Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Leofwine_draca Another Gothic chiller from early '60s Italy, this is one of the best. The reason being that no other film of the period had such a quietly sickening theme as this one: the main character is a necrophiliac, who gives his partners anaesthetics before making love to them and gets rather too close to the bodies in the morgue. Of course, the subject matter was (and still is) extremely disturbing, which resulted in this film getting banned in Britain. Nowadays the authorities see fit to let us watch it, although the film carries a hefty 18-certificate, even though there is no on-screen sex or violence involved.The film deftly sets up an atmospheric situation, by having the setting as an old mansion full of dust and decay. The weather outside is perpetually stormy, with lightning flashing all the time, and an old portrait fills one entire room with its presence. Of course no film of this period would be complete without a basement full of coffins, and sure enough we have one of those too, with creaking gates of iron surrounding it. However while there are flashes of the supernatural in the film (mainly at the ending), the concentration is on human horror: the perverse condition of the title character, whose necrophilia is openly hinted at. His quiet sickness is what makes the film so watchable - and, indeed, a classic in the genre.This is thanks to some excellent acting, especially on the part of Robert Flemyng (THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR), who plays Hichcock. Throughout the film he has a gradual breakdown, until he becomes openly villainous and murderous at the climax, and this is portrayed subtlety. He is a man torn between love for his new wife and love for his old, unable to keep his lust for the dead hidden and yet sickened by it at the same time. Flemyng is given some excellent support by scream queen Barbara Steele, who plays his new wife, and conveys the anxiety, confusion, and outright disgust at her husband's mysterious actions well. It wouldn't be the film it is without the presence of Steele, and her charisma makes the film what it is. On top of that, Medin and Glenn have solid supporting roles.THE TERROR OF DR HICHCOCK is that rare film; a controversial yet cerebral masterpiece of death and nostalgia which obeys the conventions of the genre (complete with burning house at the end, and climatic fight between hero and villain) and yet stays fresh and interesting throughout, because of the sheer talent involved. It's obvious that director Freda knew his stuff, and it shows, because this is a top notch horror film, even beating some of Bava's own work of the period.

Witchfinder General 666 Riccardo Freda's L'ORRIBILE SEGRETO DELL DR. HICHCOCK aka. THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK(1962) was only the third Gothic Horror film starring the wonderful genre-goddess Barbara Steele, the first two being two masterpieces, Mario Bava's LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO (BLACK Sunday/THE MASK OF Satan) of 1960 and Roger Corman's PIT AND THE PENDULUM in which she starred alongside fellow Horror-deity Vincent Price. While this is not one of the most notable among the nine Italian Horror films starring the divine Miss Steele it is yet another creepy must-see for fans of Italian Gothic Horror and Barbara Steele in particular.In 1885, Doctor Hichcock (Robert Flemyng) leaves London after accidentally killing his wife with an overdose of an anesthetic. He returns several years later with his new wife Cynthia (Barbara Steele). It soon becomes clear that the Doctor has necrophiliac tendencies and that his weakness for anesthetics has to do with his own perverted desires...Director Riccardo Freda was one of the pioneers of Italian Horror cinema, having directed the first post-WW2 Italian Gothic Horror film I VAMPIRI (1956), which was, in fact, finished by the ultimate Italian Horror director Mario Bava (my personal choice for the greatest Horror director of all-time). While Freda's Gothic Horror films are very good they don't quite reach the quality of those by the incomparable Mario Bava and Antonio Margheriti, in my opinion.The most convincing reason to watch the film is, of course, Barbara Steele, who simply is the greatest Horror actress of all time in the humble opinion of yours truly. It is regrettable, however, that her role is restricted to that of the damsel in distress here. She played double-roles in many of her Italian Horror films (LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO, I LUNGHI CAPPELLI DELLA MORTE, AMANTI D'OLTRETOMBA, UN ANGELO PER SATANA) in which she combined the innocent and pure evil, and was always brilliant in doing so. In some other Italian Horror films her characters always had something mysterious and eerie about them. Not so in L'ORRIBILE DR. HICHCOCK, in which she has the role of a pure scream-queen. Personally I would have rather seen her as the villainess. However, she is still great and stunningly beautiful and her performance alone makes the film worthwhile.Another great aspect is the thick Gothic atmosphere which is created by the typically great use of camera-angles, darkness and shadows, the superbly creepy set pieces in an eerie old mansion and a nice, eerie score. Cinema does not get more elegant than Italian Gothic Horror from the 60s, and this film is yet another example for that. The film's theme of perversion and necrophilia is typical for early 60s Italian Gothic Horror, which wasn't yet quite as explicit as the Gialli and Horror films of the late 60s and 70s but was already thematically exploring the perverse and controversial.For quite some time, DR. HICHCOCK was the last Italian Horror film with Barbara Steele that I had yet to see. Freda made a sort-of sequel to this film one year later with LO SPETTRO (1963), which easily surpasses this one as it is even more atmospheric and Barbara Steele's role is way more sinister and macabre. Overall L'ORRIBILE SEGRETO DEL DR. HICHCOCK is not one of the highlights of Italian Gothic Horror but it is definitely a must-see for my fellow fans of the Genre and the wonderful Barbara Steele. For absolutely essential Italian Gothic Horror masterpieces starring Barbara Steele, watch Bava's LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO and Antonio Margheriti's DANZA MACABRA (CASTLE OF BLOOD, 1964).

MARIO GAUCI Actually what I have on VHS (recorded off the TV) is the full-length version of the film, released in the U.K. as THE TERROR OF DR. HICHCOCK (in the U.S. it was cut by 10 mins. and retitled). From the little I have watched of 'Euro Horror', this is definitely one of the highlights; most critics place it at the top of Freda's canon and it's easy to see why. Visually the film is stunning (even if the print I have watched has seen better days) with any number of striking images that are not easily forgotten.Still, the film's greatest coup, perhaps, is its unabashed (but not sensationalistic) treatment of necrophilia, a theme that was pretty much taboo at the time - and probably still is! (I urge you all to read Glenn M. Erickson's excellent and highly perceptive essay on the film on the 'Images Journal' website - incidentally, you will find a whole section here devoted to Italian horror films.) In this respect, THE TERROR OF DR. HICHCOCK would make a fine companion piece to Mario Bava's LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO/THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963), another unhinged (and extremely personal) Gothic masterwork!The exemplary cast is headed by Barbara Steele and Robert Flemyng. Steele is pretty good in what she has to do (though never quite scaling the heights of LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO/THE MASK OF Satan [1960]) but is overshadowed by Flemyng as Dr. Bernard Hichcock (an inspired choice for a name!) who is utterly credible in all the various facets of manic lust his character has to go through. Indeed, this doctor would not have been amiss in a Poe story and, much as I love Vincent Price in the AIP/Corman adaptations, Flemyng here emerges a far more sinister figure - without ever resorting to camp!Finally, I wonder how this film's follow-up LO SPETTRO/THE GHOST (1963), which I have never watched, compares with the original. Hopefully both films will one day be adequately represented on DVD, possibly released as a double-feature.

verna55 This Gothic Italian horror flick features '60's Scream Queen Barbara Steele as the new bride of a respected physician who learns that her seemingly charming hubby is hiding a few fiendish secrets regarding his first wife's mysterious death. Suspenseful, creepy, and atmospheric, this is the kind of historical, nightmarish horror piece that Edgar Allan Poe could have written, and there is indeed a reference to PREMATURE BURIAL. Steele, usually cast as the cunning, plotting villainess, does well in a rare sympathetic role. Horror buffs shouldn't miss this!