# Night of the Bloody Apes
**Night of the Bloody Apes** (Spanish: *La horripilante bestia humana*, literally 'The Horrible Man-Beast') is a Mexican horror picture from 1969, helmed by René Cardona on a script he wrote together with his son René Cardona Jr., telling of a surgeon who gives his dying son a gorilla's heart and thereby transforms him into a murderous hybrid creature.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063090/) It was released in Mexico on February 6, 1969, and reached the United States in 1972 under its English title in a recut, dubbed version.[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *La horripilante bestia humana* ('The Horrible Man-Beast')[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063090/) |
| Release | February 6, 1969 (Mexico); 1972 in the United States, recut and dubbed[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes) |
| Running time | 81 minutes (Mexico); 83 minutes (US dubbed version)[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes) |
| Director and writers | René Cardona; screenplay and story by René Cardona and René Cardona Jr.[11](https://eofftv.com/la-horripilante-bestia-humana-1968/) |
| Production | Cinematográfica Calderón S.A.; produced by Guillermo Calderón and Alfredo Salazar[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes) |
| Lead cast | José Elías Moreno (Dr. Krallman), Carlos López Moctezuma (Goyo), Armando Silvestre (Lt. Arturo Martínez), Norma Lazareno (Lucy Osorio), Agustín Martínez Solares (Julio Krallman), Gerardo Zepeda (the monster)[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063090/fullcredits/) |
| Relationship to earlier work | A remake of Cardona's own 1962 film *Doctor of Doom* (*Las Luchadoras contra el medico asesino*)[11](https://eofftv.com/la-horripilante-bestia-humana-1968/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Dr. Krallman, a prominent surgeon, has a son, Julio, who is dying of a severe heart infection; one review describes the illness as leukemia.[3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/night-of-the-bloody-apes/cast/2000350112/) • [4](https://moriareviews.com/horror/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969.htm) Krallman and his deformed assistant Goyo steal a gorilla from the zoo and transplant its heart into Julio.[4](https://moriareviews.com/horror/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969.htm) The operation succeeds, but the young man transforms into an ape-like hybrid creature that escapes the laboratory and goes on a rampage through the city at night, attacking and killing women.[3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/night-of-the-bloody-apes/cast/2000350112/) • [4](https://moriareviews.com/horror/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969.htm) Krallman attempts a second operation to remedy his mistake, but it comes too late, and Lieutenant Arturo Martínez is assigned to stop the creature.[3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/night-of-the-bloody-apes/cast/2000350112/)
### Content and style
The film mixes genres and footage types. It opens with a women's wrestling match in which the wrestler Lucy Osorio injures her opponent, a subplot the reviewer describes as largely abandoned afterward; it also splices footage of actual open-heart surgery into the transplant scenes, alongside nudity and gore.[5](https://horrorcritic.com/night-of-the-bloody-apes-reviewed-by-lisa-marie-bowman/) • [8](https://retrofilmvault.com/listings/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969-2/) The monster is played by Gerardo Zepeda, who is credited as "Monstruo".[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063090/fullcredits/) The Moria review observes that the plot, in which a scientist places a gorilla's heart into his son's body and produces an ape creature that kills women, had changed little in sophistication or science from *[Murders in the Rue Morgue](https://www.edgepedia.org/murders-in-the-rue-morgue)* (1932) thirty-seven years earlier.[4](https://moriareviews.com/horror/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969.htm)
## Production and release
The film was produced by Cinematográfica Calderón S.A., shot in color by cinematographer Raúl Martínez Solares, edited by Jorge Bustos, and scored by Antonio Díaz Conde.[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes) Azteca Films Inc. distributed it theatrically in Mexico in 1969.[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes)
**The American version.** Jerand Film Distributors Inc. released the film in the United States in 1972 as *Night of the Bloody Apes*, recut with added footage and dubbed into English; Iver Film Services handled a UK theatrical release.[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes) A reviewer of the dubbed version describes its editing as notably ragged, and notes that American distributors were known for roughly editing foreign-language films, while Cardona himself was known as an uneven filmmaker.[5](https://horrorcritic.com/night-of-the-bloody-apes-reviewed-by-lisa-marie-bowman/) A Spanish-language film database records that the original 81-minute Mexican version was initially distributed cut of its gore and nudity scenes, and credits Jerald Intrator as director of the US version.[6](https://cinelocurasconc.blogspot.com/2015/01/la-horripilante-bestia-humana-1969.html)
The film circulated under several other titles, including *Gomar: The Human Gorilla* and *Horror y sexo* (a racier version) in Mexico, and *Korang, la terrificante bestia umana* in Italy.[1](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes) • [7](https://www.ihorrordb.com/titles/2029/night-of-the-bloody-apes)
## Place in Mexican horror cinema
The [British Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-film-institute)'s survey of Mexican macabre cinema cites *La Horripilante bestia humana* alongside *El vampiro* (1957) and *Más negro que las noche* (1975) as examples of how distinct the periods of Mexican horror film history are, with each period carrying specific and often quite different styles; the three films, it notes, have very little in common other than their country of origin.[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-mexican-macabre-cinema) Cardona (1905–1988) was a prolific Mexican director of some 145 films, many in exploitation categories, and a leading figure in the masked-wrestler genre.[4](https://moriareviews.com/horror/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969.htm)
## References
1. [Night of the Bloody Apes, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Night_of_the_Bloody_Apes)
2. [Night of the Bloody Apes (1969) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063090/fullcredits/)
3. [Night of the Bloody Apes full cast and crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/night-of-the-bloody-apes/cast/2000350112/)
4. [Night of the Bloody Apes (1969), Moria, The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review](https://moriareviews.com/horror/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969.htm)
5. [Night of the Bloody Apes, reviewed by Lisa Marie Bowman, HorrorCritic](https://horrorcritic.com/night-of-the-bloody-apes-reviewed-by-lisa-marie-bowman/)
6. [Con eze de sine: La horripilante bestia humana (1969)](https://cinelocurasconc.blogspot.com/2015/01/la-horripilante-bestia-humana-1969.html)
7. [Night of the Bloody Apes (1969), iHorrorDB](https://www.ihorrordb.com/titles/2029/night-of-the-bloody-apes)
8. [Night of the Bloody Apes 1969, RetroFilmVault](https://retrofilmvault.com/listings/night-of-the-bloody-apes-1969-2/)
9. [Where to begin with Mexican macabre cinema, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-mexican-macabre-cinema)
10. [Night of the Bloody Apes, imdb.com](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063090/)
11. [La horripilante bestia humana (1968) - EOFFTV - The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television](https://eofftv.com/la-horripilante-bestia-humana-1968/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Monster and creature films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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