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The Diabolical Dr. Z
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Film Details
87
Cast and Creators
Jess Franco
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$29.95
About the Film
A stylish medical-horror thriller that brings to mind the work of Georges Franju and David Cronenberg, The Diabolical Dr. Z is a vitally important film in the horror cinema’s transition from spooky scares to a more dreamy and erotic variety that would become the signature of Spanish-born filmmaker Jess Franco. Mabel Karr stars as Irma Zimmer, the daughter of a visionary scientist (Antonio Jiménez Escribano) who has developed a morbid system of mind control. After the slightly mad doctor’s death, Irma carries on her father’s work, and uses a telepathically-controlled exotic dancer with poisoned fingernails (Estella Blain) as an instrument of revenge upon three doctors who mocked Dr. Z’s theories. But can Irma eliminate the names on her hit list before a pair of detectives (played by Franco and the film’s composer, Daniel White) expose her plot?
Product Extras :
French language soundtrack with English subtitles | English language soundtrack | Audio commentary by Tim Lucas, co-author of Obsession: The Films of Jess Franco | Original Theatrical trailer
Redemption
About the Director
Jesús "Jess" Franco (1930–2013) directed between 180 and 200 films, a number so high that even film historians cannot agree on the exact total. He was a trained jazz musician and once worked as Orson Welles’s assistant on Chimes at Midnight. Franco brought an energetic, improvisational camera style to every genre he worked in, including horror, softcore erotica, spy thrillers, and combinations of all three. He often filmed these movies back-to-back, using the same sets and cast.
His breakout film, Gritos en la Noche (The Awful Dr. Orloff, 1962), was one of the first Spanish horror movies to get international distribution, released just as Spain’s censorship laws were starting to relax. After that, Franco became a regular in the European co-production scene, working with producers in France, Germany, and Portugal. He made films like Vampyros Lesbos and She Killed in Ecstasy, which combined lurid stories with a truly hypnotic visual style. He used hand-held zooms, jazz soundtracks, and often ignored traditional narrative logic, which put off critics but won over cult audiences years later.
Since Franco’s death, people have looked at his work differently. What at one time appeared sloppy now appears as a unique, dreamlike style, more like underground cinema than typical exploitation films. Because he made so many movies, he is also a good starting point for collectors, as nearly every major genre from that era appears in his filmography.
