The Diabolical Dr. Z
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The Diabolical Dr. Z (Miss Muerte) is a Spanish-French 1966 horror film directed by Jesus Franco. The film is stars Mabel Karr as Irma Zimmer, a surgeon who creates a machine that turns people into her slaves. Zimmer uses the machine on an erotic dancer named Miss Muerte (Estella Blain) who uses her long poison-tipped fingernails to murder her enemies.
Production
The Diabolical Dr. Z was written by director Jesus Franco and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film is loosely based on the 1940 novel The Bride Wore Black. The film's opening credits state that it is based off a novel by David Khune who is an alter-ego for director Jesus Franco. Franco would later re-use elements from the plot of The Diabolical Dr. Z in his later films including The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968), She Killed in Ecstasy (1971).
The film was Franco's last film shot in black and white. Despite being one of Franco's favourite films of his earlier period, Franco has stated that the film "shouldn't have been made. Censorship was causing me troubles."
References
- Bentley, Bernard P. E. A Companion to Spanish Cinema Boydell & Brewer, 2008. ISBN 1855661764.
- Labanyi, Jo. Pavlović, Tatjana. A Companion to Spanish Cinema. John Wiley & Sons, 2012. ISBN 1118322800.
- Shipka, Danny. Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980. McFarland, 2011. ISBN 0786448881.
- Winter, Jessica. Hughes, Lloyd. The Rough Guide to Film Penguin, 2007. ISBN 1405384980
See also
