The Diabolical Dr Z

Gorgeous to look at and rather stylish and subtle (by Jess Franco standards), THE DIABOLICAL DR Z is an inspired slice of gothic horror blended with elements of the ‘mad scientist’ genre. At the centre of the action is the daughter of a discredited scientist who takes revenge on all those who, in her opinion, are responsible for his death.

Filmed in 1966, when Europe was in full-on ‘gothic horror’ mode, Jess Franco’s Diabolical Dr Z stands out for several reasons, the most important is that the protagonist (who is also the villain) is female. In fact, the action is dominated by female characters which is refreshing in so far as it strives away from the usual ‘damsel in distress’ scenario often associated with vintage horror films. Although clearly set in the present (that is to say in the mid-sixties) we often are surrounded by rural places with quaint old buildings. This being a Spanish-French co-production, the dialogue is in French though names on shopfronts and of guesthouses suggest that we are somewhere in Germany.

At the beginning though, we are in the laboratory of Dr. Zimmer (Antonio J. Escribano), a bold and undoubtedly mad, wheelchair-bound doctor cum scientist whose experiments on various animals is meant to prove that the brain consists of two parts - one that controls the good qualities in us and the other parts controls the evil in us. Clearly, Dr. Zimmer must be a big fan of R.L. Stevenson’s ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’! Of course, Zimmer is not satisfied with his experiments on animals but his ambitions take him from the realm of the mildly bonkers to the realm of insanity, because he wants to test his theory on humans. His daughter Irma (Mabel Karr) assists him in his tasks as does second assistant and general dogsbody Barbara Albert (Lucia Prado). As it so happens, a dangerous killer named Hans Bergen (Guy Mairesse), scheduled for execution by hanging, manages to escape from prison at the last minute. Hounded by the law, he stumbles upon Dr. Zimmers mansion and manages to ring the doorbell before collapsing. Irma and Barbara recognize the stranger straight away as the escaped criminal and carry him into the doctor’s lab, where no time is wasted to strap him onto some weird, robotic looking machinery and mess with his brain… The procedure results in Hans becoming completely obedient and passive.

A few days later, Dr. Zimmer attends a medical conference together with his daughter. Upon his arrival, it becomes evident that fellow colleagues (if you can call them that) already have a poor opinion of Zimmer. When he tells them of his theory and mentions that he managed to turn an aggressive hyena as gentle as a lamb, whilst a cute little bunny turned so aggressive it ripped itself apart, the fellow doctors and scientist are amused, shocked and outraged in equal measure. That outrage grows massive when Dr. Zimmer asks the committee for permission to carry out his experiments on humans, in particular dangerous prisoners perhaps, as they are not that important should the experiments go wrong. Dr. Zimmer is declared insane and completely humiliated by everyone in the conference room. The reaction of his colleagues, three in particular, agitate him so much that he succumbs to a heart attack there and then…

Back in the Zimmer mansion, daughter Irma vows revenge and plans on killing those responsible for daddy’s death. The chosen victims are Dr. Vicas (Franco regular Howard Vernon), Dr. Moroni (Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui) and Dr. Kallman (Christ Huerta). Initially not quite sure how to go about carrying out her revenge, the problem is solved when Irma meets with a former acquaintance from medical school, who has since become a doctor of medicine in his own right: Phillipe Brighthouse (Fernando Montes). Together, they visit a cabaret and watch a semi-erotic performance by a dancer who goes under the stage name ‘Miss Death’ (Estella Blain). Her act involves her dressed as a black widow and wriggling across a spider web painted on the floor, with a victim (a male dummy) trapped inside the net and killed by Miss Death - to be more precise, her impossible long and sharp fingernails are her murder weapon. This, of course, puts ideas into Irma’s head…

Driving home the next day along a country road, Irma picks up a female hitchhiker from Holland and immediately notices a striking resemblance between the young woman and herself, not least her blond bob haircut. Suggesting they go for a swim, Irma gets out of the river after a few minutes as the water is “too cold” and when the hitchhiker also gets out, Irma runs her over with her car. She then places the dead woman in front of the steering wheel, puts her finger ring on the hand of the victim, douses the car in petrol, sets it alight and pushes the car into the river. Voila! Irma Zimmer is (officially at least) no more. Henceforth, Irma, now with her hair dyed dark and wearing glasses, calls herself Dr. Z - assisted by Hans and Barbara, who tends to Irma’s now semi-disfigured face… bad burns, which happened while she set her car on fire.

Not that this is an obstacle for Irma, who makes her way to the cabaret and - pretending to work for a talent agency - offers exotic dancer Nadia a lucrative contract there and then. She only needs to sign it and the office is nearby. Nadia falls for the trap hook, line and sinker and with Hans waiting in the wings, is kidnapped, sedated and brought to the lab, where Irma applies the same procedure on the unfortunate dancer as her dad did on his captured animals. Without any will and completely under the spell of Irma, Nadia is now a dangerous killer whose murder weapon are her long talons, dipped in curare poison. Her mission? Bump off Dr. Vicas, Dr. Moroni and Dr. Kallman one by one…

The plot thickens when Inspector Tanner (Jess Franco himself) and Inspector Green (Daniel White) eventually put one and one together and come to the conclusion that someone out there is after some of the doctors who recently attended the medical conference, including Phillipe. But who wants to kill them and why?

This is absolutely fantastic stuff and released on Blu-ray bang on time for Halloween! As ever with Eureka, this Limited Edition release (2,000 copies only) is presented in an O-card slipcase and comes with a collector’s booklet.
Bonus material includes optional English subtitles, audio commentary, discussion and video essay, archival interviews and original trailer.