The Embalmer (DVD)

A madman drags one beautiful woman after another into his dank labyrinth of horror beneath the murky canals of Venice. The girls are then embalmed by the skull-masked monster who places the corpses on display as captive zombies in an underwater tomb. Andreas, a reporter, is investigating the disappearances. Unable to convince the police that the missing girls are victims of a maniac, he probes deeper into the cases. Donning scuba gear, the killer stalks his prey, once again sending an innocent girl to her death in his subterranean lair. A nubile young woman accidentally discovers the grisly secret of the Embalmer, sealing her fate and perhaps that of Andreas as well!

Alternately titled The Monster Of Venice, The Embalmer was frequently paired with the equally lurid chillers The Corpse Grinders and The Undertaker & His Pals for a triple feature that played the drive-in circuit in the late '60s. Movie-goers were asked to sign an "assurance certificate," indemnifying the theater and producers against death by fright or insanity resulting from viewing the pictures.

• horror