Many horror-movies have stupid heroes. This one has a stupid villain. It's impossible to figure out what evil goal he pursues and he seems the be the last one that bothers.
So if there are two brothers and one of them is Vincent Price you know it's a strange family. Price keeps his brother locked up, because he's ugly. Messed up by some Voodoo priests in the dark continent some time ago. This brother is so hideous that the audience isn't allowed to see him until the end of that yarn. And that's very clever of director Gordon Hessler, because the exposure of that seemingly horrible disfigured face seems to be the only reason to watch the whole movie.
But before the ugly face is revealed you have to endure the "adventures" of a man with a red mask, who wants to take revenge on those who gave him some voodoo-medicine that lead to his apparent death. The ugly man payed for this medicine, so that as a dead man he would be allowed to leave the room his brothers keeps him locked in. Maybe NOT acting like a complete lunatic would have been an easier way, but like i said: this is a stupid villain.
After this mastermind seems to be dead, the only concern of Price is the exposure of his brothers ugly face to the public. So he hires the very same men that sold his ugly brother that medicine to bring up another body as a double for his dead brothers corpse. Any questions? I hope not, the story doesn't get any better. Since the men don't know how to bring up a dead body, they kill the landlord of the voodoo priest they brought to england to make the potion for the ugly man. What? After that the real brother is buried (alive). You want to know what these guys are doing who where hired to bring the witch doctor to england, so that he could brew this potion that they threw into the ugly mans room , so that he could swallow it to get out of there? You know what they do? NOTHING! It's a meticulous plan after all.
But the ugly brother is very lucky that this movie hasn't just Vincent Price in it, but also Christopher Lee as a surgeon. And if a surgeon is portrayed by Lee you can be sure that he needs dead bodies for some reason. So the body snatchers who work for Lee (some Burke & Hare guys of course) steal a corpse. Which one? Of course the one of the ugly guy! But after paying for the body Lee hasn't a new object for his research. He has a new lodger. Yep, the ugly man likes the surgeons house and forces Lee to keep him as a guest. Why? Because the man is stupid. And now he wants to do his crazy deeds.
He puts on a red mask and goes "prowling" (at least that's what he tells Lee). So the guy is running around London with his stupid red mask on his face, looking like the elephant man or something and is killing one of the guys that tried to help him but didn't. On one of his sprees he is forced into a brothel by some drunkards. That's stupid but good. Good for the audience, because you can see Hesslers idea of a vile lifestyle. After some kissing, laughing, tit-grabbing and singing you are back with our villain who seems to be a bit out of place in this kind of place. After having wild sex with one of the girls he slashes her throat and beats her husband. A lot of very unrealistic blood is spilled and our villain heads home. What did he want in this part of the town in the first place? You'll never know. But soon he's going to kill Lee and the other one of the men he hired to free him by poisoning him. After a lot of mambo jumbo the truth is revealed: the ugly man was the scapegoat for Prices evil doings in Africa! And finally one got to see that damned face. It looks like someone has thrown a very small cake in it. The nose is a little to big and it's a bit dirty. I see lots of uglier persons at the subway stations in my city every day. It's a pity that they don't wear masks like him. Watch this movie only if you all the time in the world.
So if there are two brothers and one of them is Vincent Price you know it's a strange family. Price keeps his brother locked up, because he's ugly. Messed up by some Voodoo priests in the dark continent some time ago. This brother is so hideous that the audience isn't allowed to see him until the end of that yarn. And that's very clever of director Gordon Hessler, because the exposure of that seemingly horrible disfigured face seems to be the only reason to watch the whole movie.
But before the ugly face is revealed you have to endure the "adventures" of a man with a red mask, who wants to take revenge on those who gave him some voodoo-medicine that lead to his apparent death. The ugly man payed for this medicine, so that as a dead man he would be allowed to leave the room his brothers keeps him locked in. Maybe NOT acting like a complete lunatic would have been an easier way, but like i said: this is a stupid villain.
After this mastermind seems to be dead, the only concern of Price is the exposure of his brothers ugly face to the public. So he hires the very same men that sold his ugly brother that medicine to bring up another body as a double for his dead brothers corpse. Any questions? I hope not, the story doesn't get any better. Since the men don't know how to bring up a dead body, they kill the landlord of the voodoo priest they brought to england to make the potion for the ugly man. What? After that the real brother is buried (alive). You want to know what these guys are doing who where hired to bring the witch doctor to england, so that he could brew this potion that they threw into the ugly mans room , so that he could swallow it to get out of there? You know what they do? NOTHING! It's a meticulous plan after all.
But the ugly brother is very lucky that this movie hasn't just Vincent Price in it, but also Christopher Lee as a surgeon. And if a surgeon is portrayed by Lee you can be sure that he needs dead bodies for some reason. So the body snatchers who work for Lee (some Burke & Hare guys of course) steal a corpse. Which one? Of course the one of the ugly guy! But after paying for the body Lee hasn't a new object for his research. He has a new lodger. Yep, the ugly man likes the surgeons house and forces Lee to keep him as a guest. Why? Because the man is stupid. And now he wants to do his crazy deeds.
He puts on a red mask and goes "prowling" (at least that's what he tells Lee). So the guy is running around London with his stupid red mask on his face, looking like the elephant man or something and is killing one of the guys that tried to help him but didn't. On one of his sprees he is forced into a brothel by some drunkards. That's stupid but good. Good for the audience, because you can see Hesslers idea of a vile lifestyle. After some kissing, laughing, tit-grabbing and singing you are back with our villain who seems to be a bit out of place in this kind of place. After having wild sex with one of the girls he slashes her throat and beats her husband. A lot of very unrealistic blood is spilled and our villain heads home. What did he want in this part of the town in the first place? You'll never know. But soon he's going to kill Lee and the other one of the men he hired to free him by poisoning him. After a lot of mambo jumbo the truth is revealed: the ugly man was the scapegoat for Prices evil doings in Africa! And finally one got to see that damned face. It looks like someone has thrown a very small cake in it. The nose is a little to big and it's a bit dirty. I see lots of uglier persons at the subway stations in my city every day. It's a pity that they don't wear masks like him. Watch this movie only if you all the time in the world.