Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

ferbs54 Of the dozen or so films directed by Jess Franco that I have seen, from his gigantic oeuvre of over 190 (!) pictures, 1966's "The Diabolical Dr. Z" is easily the best of the bunch. Aptly described by the excellent reference book "DVD Delirium 2" as a "beguiling mixture of drive-in sleaze and European art film," this French/Spanish coproduction--from a director whose output has been wildly variable, both in terms of quality and subject matter--greatly surprised me. In it, Dr. Zimmer dies of a heart attack in front of the medical convention to which he had come to present his latest findings. Using her father's recently invented gizmo that enables one to control the minds of other men, Irma Zimmer enslaves a psychotic strangler and a taloned cabaret performer with the oh-so appropriate appellation Miss Death. With these two cat's-paws, she sets out to avenge her father on the three convention members she holds responsible for his demise. The picture has a roster of fine attributes that sets it way above the usual horror fare, including (and foremost, for this viewer) some sensationally gorgeous B&W photography by DOP Alejandro Ulloa, a mournful, outre and discordant jazz score by Daniel White, and a story that just keeps getting wilder as it proceeds. (The plot device of a woman going after the medical men she deems responsible for a loved one's death would be revisited by Franco in the far inferior film "She Killed In Ecstasy" in 1970.) In the roles of Irma and Nadia (Miss Death), Mabel Karr and Estella Blain are simply outstanding, and Franco regular Howard "Dr. Orloff" Vernon, as well as the director himself, offer amusing performances in lesser roles. The film is taut, exciting and really an incredible experience to sit through. Dare I say it: a Jess Franco horror masterpiece! This Mondo Macabro DVD comes with the usual bounteous array of extras, including an interview with "The Bad Boy of Spanish Cinema," Franco himself. The print looks great, offers excellent subtitling for the French-language soundtrack, and is a must for all fans of well-made Eurohorror. I, for one, loved it!

Flixer1957 The title character suffers a fatal heart attack after being rejected by the scientific community, so The Diabolical Daughter Of Dr. Z decides that it's Payback Time. To that end she kidnaps a long-clawed exotic dancer named Miss Death; using mind-control, she sends the dancer out to kill her father's tormentors. In one scene a murder victim is placed in a car; she and the car are torched and seconds later, the car is rolled into a river. Typical Jess Franco logic at work here! The perpetrator's face is charred which paves the way for a gory if brief plastic surgery scene. Other Franco standbys include craggy-faced actor Howard Vernon; a macabre lab assistant/henchman; a supporting appearance by Jess himself; and goofy incidental characters. More amusement is provided by weird-looking lab equipment, needles plunged into flesh, and more! (Only in the Sixties....) The black and white cinematography is an improvement over the pukey color that Franco often treated us to later. DR. Z is worth one sit-through and good for a few laughs.

Mart Sander Probably a good starting point to explore your Franco. This is a well written and smoothly running yarn of obsession and revenge, with handsome and solid cast, hypnotic soundtrack and first class camera work. There's the ethereal Estella Blain, a beauty who is changed into a killing machine, with powers to mesmerize men. Knowing that in real life she ended her life with a shotgun adds to the morbid fascination of seeing her. The scene of her seducing one of her victims on a train, in sudden silence and almost complete darkness as the train enters a tunnel, is so weirdly beautiful that one is compelled to watch it several times. My second viewing of this film was in a rather tired company, and I witnessed a drunkard - well, an intoxicated young gentlemen - wake up from his slumber just because of the dreamlike soundtrack and becoming glued to the screen. These are the moments that make film the greatest of art forms. Otherwise I'm not a great fan of Mr Franco. A man who directs about 200 films can't hit a bullseye every time. But this time he really has. A piece de resistance for every eurotrash lover. How lucky you are if you haven't seen this film yet and are planning a viewing!

Jens-28 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!