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It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

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!

Proof Jess Franco can make a movie.I shouldn't say it like that since I'm a fan, of sorts, and Franco can make a good film usually after a long run of ones that make you scream otherwise (One need look at most of his recent shot on video stuff to wonder how he keeps getting money to make movies).Beautifully shot in black and white this is the story of a woman who wants to get revenge for the death of her father, a doctor involved with mind control experiments. Filled with odd images that never seem distracting or out of place this is a film that drifts through the surreal and has it make perfect sense. (The spider motifs). Its an odd mad scientist revenge thriller that is somehow hypnotic as the twists and turns of the plot walk the fine line between real and unreal (killer nails?). Its a very good euro-horror of the type that was being cranked out during the mid 1960's. Its also a film that perfectly fits the over used slogan "if you see one movie..." which in this case would be "If you see one movie by Jess Franco see this one." Between 6 and 7 out of 10

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!

It has to be said that The Diabolical Dr Z is a lot like Jess Franco's most famous film, The Awful Dr Orlof (in fact, said doctor even gets a mention here); but if you ask me, the superior film is this one. This time, rather than deal with facial reconstruction as Orlof did; sleaze master Franco deals with mind control. The plot, unlike many of Franco's films, is straight forward and here Franco proves that he can actually be quite a good story teller, when he doesn't get bogged down by too many sub plots and things that don't make sense. The film takes obvious influence from George Franju's masterpiece, Eyes without a Face (as many Euro horror films at the time this was made did), but Franco injects a lot more of his own stuff here than he did with Orlof. The doctor of the title doesn't appear for long, but before his death; he does provide the film with its main plot point - that being a mind control machine. When he suffers a heart attack, his daughter takes it upon herself to gain revenge - and so she takes control of the mind of a beautiful dancer calling herself 'Miss Death', who dispatches the doctors who caused Dr Z to suffer a heart attack by way of her long, poisoned, finger nails! The main talking point where this film is concerned is, of course, the style! Franco has shot the film in beautiful black and white, which, along with the excellent use of shadows, locations and cast members ensure that the film has both a dark, gloomy atmosphere and a real sense of beauty. Jess Franco's name has become synonymous with trashy Eurocult rubbish - but if you'd only ever seen this film from him, I wager that you wouldn't know why! The Diabolical Dr Z is art, pure and simple. The locations shot are one thing - but by far my favourite aesthetic element of the film is amazingly beautiful Miss Death, played by Estella Blain. The exotic dancer enters the film in a great sequence that sees her performing her nightclub act, in which she travels across a spider's web to seduce and kill her victims. From then on, she lights up every scene she's in - especially the ones that see her wearing the suit from her act! The film isn't very gory, but the horror appears from the ideas behind the plot, and scenes such as the one that see Dr Z's daughter hideously burned are definitely very gruesome. I've got to say that I'm surprised at how great this film is - and I'll finish off this review by giving The Diabolical Dr Z the highest of recommendations!