The Diabolical Dr. Z (1967)

I'll tell you why so serious

Blistering performances.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Intriguing as well as thrilling Euro-horror film stunningly shot by recently deceased Jesus Franco or ¨Uncle Jess¨ , born Jesús Franco Manera , a prolific Spanish film-maker who specialised in psychedelic Gothic terror , often laced with sex and violence . The sadistic Baron Klaus deals with a woman (Mabel Karr who married Fernando Rey) seeks to revenge her dad's (Antonio Jimenez Escribano) death by using a stripper (Stella Blain) , with long poisonous fingernails , to do her bidding . As she kidnaps a local dancer and controls her mind so she can seduce the scientific (Chris Huerta , Marcelo Arroita , Howard Vernon) who panned and mocked him . At the end takes place a twisted surprise about the murders . Nothing ever stripped your nerves screamingly raw like the Diabolical Doctor Z . Enjoyable and above average rendition about European terror , a habitual genre during the sixties . This very campy picture contains thrills , action , phantasmagoria , horrifying situations , and being compellingly developed . Here Franco manages to give us an appropriate ambient , an evocative production design , being rightly narrated , including a criminal plot enough to keep you intrigued throughout the flick . Interesting screenplay and adaptation by Jean-Claude Carrière , Luis Buñuel's ordinary writer . The picture was made by the time in which Franco directed nice movies such as : ¨Rififi En La Ciudad¨ , this ¨Miss Muerte¨ or ¨Diabolic Doctor Z¨ , ¨Necronomicon¨ and ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ , developing a consolidated professionalism , as his career got more and more impoverished in the following years, but his endless creativity enabled him to tackle films in all genres , from "B" horror to erotic films . Others , however, have been downright atrocious : ¨Emmanuelle Exposed¨ (1982) , ¨Red Silk¨ (1999), and his last picture ¨Al Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies¨ (2012) one of the worst films I have ever seen . ¨Miss Muerte¨ belongs to his peculiar series about ¨Doctor Orloff¨ , as he is also called ¨Doctor Klaus¨ or ¨Doctor Z¨ , the first was "The Awful Dr. Orloff" , it's followed by various sequels such as ¨El Secreto del Dr. Orloff¨ (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" , "Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" and finally "Faceless" (1987) . Fine acting by Mabel Karr as vengeful daughter and unforgettable Stella Blain who plays an arty/spider dance . And other notorious secondary actors in brief appearances as Howard Vernon , Cris Huerta , Jose Maria Prada , Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui , Rafael Hernández and Guy Mairesse , some of them uncredited . And , of course , a special and sympathetic intervention by Jesús Franco , as always . Evocative and adequate cinematography in black and white by Alejandro Ulloa (Horror express) . Atmospheric original music by Daniel White (Franco's usual musician) who appears as a British Pólice detective . The motion picture was well directed by Jesus Franco ; being professionally written , produced and often deemed among his very best . Jesus Franco was a Stajanovist director , as his filmography boasts 203 directorial credits from 1957 to 2013 , a record few can match in the era of talking pictures . Given that many Franco films exist in three or four variant versions, sometimes so radically different that alternative cuts qualify as separate movies , his overall tally might be considerably higher but embarrassing . However , here he doesn't use his trademarks , as he pulls off a traditional narration , without zooms , neither lousy pace . As the picture belongs to Franco's first period in which he made passable flicks . Franco used to utilize a lot of pseudonyms and customary marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY and managing to work extraordinarily quickly , realizing some fun diversions, and a lot of absolute crap . Many pictures had nice photography , full of lights and shades in Orson Welles style , in fact , Franco was direction-assistant in ¨Chimes at midnight¨ and edited ¨El Quijote¨ by Welles . He often used to introduce second , third or fourth versions , including Hardcore or Softcore inserts or sexual stocks many of them played by his muse Lina Romay . In many of the more than 200 films he's directed he has also worked as composer , writer , cinematographer and editor . His first was "We Are 18 Years Old" along with the documentary ¨El Arbol de España¨ and his subsequent picture was ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ (1962) , the best of all them . Like ¨Justine¨ , some of these films have been extraordinarily entertaining : ¨The Diabolical Dr. Z¨ (1966), ¨Vampyros Lesbos¨ (1971), ¨A Virgin Among the Living Dead¨ (1973) , ¨The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein¨ , ¨Female Vampire¨ , ¨Women Behind Bars¨ (both 1975), and ¨Bloody Moon¨ (1981). As his ¨Necronomicón¨ (1968) was nominated for the Festival of Berlin, and this event gave him an international reputation . He also directed to the great Christopher Lee in 4 films : "The Bloody Judge" , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨The Blood of Fu Manchu¨ and ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ . Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video . More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films . He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking . He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals . But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production has diminished since the 90s ; however he went on shooting until his recent death .

Far from perfect, this is nevertheless a very good looking film with enough fine moments to hold anyone's interest. The two female leads are both excellent and if they seem somewhat detached from the proceedings, this helps the creepy feel. Franco, himself plays one of the police investigating and whilst he does not disgrace himself as he would in several later films, none of the scenes seem to add anything. Intended more as light relief than to progress the story they are an awkward distraction. The laboratory scenes are excellent and the robotic contraption most effective. The movie doesn't flow effortlessly but its very oddness and sense of unreality adds to the overall worrying feel.

Proof Jess Franco can make a movie.I shouldn't say it like that since I'm a fan, of sorts, and Franco can make a good film usually after a long run of ones that make you scream otherwise (One need look at most of his recent shot on video stuff to wonder how he keeps getting money to make movies).Beautifully shot in black and white this is the story of a woman who wants to get revenge for the death of her father, a doctor involved with mind control experiments. Filled with odd images that never seem distracting or out of place this is a film that drifts through the surreal and has it make perfect sense. (The spider motifs). Its an odd mad scientist revenge thriller that is somehow hypnotic as the twists and turns of the plot walk the fine line between real and unreal (killer nails?). Its a very good euro-horror of the type that was being cranked out during the mid 1960's. Its also a film that perfectly fits the over used slogan "if you see one movie..." which in this case would be "If you see one movie by Jess Franco see this one." Between 6 and 7 out of 10

A more apt title for the movie might be The Daughter of the Diabolical Doctor Z. Dr. Z doesn't make it through the first 15 minutes of the movie before he dies of a heart attack. His daughter (also a doctor) blames those who scoffed at her father's ideas for his death. Continuing with her father's work, she vows revenge. Using his mind control procedures, she creates two "slaves" to carry out her plan.I have dubbed this movie "My New Favorite Franco", just beating out Venus in Furs for the title. Where many of his movies seem to lose their way, The Diabolical Doctor Z has a straight forward plot and takes the time necessary to build atmosphere. Too often Franco's films seem rushed or go in so many directions that nothing seems to make much sense.The choice made by the daughter of the beautiful performance artist, Miss Death, as a "weapon" for her revenge is interesting. Much like a spider, Miss Death first seduces her prey before using her long nails that have been dipped in poison to kill. Miss Death's spider web nightclub dance is a must see.This is the second Franco film that I've seen that reminded me in some way of Franju's Eyes Without a Face. While the influence on the other Franco film, The Awful Dr. Orloff, is obvious, here it is much more subtle. The face surgery scene is eerily reminiscent of Franju's face surgery scene.