Best movie ever!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The Hunchback of the Morgue is a wonderful film with a great pace, an engaging story, some outrageous gore, and real scares. As the doomed and misbegotten Gotho, Naschy gives one of his finest dramatic performances – it earned him a well-deserved prize at Sitges, and I think it would've even made Karloff or Chaney, Sr. proud. Naschy is able to make Gotho, an utterly clueless and abused hunchback/morgue-janitor, a sympathetic character despite possessing a nasty, vicious temper, and being both an accomplice to serious crime, and a latent necrophiliac. Naturally, I think he's quite adorable, and with Naschy writing the script, so does the leading lady, regular co-star Rosanna Yanni. The real villain of the film is one Dr. Orla (homage/rip at Jess Franco or Generalissimo Franco?) who takes full and horrible advantage of Gotho's hardships; Orla (excellently portrayed by genre-veteran Alberto Dalbes) leads Gotho down a truly sickening path involving corpse robbing (or corpse-creating) and some absolutely ungodly experiments. The film's climax shocked me when I first saw it – I wasn't expecting it to be so frightening. There's a build-up throughout the film as to what the experiment-generated monster actually looks like, and unlike most cases of this device, it ultimately pays off in spades. The gore and make-up is fabulous, as is the sound effect for the monster (it still sends chills down my spine to think of it). The Hunchback of the Morgue is a real benchmark of Spanish Horror, and certainly one of Naschy's career. But be warned, this film does contain a scene (it's most notorious) where real rats were burned alive.

A surprisingly jaunty theme tune introduces what proves to be one of Paul Naschy's more exploitative and downbeat movies, a gory Gothic tragedy in which the Spanish horror star plays Gotho, a hunchbacked morgue attendant in love with a terminally ill girl named Ilse (María Elena Arpón). When Ilse finally pops her clogs, a grief stricken Gotho steals her body (after brutally killing the doctors who try to half-inch her necklace), and takes her to a subterranean hideaway where he assists a trio of slightly mad scientists to construct a laboratory (in record time) with which they can create life, a process that requires a continuous supply of fresh body parts...Taking its cues from the classic horror novels of Victor Hugo and Mary Shelley, The Hunchback of the Morgue is full of irresistibly silly horror clichés—a sympathetic 'monster', a dusty Spanish Inquisition torture chamber, grave-robbing by moonlight, a sulphuric acid pit—and also benefits from some delightfully tacky special effects: a gory decapitation, a gutsy evisceration, assorted dismemberment, Ilse's corpse being devoured by rats (which, in a shocking moment of genuine animal cruelty, are set on fire by Gotho), and a delightfully daft man-made creature that consumes everything from live frogs to human heads, and ends up looking like a giant walking turd.It all adds up to a whole lot of demented fun, easily the most entertaining Naschy film I've seen so far.

Paul Naschy stars in a version of Frankenstein that features a bit more gore than the original.He is a hunchback in love with a dying girl (María Elena Arpón), who is the only one who treats him decently. After her death, he enlists the help of a mad scientist that promises to reanimate her. He is, however, only interested in creating life a la Dr. Frankenstein, and has Gotho (Naschy) running all over for body parts.The film features decapitation, spilling guts, and rat scenes that are all the more creepy when you know they are real.Fans of Eurohorror will find much to enjoy here.

Is "The Hunchback of the Morgue" the greatest film of Spanish Exploitation icon Paul Naschy? One of the greatest without a doubt, and probably my personal favorite, as this highly atmospheric, creepy and incredibly entertaining Gothic gem unites all qualities that we love about Naschy flicks. Personally, I've been a fan of the prolific Spanish Horror deity for years, and while most of his films don't usually qualify as 'good', they are usually immensely entertaining. Javier Aguirre's "El Jorobado De La Morgue" aka. "The Hunchback of the Morgue" of 1973 was a fantastic surprise to me, as this wonderful little film is both entertaining in the typical Naschy-manner, AND an actually very good film of its own right. One of the great aspects about Naschy flicks is that they usually unite the creepy mood and settings of atmospheric Gothic tales with typical exploitation qualities such as gore and sleaze, and, out of all his films I've seen, this one is the greatest example for that. My admiration for "The Hunchback of the Morgue" may seem exaggerated to some, for a film like this that is doubtlessly not flawless. It is, however, a rare film that is so successful in creating a rich and genuinely creepy atmosphere, the intriguing storyline of a classic Horror tale and typical exploitation qualities from an obviously low budget as this one does."The Hunchback of the Morgue" terrifically narrates a traditional Horror story in the delightful form of a Creepy and quite gory Naschyesque Gothic Exploitation flick. In classic Horror tradition, the eponymous hunchback Gotho (Naschy) is a murderous yet tragic, pitiable and almost likable character. A man of low intelligence and ugly appearance, Gotho, who works at the morgue, is despised by most people, except the beautiful Ilse (María Elena Arpón). Driven by his immortal love to this terminally ill beauty, Gotho responds to kindness with kindness, to humiliation with murderous violence. The obsessed scientist Dr. Orla (Alberto Dalbes) decides to use the hunchback for his sinister goals... No role has ever suited Paul Naschy better than that of the eponymous hunchback Gotho. Naschy seems predestined to play morgue employees and gravediggers - in the runner-up on the list of my favorite Naschy-films, "La Orgia De Los Muertos" from the same year, he plays a deranged gravedigger. The role of Gotho here is, in my opinion, the greatest he ever played, since he is truly deranged, yet at the same time pitiable and even likable. Jess Franco flick regular Alberto Dalbés is great in the role of the unscrupulous scientist. The supporting performances are actually also very good for a film of the kind. The ravishing Rosanna Yanni is sexy and lovable in the role of Elke, a woman who, unlike others, treats the hunchback with kindness. The film is terrifically shot in the great setting of a small town in the mountains (in the film, the name is "Feldkirch", but I don't think it is meant to be the town of the same name in my home country Austria). Settings like old houses, dark alleys, castle ruins, subterranean crypts and secret passages give the film a great Gothic mood, which is increased by a very good cinematography and score. The gore is pretty intense, with some truly gruesome scenes. The film isn't actually very sleazy, nudity occurs only once, briefly, by Rosanna Yanni (***drool***). It is undeniable that the plot has holes and sometimes lacks logic - but that has to be expected in a Naschy flick. Overall, "The Hunchback of the Morgue" is, in my opinion, the Naschy film that has the greatest storyline AND the most intense atmosphere. The mood often resembles the style of other Gothic films, such as those by the British Hammer Studios, but, again, with a typically Spanish touch. All things considered, "The Hunchback of the Morgue" is my personal favorite Paul Naschy film, and also one of the most outrageously enjoyable Spanish Gothic Horror productions from the early 70s. No true lover of cult-cinema should miss it!