José Luis Merino

Directing

José Luis Merino

Born 1927-06-10 · Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Jose Luis Merino (10 June 1927 – 2 July 2019) was a Spanish film writer and director who developed a cult following among horror film fans. He was born in 1927 in Madrid, Spain, as José Luis Merino Boves, and went on to direct around 30 films during his long and varied career as director and writer (1958–1990), most of them action/adventure films, crime dramas , spaghetti westerns, war movies and costume dramas involving Robin Hood, pirates, Zorro etc. He is known to horror film fans for the two horror movies he directed in the early 1970s: Orgy of the Dead ( aka The Hanging Woman ) and Scream of the Demon Lover (aka Ivanna ), which have both become cult classics over the years. Merino never considered himself a horror film director, he chose rather to favor his many action/adventure films. He died on July 2, 2019, at age 92.

Acting credits

Merry-Go-Round c. 1950 poster
6.0

This movie doesn't have any coherent plot. It's the portrait of the lives of different people in the hard years of post-war in Spain (the 40's), and how they manage to survive in a country desolated by the war. Like other films: La colmena or Roma (Fellini) it shows us lots of characters and some moments of their lives.

Merry-Go-Round c. 1950

2004

El crack dos poster
6.9

Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo investigates the life of a gay man who has apparently abandoned his partner. When they both turn up dead, it seems one killed the other before committing suicide, but Areta is not convinced.

El crack dos

1983

The Grandfather poster
6.4

After his son dies, an elderly man comes back to Spain from the US and hopes to find out which of his granddaughters is true, and which one is bastard.

The Grandfather

1998

El crack poster
7.2

Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo gets a terminally ill client who wishes to see his long lost, runaway daughter before he dies.

El crack

1981

La herida luminosa poster
6.0

Dr. Molinos, a prestigious cardiologist, and his wife Isabel are going through a serious marital crisis. They live in Oviedo, in the oppressive Spain of the 50s, in the company of two maids: Escolástica and Jovita. His only daughter, Maribel, entered a convent of nuns. The unexpected love felt by Dr. Molinos for Julia, a young doctor who is much younger than him, makes him feel alive again.

La herida luminosa

1997

7 cabalgan hacia la muerte poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

7 cabalgan hacia la muerte

1979

Las verdes praderas poster
6.3

José is a happily married executive, with children, a flat in Madrid and a house in the suburbs. It's Friday and the weekend seems to follow the usual pattern: football match with mates, travel to the mountains and family visit. Nevertheless, José feels no motivated by his routine, he no longer distinguishes leisure from their obligations, all of which result in an unexpected final decision by his attentive wife.

Las verdes praderas

1979

Las chicas del bingo poster
3.3

The movie tells the story of four beautifull and young girls: María, Pilar, Patricia and Virginia. They all work at the bingo and while they sell bingo cars they fill the room with smiles, happyness and excitement. But not all in their lifes is a game. They have all type of problems and dificult situations at work: the harassment of men, the quirks of the players ... but by the end love will win, as well as the joy of life and optimism.

Las chicas del bingo

1982

Viva la clase media poster
5.6

Drama based on the true life of a group of middle class and members of the Communist Party of Spain, who were involved in clandestine political activities during the sixties.

Viva la clase media

1980

Behind the camera

Europa canta poster
9.0

Little Europe, a town in the American West, is chosen as the site for a European Music Festival to be internationally broadcast via television. The peace of the village is put in jeopardy when it comes to electing judges because the dormant antagonisms of the descendants of Italian, Spanish, French and Germans will be awakened, but the good sheriff easily resolves the dispute. Then the problem becomes more acute when the lawyer Betty, a comely young lady, who is late in coming to the event because she was seized by the henchmen of an industry bully who wants to influence the victory of one of his favorite songs.

Europa canta

1966

The Hanging Woman poster
5.5

Upon his uncle's death, Serge Chekov journeys to a spooky Scottish village for the reading of the will. But when he inherits the estate, Serge runs afoul of his uncle's jealous wife, his business partner, his maid, and others. It's not long before zombies join the fray…

The Hanging Woman

1973

The Hanging Woman poster
5.5

Upon his uncle's death, Serge Chekov journeys to a spooky Scottish village for the reading of the will. But when he inherits the estate, Serge runs afoul of his uncle's jealous wife, his business partner, his maid, and others. It's not long before zombies join the fray…

The Hanging Woman

1973

Alféreces provisionales poster
8.0

Javier López Cronwell, journalist, son of an American and a Spaniard, comes to Spain to write a series of anti-communist articles. The boy is politically neutral and emotionally and personally cold. He comes into contact with his paternal grandfather and the friends of his father, who died in our Liberation War, who propose that he take the provisional ensigns as a topic for his article. He prepares his return to North America without waiting to see the 25th anniversary Victory Parade, despite the wishes of his father's friends, old ensigns who will parade to show the world that they are still in the breach.

Alféreces provisionales

1964

Zorro's Latest Adventure poster
5.5

Colonel Cordero implements new taxes among the population in Monterrey without the governor's knowledge. Antonio Sandoval, who has returned from his studies to his hometown, becomes aware of the hustle and bustle of the colonel and makes life difficult as a masked Zorro for the tyrannical alcalde at every opportunity and time of day.

Zorro's Latest Adventure

1970

Scream of the Demon Lover poster
5.1

When a beautiful biochemist arrives at a foreboding castle to work for a sinister baron, she unlocks a nightmare of dark romance, sexual violence, and grisly family secrets.

