Surnett (Paul Naschy, VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES) and his gang are planning to make a big score at a jewelry store with the help of safecracker, but the sticky fingers of Karl (Victor Israel, HORROR EXPRESS) set off the alarm and the group flee by car. They elude a police road block, but Surnett is shot in the head. Surnett's second-in-command Henry (Olivier Mathot, CECILIA) takes charge and drags in alcoholic Dr. Ritter (Carlos Otero, LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE) to examine Surnett. Ritter does not possess the means or the know-how to save Surnett, but he knows who does. Henry, Ritter, Karl, and Paul (Yul Sanders, MIDNIGHT PARTY) transport Surnett to the country house of Ritter's colleague Professor Thys (Ricardo Palmerola, THE BURNED CITY), who informs them that they need a fresh brain to save Surnett. Rather than volunteering or flipping a coin to see who will "sacrifice" his brain, they consult Ritter on some of his other patients who might be suitable. The only one he can come up with is Henry's arch-enemy The Sadist (Roberto Mauri, director of SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES). Paul and Karl kill and decapitate The Sadist, and Thys - whose hands were burned in a accident - directs his wife Ana (Sylvia Solar, FURY OF THE WOLFMAN) in performing the transplant (while holding their daughter hostage). Of course, transplanting the brain of a violently-murdered enemy - especially one called "The Sadist" - into the body of his foe is going to have some complications, including violent behavior towards The Sadist's enemies, and a few nubile women (although they, or their body doubles, only show skin in the X version). Henry has The Sadist's head sent to his girl Barbara (Evelyne Scott, SHINING SEX) as a present. Although Barbara puts The Sadist's second-in-command Willy (Richard Kolin, EYEBALL) in charge, she proves to be the sadistic moving force behind their revenge. She and Willy torture the information as to Surnett's whereabouts out of Ritter and Surnett's moll Ingrid (Gilda Arancio, ZOMBIE LAKE) and converge on the doctor's estate. Henry has recognized that Surnett is a danger to all of them and agrees with Ana that he should be dealt with, but now Thys thinks Surnett's is too important for his experiments. Will Surnett or The Sadist's gang prove to be the greater danger?

CRIMSON as it is better known, feels like a very dated sixties thriller (especially since it was made in 1976); more so because it is lacking in exploitable elements. Despite brain transplants, plenty of bullet-hits, and a decapitation-by-train, there is very little gore. There is also no nudity (the erotic footage shot for the alternate version LE VIOL ET L'ENFER DES X is only slightly more explicit than what one would find in any other Eurocine production). CRIMSON was the only directorial effort of Juan Fortuny (who scripted the Eurocine Spanish-French co-production ORLOFF AND THE INVISIBLE MONSTER) that seems to have been exported, and its limited sets, effects, and generally compact scope suggest that it is the Eurocine equivalent of a quickie (this from a production company that usually produced simultaneous productions using the same locations and actors). Mathot, Solar, Otero, Israel, Kolin, and Scott had all appeared the previous year in the French/Spanish co-production DEVIL KISS/THE WICKED CARESSES OF SATAN, also distributed by Eurocine, and were likely retained for this effort. Naschy has very little to do, Solar is better in her voluptuous villain roles, and Israel's recognizable bug eyes and bald pate are hidden behind a wig and tinted glasses (Israel and Palmerola later appeared in Fortuny's horror comedy EL POBRECITO DRACULA). On the other hand, Arancio makes for a good eye candy substitute for Scott - who does not appear until more than half-way through the film - and Mathot is a dependable Eurocine presence. Raymond Heil's (OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES) photography is colorful, but Daniel White's score is largely composed of outdated jazz cues (one mournful cue featuring guitar and a woman vocalizing, did however, find its way into a couple eighties Jess Franco productions such as THE SEXUAL STORY OF O).