The Diabolical Dr. Z

The Diabolical Dr. Z (Miss Muerte)(1966)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: Jesus Franco

Starring: Estella Blain, Mabel Karr, Howard Vernon, Fernando Montes, Marcelo Arriota-Jaugegui

From: Several different French and Spanish companies

In my last horror film for at least a few days, I decided to give Jesus Franco another shot. In short, I enjoyed 1962’s The Awful Dr. Orlof while a pair of 70’s films (Nightmares Come at Night, A Virgin Among the Living Dead) less so. Henceforth, choosing something else from the 60’s seemed like the right path to take. Thankfully a nice print was available on Kino Lorber’s streaming site, Kino Now.

The simple plot description that can be found on multiple sites, to paraphrase: “A woman looks to avenge her father’s death by using a local dancer… because she has long poisonous fingernails.” True (and also memorable, which is why it caught my attention) but it’s more complex than that. The Dr. Z is both father and daughter; they discover a way to control people via the nervous system. Colleagues scoff at them for wanting to test on humans; he literally drops dead of a heart attack and the daughter is PISSED. She uses that tech to essentially brainwash henchmen (& women) to do her bidding and kill said colleagues… one of whom was Howard Vernon, as of course he’s in a Franco picture.

The movie was simply delightful despite how sordid the material was. I enjoyed the cinematography quite a bit; striking shots were seen throughout. Even better was the jazzy score; props are deserved for Alejandro Ulloa & Daniel White, respectively. It was a lovely-looking & sounding tale which of course had its kinks given the director but I was engrossed throughout by the vile Irma Zimmerman, her slaves & the scientist/detectives (including Franco himself) finally realizing something is amiss.

I was delighted to find a Franco film that was more my jam. In the future, I’ll seek out more from him, including in other genres. The Diabolical Dr. Z managed to include a Robert Bresson reference and 10 minutes later reveal that Dr. Orlof is part of the movie’s universe.