Scream of the Demon Lover

1970

Scream of the Demon Lover poster
5.1

When a beautiful biochemist arrives at a foreboding castle to work for a sinister baron, she unlocks a nightmare of dark romance, sexual violence, and grisly family secrets.

Scream of the Demon Lover

1970

Requiem for a Gringo poster
5.1

Returning home, Ross Logan immediately gets into conflict with the Carranza gang, which had just crossed the Mexican border and has occupied a nearby Hacienda. After his brother is killed he plans a cold blooded revenge for which he separates the gang's most dangerous members by using their individual weak points and the general discordance amongst them. The time for the final confrontation is set by the astronomically interested Logan amidst an eclipse.

Requiem for a Gringo

1968

More Dollars for the MacGregors poster
10.0

Robert MacGregor and Gladys MacGregor is a marriage that is dedicated to hunting outlaws wanted by the justice. But instead of delivering them alive, kill them in order to steal from them and also collect the reward. She deceives them and he kills treason, winning the love of great gunslinger. But ambition leads them to face a cruel and cunning murderer who kills for Donna. However, a mysterious stranger appears, Ross Stewart which initially appears to be from Robert. However, when the latter's wife dies, he unveiled plans stranger ...

More Dollars for the MacGregors

1970

More Dollars for the MacGregors poster
10.0

Robert MacGregor and Gladys MacGregor is a marriage that is dedicated to hunting outlaws wanted by the justice. But instead of delivering them alive, kill them in order to steal from them and also collect the reward. She deceives them and he kills treason, winning the love of great gunslinger. But ambition leads them to face a cruel and cunning murderer who kills for Donna. However, a mysterious stranger appears, Ross Stewart which initially appears to be from Robert. However, when the latter's wife dies, he unveiled plans stranger ...

More Dollars for the MacGregors

1970

The Battle of the Last Panzer poster
5.4

The Allied D-Day invasion is a success, and German forces begin leave Normandy. After an ambush takes out a set of Panzer tanks led by German Lt. Hunter, he finds himself alone with his unit in what may be the last Panzer that's still operational. While traveling through the French countryside, Cooper meets Jeanette, a woman who offers to lead the troops back to Germany, but his feelings for her get in the way of his survival instincts.

The Battle of the Last Panzer

1969

The Battle of the Last Panzer poster
5.4

The Allied D-Day invasion is a success, and German forces begin leave Normandy. After an ambush takes out a set of Panzer tanks led by German Lt. Hunter, he finds himself alone with his unit in what may be the last Panzer that's still operational. While traveling through the French countryside, Cooper meets Jeanette, a woman who offers to lead the troops back to Germany, but his feelings for her get in the way of his survival instincts.

The Battle of the Last Panzer

1969

Colpo sensazionale al servizio del Sifar poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Colpo sensazionale al servizio del Sifar

1968

Begin the Beguine poster
6.6

A Nobel prize winner returns to his natal city looking for his home.

Begin the Beguine

1982

Hell Commandos poster
6.5

Members of a German tank crew become trapped behind enemy lines.

Hell Commandos

1969

Hell Commandos poster
6.5

Members of a German tank crew become trapped behind enemy lines.

Hell Commandos

1969

Gatling Gun poster
5.1

This dramatization of the origin of Dr. Gatling's self-named invention stands tall in the annals of the Old West. As cavalry transported the high-tech gun across the dangerous frontier, it blasted its way into history to become the predecessor to the modern-day machine gun.

Gatling Gun

1968

Robin Hood, l'invincibile arciere poster
7.0

Robin Hood tries to help a crossed gentleman, in love with Isabel, because the girl's uncle has decided to marry her with another.

Robin Hood, l'invincibile arciere

1970

The Desire in Autumn poster
5.3

The story concerns a young woman named Elena who ascends from rags to riches when she inherits a substantial fortune; having no one else with whom she can share the monies, she invites her best friend, Clara, to move into her home and enjoy the wealth with her. All fares well until Elena falls in love with a male suitor - and thus threatens to jeopardize Clara's place in the household and her share of the spoils. Indignant, Clara vows to do everything in her power to prevent this new romance from blossoming.

The Desire in Autumn

1972

Kitosch, the Man Who Came from the North poster
7.0

A former Canadian Mountie escorts a group of women and coffins to Fort Eagle, but finds it destroyed and remains to defend the fort from a gang of marauding Indians and outlaws led by the mysterious Renegade who are after a shipment of gold bullion.

Kitosch, the Man Who Came from the North

1967

Kitosch, the Man Who Came from the North poster
7.0

A former Canadian Mountie escorts a group of women and coffins to Fort Eagle, but finds it destroyed and remains to defend the fort from a gang of marauding Indians and outlaws led by the mysterious Renegade who are after a shipment of gold bullion.

Kitosch, the Man Who Came from the North

1967

USA, violación y venganza poster
5.7

John White, accounting for a large crime boss named Mancini is arrested and pressured by the prosecution to testify against Mancini before the grand jury, so it can be processed by one of his many crimes. Mafia boss knows that his book is a man of weak character who is likely to betray him, so he instructs one of his trusted men to do what it takes to make incriminating White not before the jury. Then decide to use such a Lan Moore, a sadistic sexual psychopath, to kidnap the wife of John White.

USA, violación y venganza

1983

Slaughter on the Khyber Pass poster
10.0

Soldiers on a mission from a fort on the Northwest Frontier of British-Raj India argue over tactics as they seek to deal with reports of a native uprising.

Slaughter on the Khyber Pass

1970

Sábado, chica, motel ¡qué lío aquel! poster
4.3

No synopsis available yet.

Sábado, chica, motel ¡qué lío aquel!

1976