'El hombre y el monstruo' (1959) - Rafael Baledón Cárdenas.

Splendidly visual director Rafael Baledon's monochromatic monster movie is a majestic Mexican horror classic, a stylishly shot crepuscular nightmare, redolent of the vintage creep-fests of yore, no less terrifying a prospect than a Lionel Atwill blood-spiller, with the additional feral ferocity of Lon Chaney Jr. and the boggle-eyed monomania of Peter Lorre, all these historically horrifying elements abound luridly in Baledon's barnstorming B-Movie shocker, wherein a bitter and tormented pianist makes a Faustian pact with the Devil in order to become the world's greatest pianist, not only does this unleash hitherto undreamed of depths of musical genius and modal dexterity, his newly found celebrity cost him his humanity!

This is uncommonly rousing genre cinema from a master film-maker, soaked in grim atmosphere, the desolation, gloom and schizophrenic madness of the wholly corrupted pianist is given additional gravitas by the tremendously effective set design, his altogether decrepit, cavernous abode, a sinisterly oppressive locale, more purgatorial hell than salubrious living space, a benighted domicile, where darkly buried secrets, blackened histories are soon tumultuously exposed, thereby revealing the true skull-rupturing horror behind the exquisite music. What makes 'El Hombre Y el monstruo' so much fun to watch are the colourful performances, the tragic pianist Samuel Magno (Enrique Rambal) is beautifully played, while his character's motivations are wholly misguided, his acting is note perfect and the beautiful heroine Laura (Martha Roth) is portrayed with immaculate pathos, making this masterfully macabre tale of murderous ambition and virtuosic villainy a sublimely orchestrated nightmare, reaching a diabolical crescendo of impeccable insanity.