the graveyard setting is also terrifying and macabre. By the way, that setting reminds me of my favorite scene of the movie; the "living dead" doctor returning to play his violin. That's a scene that hasn't vanished from my mind since a child.The plot is very interesting and perfectly displays Mexican culture's opinion for death and how sometimes, we (Mexicans) can't accept or deal with it. Yes, there are some unitentionally funny moments mainly because in Mexican culture there's a high amount of "happiness" and "humor" even on the most difficult and sad moments.The score is another important part of the movie. The orchestra truly created a chilling score that plays an important role in the most important moments. Gastòn Santos and Beatriz Aguirre shine with their performances.Please, track down this movie and you will notice that Mexican Gothic can match anytime European Gothic. If you enjoyed this movie, I urge you to watch "La Maldiciòn de la Llorona". It's truly sad that in my country these kind of movies aren't even known!
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Now On DVD This Movie Still Has Plenty Of SCARES, 17 September 2006 Author: sls75235 from United States
This is in regard to the review below of the movie "The Black Pit Of Dr. M". You are correct when you said the movie went by another name. Years ago it used to show on "CHILLER THEATER" and it played under the name of "The Black Pit Of Dr. X" with English subtitles, it was also shown from time to time with English dubbing. This movie has just been released on DVD and you have a choice at the start of the movie, either English OR Spanish. But if it changes anything at all I have yet to find it. Still no English dubbing unless I've hit something wrong on the DVD (I tried it several times). Instead I ended up watching it in Spanish with English subtitles (which was alright with me since my Spanish is a little rusty). The movie has held up extremely well over the years and is as frightening today as it was the first time I saw it. The only small drawback may be the Soap Opera music played during the so called love scenes. There are tons and tons of what seem to be supernatural atmosphere and this movie will scare the pants off you. Enjoy!
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful: A Masterpiece! Plain and Simple..., 20 February 2006 Author: gravelbreath from United States
The US release of this film was called "The Black Pit of Dr M." and was brought to the US (along with several other great Mexican horror classics) from Mexico by B movie maven, K Gordon Murray. As far as I am concerned this film is one of the absolute treasures of Mexican Cinema. How often would you hear that about a Horror film? Fernando Mendez's great horror masterpiece is so rich in atmosphere and boasts such beautiful, Gothic "mise en scene" that it looks like a true Gothic fairy tale painting has been struck right on the screen. I've seen scores of classic horror films and I have yet to see one that matches the almost over-the-top lush style and atmosphere that Mendez has created here. The setting is an old Hacienda, shrouded in mist, filled with exotic plants and photographed with such care it is almost mesmerizing to see. This Hacienda is an insane asylum headed up by Dr. M. When a spirit conjurer is called in to resurrect the life of a man who was wrongly executed, vengeance, murder and mayhem from beyond the grave ensues. A wonderful, supernatural tale, told in a lyrical yet almost surreal fashion combined with unrelenting, spooky visuals makes this greatly under-appreciated film an absolute must see.
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