CRIMSON
Also known as "Rats Don't Sleep at Night"
This Spanish - French co-production was filmed, publicized and is listed as a spy thriller in some references. Naschy made a more straight forward Eurospy thriller "El Ultimo Kamikaze" in 1984.
In the English Language, dubbed version of Crimson, Naschy plays Surette, a French criminal who is severly injured during a jewelry robbery. The robbery opens the film and is just about the only effective scene. The remainder is an unsavory mixture of gore, sleazy horror, and C-grade Eurocrime cliches.
Surette holds a doctor and his wife hostage, and forces the doctor to perform a brain transplant on him, Frankenstein style. Surette's new brain, though, is that of an even more psychotic criminal. As a result, he goes on a killing spree at a rural villa. It all ends predictably, with the cops showing up and gunning down Naschy, who sure knows how to take a great fall after getting drilled by all those silver bullets in his many werewolf roles. Because of it's ultra-cheap atmosphere and many continuity lapses, Crimson is somehow absurdly entertaining and a good film at which to laugh out loud. The movie includes some sleazy sex footage, which was shot in France by director Marius Leseour (A.L. Mariaux). Leseour is also listed as co-writer of Crimson, and was a frequent collaborator on a French versions of Jess Franco films. Supposedly, a hardcore sex version of Crimson was filmed, but we're still waiting for it to surface.
Review by Robert Monell
Despite the title and video-box art, this is a gangster movie. Paul Naschy is a jewel thief who is shot and spends most of the movie in a coma. He recieves a brain transplant and another gangster, called "The Sadist", is decapitated by a train. In France, Porno inserts were added.