Dr. M schlägt zu

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.