Review of The Diabolical Dr. Z

The title character suffers a fatal heart attack after being rejected by the scientific community, so The Diabolical Daughter Of Dr. Z decides that it's Payback Time. To that end she kidnaps a long-clawed exotic dancer named Miss Death; using mind-control, she sends the dancer out to kill her father's tormentors. In one scene a murder victim is placed in a car; she and the car are torched and seconds later, the car is rolled into a river. Typical Jess Franco logic at work here! The perpetrator's face is charred which paves the way for a gory if brief plastic surgery scene. Other Franco standbys include craggy-faced actor Howard Vernon; a macabre lab assistant/henchman; a supporting appearance by Jess himself; and goofy incidental characters. More amusement is provided by weird-looking lab equipment, needles plunged into flesh, and more! (Only in the Sixties....) The black and white cinematography is an improvement over the pukey color that Franco often treated us to later. DR. Z is worth one sit-through and good for a few laughs.