The Vengeance of Doctor Mabuse

Jess Franco directed over 180 movies in his lifetime, so it's not very surprising that he occasionally lacked inspiration. The Vengeance of Dr. Mabuse sees Jess imitating his own 1962 movie The Awful Dr. Orlof, which itself was inspired by George Franju's classic Les Yeux Sans Visage.

As with The Awful Dr. Orlof, the plot concerns a crazy scientist, the titular Dr. Mabuse (Jack Taylor), who abducts women with the help of disfigured servant Andros (Moisés Augusto Rocha) in order to subject them to a powerful ray, the aim being to create an army of robots. Parallels with The Awful Dr. Orlof abound, from the police inspector (here played by Fred Williams) whose girlfriend is called Wanda (same as in Orlof), to the woman lured to an abandoned building where she is accosted by Orlof's servant (as in Orlof), to the vagrant who catches a vital clue on the end of his fishing pole (as in Orlof). Needless to say, the film ends in the same way, with Andros carrying off Wanda, the inspector arriving just in time to kill the 'monster' and save the girl.

Sadly, this time around, the formula doesn't result in such a great film: Franco's direction is sloppy, the performances aren't very good (Howard Vernon's presence would be beneficial), and Eva Garden as Wanda isn't anywhere near as sexy as Diana Lorys, who played the inspector's fiancé in The Awful Dr. Orlof.

4/10

Q. Did the same artist who drew the police sketches in The Awful Dr. Orlof also design the sign for The Red Garter cabaret club? It's just as terrible.

You can say a lot of things about director Jess Franco (including negative things, mind you) but most of all, I'd like to think of him as a very clever filmmaker who always damn well knew where there was some easy money to earn! If there ever was a popular trend or franchise in horror cinema, you can bet your bottom dollar that Jess Franco was part of it or at least attempted to rapidly shoot a film that profited by this particular trend. In the early 80's, when the teen-slasher was immensely popular, Franco brutally hacked up young beauty queens in "Bloody Moon" and in the late 60's already, he also took over the "Fu Manchu" series. Here in this film, our beloved pal Jess further exploits the successful horror character of the evil "Dr. Mabuse", which was originally created by no less than the German top-director Fritz Lang.

"La Venganza del Doctor Mabuse" actually is one of Franco's better films of that period with delightfully twisted characters, stunning locations, truly beautiful camera-work and a terrific musical score. The story is of minor importance but it handles about the mean Dr. Mabuse and his accomplices stealing all kind of attributes from a National Research Institute (including female staff members) in order to complete his own, evil mind-control ray. Dr. Mabuse has this impressive and horribly scarred man-monster that kills for him while the entire police force desperately tries to catch him. This film is great and trashy entertainment, starring some incredibly beautiful cult-sirens like Ava Garden, Ewa Strömberg and Beni Cardoso...all wearing mini-skirts! The action sequences are a little grotesque, but Franco's directing is very stylish and surefooted. Many of Franco's later films suffer from overlong and tedious scenes but this effort is pure excitement from start to finish. Typical Franco trademarks also include that he makes references towards his earlier films (more particularly, "the Awful Dr. Orloff") and that he rewards himself with a small supportive role. Definitely one of the director's best films and simultaneously a great title to illustrate the class of early 70's euro-exploitation!

Another masterpiece by one of the ultimate godfathers of campy Euro sleaze - Jess Franco! This more indirect installment to producer Arthur Brauner´s "Dr. Mabuse"-series is silly, cheap, but also damn entertaining if you like hilarious trash movies! Especially the great 1970s flair blew my mind: 1970s style as far as the eye can see, plus a stunning psychedelic score complete this funny trashfest! The actors: Moisés Augusto Rocha as monster is the best second-class Boris Karloff-double I´ve ever seen. Franco´s all time favorite actor Jack Taylor is quite good as villain, however his sly helper Eva Garden steals the show whenever she´s on the screen! The director himself is wonderful campy with his role as police chief and German actor Wolfgang Kieling fills some gaps with an amusing performance in playing a drunk angler. Don´t expect intelligent dialogues or a demanding plot, because this is a perfect symbiosis of trash and fun! Just switch off your brain for 70 minutes, lay back and enjoy!

Vengenza del Doctor Mabuse, La (1972)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Jess Franco's stab at the Mabuse saga with Jack Taylor in the role. Dr. Mabuse and his Frankenstein-like monster assistant are stealing all the parts (and scientists) they need in order to build a deadly death ray. I had to view this film in Spanish without any subs so I missed out on a lot of the dialogue. Another problem is that my print was from a horrible looking 16mm copy so hopefully someone will release a remastered version with subs because I'd probably bump my grade up a half a star. The film is unlike many of Franco's films made during this period because it features no sex, no nudity and no real violence. The film is all style and you can tell Franco's putting all of his serious touches on the film. The music score is very good, the locations terrific and Taylor is pretty good in the title role. The monster creature is actually better than two feature films that feature the Frankenstein character. Franco plays a bit part in the film and Monica Swinn also shows up. The police in the movie are an interesting note because Franco films them in a Western type setting, which goes against the rest of the movie but perhaps this is better explained in the dialogue. The movie runs a fast 74-minutes and hopefully will see a legit release one day.

Doctor Mabuse strikes again in this highly-colored movie shot by Jess Franco in the mid-seventies, when he was still comitting marvels. This one has almost everything you can expect from a spanish late night masterpiece : the evil doctor and his mindless Frankenstein-like monster, Monica Swinn as her evil and sexy sidekick, a cameo by a screaming and cigar smoking Franco, some cops dressed like laughable cowboys, a few sexy girls in mini-skirts and the incredible camera angles and locations that has made old Jess famous.

It's about doctor Mabuse's evil plans - plans I couldn't understand because the movie is in spanish - and the endeavours of humanity to stop him, Franco-style. Shot in the most unusual and strange locations of Spain, it is a visual treasure and the funny characters are, as always, very parodic. It may last only about an hour, but it will remain in your hearts and minds for a long long time...