Dr. Zimmer (Antonio Jimenez Escribano) is a blind, wheelchair-bound scientist with radical ideas about where the impulses for good and evil reside in the human body, and how to isolate them. By doing this, he hopes to rehabilitate criminal types. But when his peers scoff at and demonize his research, he suffers a fatal heart attack, and his daughter Irma (Mabel Karr) carries on his work. However, she is the truly diabolical one, perverting her fathers' ideas in the name of old-fashioned revenge. She telepathically controls an exotic dancer, Nadia a.k.a. Miss Death (Estella Blain), into murdering the mocking doctors Vicas (Howard Vernon), Moroni (Marcelo Arroita-Jauregui), and Kallman (Cris Huerta). This poor Nadia is made to do thanks to curare-tipped fingernails.One of the handful of traditional genre films made by cult icon Jess Franco, "The Diabolical Dr. Z" is good fun, as it adheres to classic trappings of horror. It's not really a Gothic; it's set in modern times. But it still has that great old-style feel, complete with stark black & white photography. Franco utilizes themes that would then recur throughout his filmography, enhancing the standard revenge plot with touches of eroticism. The ladies are gorgeous, and the cast is uniformly solid, with Karr suitably icy as the Frankenstein-wannabe on a mission. Fernando Montes is enjoyable as the man of medicine *and* the man who ends up dating Irma, and sometime after she has faked her death, her unwitting murderer. Guy Mairesse has a great character face as the strangler who gets employed as a henchman. Adding to the fun is seeing Uncle Jess himself in an uncredited supporting role, as one of two detectives investigating the crimes (the other is played by the films' composer, Daniel White). Jess even gets a character detail: his inspector is sleep-deprived because his wife recently had triplets.The cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa is striking, Whites' music is atmospheric, and the pacing is pretty consistent. The tale being told (scripted by Jean-Claude Carriere, based on a story by Jess) is not a great one, but it does hold your attention. It's sexy, and sordid, and has some nice touches along the way.Seven out of 10.

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.

Jess Franco, who is (with over 180 directed films) probably the most prolific exploitation director of all-time, is far too often dismissed as a creator of nothing but worthless junk. It may be true that many of his films fall into that description, but fact is that Franco's amazing repertoire, especially that of is earlier years, includes several downright brilliant films. Such as "The Awful Dr. Orloff" (1962), "Venus In Furs" (1969) or "The Nights of Dracula" (1970). Or this sublime film. Along with Franco's first success, the earlier classic "Gritos En La Noche" ("The Awful Dr. Orloff", 1962), "Miss Muerte" aka. "The Diabolical Dr. Z" (1966) is easily the greatest Franco film I've seen, an incredibly creepy, atmospheric and absolutely amazing gem that no lover of Horror or Cult-cinema could possibly consider missing."The Diabolical Dr. Z" follows "The Awful Dr. Orloff", and it even references the eponymous Doctor of the earlier film. The wheelchair-bound Dr. Z, to whom this film owes its English aka. title is only diabolical for about ten or fifteen minutes into the film, after which his daughter plans diabolical revenge through her father's successful experiments in mind-control, a serial killer escaped from death row, and the razor-sharp fingernails of a sexy exotic dancer named 'Miss Muerte'... The film delivers less sleaze than your typical Franco flick (which is, of course, due to the earlier release date), but stands out with an incredibly creepy Gothic atmosphere, fantastic settings, a brilliant score and an ingenious and genuinely morbid storyline. Antonio Jimenez Escribano is delightfully weird as the eponymous Dr. Z, and Mabel Karr is wonderfully malicious in the role of his vengeful daughter. The cast also includes Franco-regular Howard Vernon, who is always an enrichment for cult-cinema fans. The cast-member which is the most convincing reason to watch the film, of course, is the sexy 'Miss Muerte' herself, Estella Blain. Director Franco has a cameo as a police inspector. "The Diabolical Dr. Z" is eerily shot in Dark mansions, laboratories and old mansions and accompanied by a haunting score which intensifies the uncanny atmosphere. The storyline is ingenious and the characters are wonderfully demented. This truly is an immensely enjoyable gem for fans of Cult-Horror. I am tempted to give it the highest rating, but even without an extra star for personal delight, this is an absolutely awesome film that no Horror lover should miss. "Miss Muerte" comes with my highest recommendations and a more than well-deserved rating of 9 out of 10!

Dr. Z. senior, as he's marvelously depicted on the DVD-cover with an outrageous hair-style and funky goggles, has the chance to act mildly diabolical for exactly 15 minutes and then he banally dies from an ordinary heart-attack. Why picture HIS mug on all the posters and – even more importantly - why refer to the lethal titular character Miss Death as HIS creation when he's nothing more than a supportive character? I usually loath movies with misleading titles and inappropriate pictures on the cover, but I'll gladly make an exception for Jess Franco's finest cinematic achievement, as this movie is honestly too good to get upset about small details. Besides, the title more or less remains apt because Dr. Z's daughter reprises the diabolical family business. Irma Zimmer helplessly witnessed how her father's intelligent, albeit unethical research got condemned by an opinionated committee of eminent doctors, resulting in the poor man's fatal heart-attack. She swears to avenge her father's death as well as to continue his work, which involves the control and direction of man's hostile behavior through spinal injections. She develops a fiendish plan to fake her own death and subsequently kidnaps a sexy nightclub dancer who'll serve as her mindless killing instrument. The ravishing Nadja is sent to seduce the naughty doctors responsible for Dr. Z Senior's death and then murder them with her poisonous fingernails. Arguably a kind of sequel to "The Awful Dr. Orloff", this is unquestionably Jess Franco's best accomplishment to date, with a coherent script (for a change) and a genuinely sinister atmosphere throughout. Without losing control over the pacing once, Franco brings forward a series of bright ideas and merges them all together in a plausible & effective fashion. There's the recruitment of an escaped maniacal killer from death row, the elaboration of Irma's insane disappearance plot, a love-story, the slow-moving police investigation and the versatile murders of three doctors. Franco's direction doesn't feel rushed at all, the filming locations and scenery are exquisite and the use of black & white cinematography makes the wholesome even more staggering. Unlike the majority of titles on Franco's repertoire, "The Diabolical Dr. Z" is a stylish and truly unsettling masterpiece! Sure, certain (sub) plots and the ambiance may be derived from the French classic "Les Yeux Sans Visage", but so many contemporary films were influenced by that one and at least Franco's style is straightforward and unpretentious. Bearing in mind the era and budget limitations, the film features surprisingly shocking visual & make-up effects. Especially the images of Irma's horribly burned face are eerie and nightmarish. The acting performances are far above average as well. Franco-regular and friend Howard Vernon stars in a small role as Dr. Vicar and our beloved director himself briefly appears in a glorious role as police detective. Bravo Jess, you're my hero.