The Horrible Dr. Hichcock

The Horrible Dr. Hichcock

Original italian movie poster
Directed by Riccardo Freda
Produced by Luigi Carpentieri
Ermanno Donati
Louis Mann
Written by Ernesto Gastaldi
Perry Julyan
Starring Robert Flemyng
Barbara Steele
Music by Roman Vlad
Cinematography Donald Green
Raffaele Masciocchi
Edited by Donna Christie
Ornella Micheli
Release dates
 1962
Running time
 76 min.
Country Italy

The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (Italian title: L'Orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock) is a 1962 Italian horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and written by Ernesto Gastaldi. The film stars Barbara Steele and Robert Flemyng.

Plot

The story is set in 1885 and concerns a Dr. Hichcock, a necrophiliac whose horrible secret of the title involves drugging his wife for sexual funeral games. One day he accidentally administers an overdose and kills her. Several years later he remarries, with the intention of using the blood of his new bride (Steele) to bring his first wife's rotting corpse back to life.

Reception

Glenn Erickson has written his essay "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock: Women on the Verge of a Gothic Breakdown," about how "The outrageous central concern of The Horrible Dr. Hichcock has never been considered appropriate for any film openly advertised and exhibited to the public, horror or otherwise. That a film about the frustrated passions of a necrophiliac could even be released in 1962 is a censorial mystery in its own right -- or, perhaps, a clear testament to the way horror films were officially ignored on every cultural level back then."[1] Meanwhile the film has been praised as "a unique Italian gothic" with authentic sets, particular artful acting by Fleming and a Barbara Steele at her best.[2]

Biography

References

  1. ↑ Erickson, Glenn. The Horrible Dr. Hichcock: Women on the Verge of a Gothic Breakdown, dvdtalk.com
  2. ↑ Hughes, p.81

External links