Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 16/31 | Before 1970 1/5
Hans, a convicted criminal, escapes from prison, only to fall on the doorstep of Dr. Zimmer and his daughter, Irma. They bring Hans into the laboratory to perform a procedure that turns him into a human puppet who follows their every command.
When Zimmer attempts to show his findings to the medical community, they call for Zimmer’s excommunication. The shock kills him. In his dying words, he begs Irma to continue his work.
So, Irma cooks a rather elaborate plan where she picks up a hitchhiker who looks like her, hits her with a car, sets the car on fire (burning herself in the process), and pushes it in the water to make it look like an accident. She and Hans turn Zimmer’s assistant, Barbara, into a puppet and hide in an abandoned mansion.
Irma’s plan? To turn a cabaret dancer called Miss Death and make her seduce and murder Vicas’ enemies. Irma can control her actions, but can she control her words?
With someone like Jess Franco, who has nearly 200 movies, finding which of his films are legitimately good, which are campy good, and which are cheap trash. This movie is legitimately good. The plot is convoluted, with several things happening before we understand how it all fits together.
The score is jazzy and a lot of fun. We get sultry moments, explosive ones, and at the darkest, it descends into caustic piano.
For a Jess Franco movie, it isn’t too gory or horny. I understand that Franco had a hell of a time with the censors on this one. Though he considers it one of his favorites from this era, he regrets making it for all the hassle it caused him.
Miss Death’s cabaret show is more bizarre than seductive. She dances with a mannequin that may or may not be alive. We see its eyes darting around, but it remains stiff throughout.
The movie is so full of ideas. At 87 minutes, it’s in and out before it could get boring.