The Diabolical Dr Z (1966)

It's time for a welcome release of some more Jess Franco on UK Blu-ray as one of the best films from his early black and white period gets a release from Eureka.

Dr. Zimmer (Antonio Giménez Escribano) has developed a technique for drilling into the brains of criminals and removing their ability to be evil, turning them into placid subservients. Zimmer’s research presentation is laughed out of a meeting with his colleagues and he dies from a heart attack as a result. His daughter Irma (Mabel Karr) is also a doctor (so this could have been called ‘THE DIABOLICAL DR ZS’) and decides to take revenge on the three doctors she holds most responsible for her father’s death. To effect this, Irma uses the brain-drilling machine and a kidnapped nightclub dancer with poisoned fingernails. 

For anyone claiming Jess Franco was a shoddy filmmaker (as opposed to making some shoddy films, which he certainly did), THE DIABOLICAL DR Z is one to show them. The black and white photography is sharp, the lighting carefully considered, and the opening scenes of the Woodside Strangler escaping from prison could look at home in a classic film noir. The plot is crazy but in the best way, and while there’s not a lot of subtext, Franco can’t help but include some of his recurring obsessions, the poisoned nightclub dancer ‘Miss Death’ aka Nadia (Estella Blain) among them.

Archival extras on Eureka's disc include Tim Lucas' commentary track ported over from Redemption's Blu-ray, and a trio of fascinating talking head pieces from a French 2018 release, with DIABOLICAL DR Z's screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere talking about his work with Franco (18 minutes), Franco expert Lucas Balbo discussing this period of Franco's film-making (16 minutes) and journalist Stéphane Di Mesnildot talking about the film (12 minutes).

New extras consist of Xavier Aldana Reyes discussing European Gothic Cinema including Caligary, Mario Bava, Georges Franju, Paul Naschy and others including, of course, Jess Franco. Samm Deighan offers a 19 minute piece on Mad Science in Gothic Cinema which is absolutely fine if you haven't read my Frightfest Guide to Mad Doctors or attended my lectures on the subject. Finally the set comes with a collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film from Antonio Lazaro-Reboll, co-editor of The Films of Jess Franco.

Jess Franco's THE DIABOLICAL DR Z is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 20th October 2025