The Diabolical Dr. Z

Strong first half of the film. This is 100% one of Jess Franco's best looking films. The cinematography, lighting, and camera angles are all better than average here. The acting is not bad. The plot is a ridiculous hodgepodge of ideas, but it really works during the first half of the film. However, it all falls apart in the last act. I just did not believe some of the things these characters said and did in the last 20 minutes. That being said, there is an impressive fight scene toward the end that really stood out as a highlight in the film. I just wish the film didn't pull its punches in the final stretch.

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.

This is one of the best, creepiest and most stylish from the Godfather of Eurosleaze. "The Diabolical Dr. Z" is a semi-sequel to the classic "The Horrible Dr. Orlof" (1961). Dr. Zimmer, who calls himself a disciple of Dr. Dr. Orlof, dabbles in mind control with the help of a weird spiderlike metal contraption which injects electric needles into victims brains. After other doctors laugh at him and his experiments, he suffers a stroke but before he dies his daughter promises to continue the experiment. She visits a nightclub where an exotic dancer, Miss Muerte, perform a "show". Miss Muerte then becomes a zombie-like killermachine for Dr. Zimmer's daughter and goes after the doctors who ridiculed him. The film is loaded with sinister atmosphere, beautifully shot - a masterpiece of the macabre!