L' Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock, or The Terror of Dr. Hichcock, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock or The Secret of Dr. Hichcock as it's also known amongst English speaking audiences, starts in 'London, 1885' where Professor Bernard Hichcock (Robert Flemyng) likes to have sex with his wife Margaret (Maria Teresa Vianello) while she is drugged to appear dead because he's a necrophiliac. However when his wife does die in reality Professor Hichcock decides to leave London, jump forward 12 years later & Professor Hichcock returns to London with his new wife Cynthia (Barbara Steele). Unfortunately things take a downward spiral for Cynthia as she becomes convinced the house is haunted by Maragret's ghost & matters aren't much better for professor Hichcock as every time he's about to do the dirty with a corpse in the hospital morgue someone walks in on him...
This Italian production was directed by Riccardo Freda & didn't really do anything for me at all, I should also point out that I think I saw the 85 odd minute uncut version as opposed to the heavily edited by 12 minutes version that was released in the US although I don't know whether it has subsequently been re-released uncut. The script by Ernesto Gastaldi is the culprit here, it's a mess that doesn't explain anything & is frankly extremely dull with an extremely thin plot which takes a backseat anyway. It's never made clear why Hichcock wants to drive Cynthia mad, I mean if your trying to kill someone just do it! It's never explained whether it was the ghost of Margaret or if she was still alive & why they needed to kill Cynthia either. The character of Martha (Harriet Medin) the housekeeper was never explained to any degree either & she simply 'leaves' just before the end for no apparent reason. What I'm trying to get across here is that every major plot point that could have turned L' Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock into a classic Gothic horror mystery have holes in them you could drive a tank through, nothing is explained to any satisfaction & once 'The End' credit comes up your not entirely sure what the preceding 90 odd minutes were all about, or 75 if you've got the cut US version & I can only begin to imagine what a mess that cut is. One more thing which annoyed me, even though the films title refers to him as Dr. Hichcock he is never referred to that way in the film itself & is always called Professor Hichcock. It's slow going as well, 90% of the films run time takes place on the same set of stairs & I don't really get all the positive reviews for this lame & rather dull film.
Director Freda does a great job here, sure I didn't like the mess of a story but L' Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock sure does look good. It has some terrific 19th century production design, the sets, costumes & props all go to create a visually great film with plenty of stylish lighting as well. It's just a shame the story is so thin & weak. Forget about any gore as there isn't a single drop of blood in the entire film & Dr. Hichcock's necropilious activities amount to nothing more than a kiss, by todays standards this is PG rated stuff all the way.
Technically the film is very good with decent production values although there are only a few locations they are used to good effect. It's always hard to judge the acting when watching a dubbed film & a badly dubbed film at that.
L' Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock is a pretty poor film, sure it has a great visual style about it but is that enough? I'd say no as I'd take a good strong story over flashy visuals any-day of the week, it's just my opinion of course but I think this is a pretty poor film.
This Italian production was directed by Riccardo Freda & didn't really do anything for me at all, I should also point out that I think I saw the 85 odd minute uncut version as opposed to the heavily edited by 12 minutes version that was released in the US although I don't know whether it has subsequently been re-released uncut. The script by Ernesto Gastaldi is the culprit here, it's a mess that doesn't explain anything & is frankly extremely dull with an extremely thin plot which takes a backseat anyway. It's never made clear why Hichcock wants to drive Cynthia mad, I mean if your trying to kill someone just do it! It's never explained whether it was the ghost of Margaret or if she was still alive & why they needed to kill Cynthia either. The character of Martha (Harriet Medin) the housekeeper was never explained to any degree either & she simply 'leaves' just before the end for no apparent reason. What I'm trying to get across here is that every major plot point that could have turned L' Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock into a classic Gothic horror mystery have holes in them you could drive a tank through, nothing is explained to any satisfaction & once 'The End' credit comes up your not entirely sure what the preceding 90 odd minutes were all about, or 75 if you've got the cut US version & I can only begin to imagine what a mess that cut is. One more thing which annoyed me, even though the films title refers to him as Dr. Hichcock he is never referred to that way in the film itself & is always called Professor Hichcock. It's slow going as well, 90% of the films run time takes place on the same set of stairs & I don't really get all the positive reviews for this lame & rather dull film.
Director Freda does a great job here, sure I didn't like the mess of a story but L' Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock sure does look good. It has some terrific 19th century production design, the sets, costumes & props all go to create a visually great film with plenty of stylish lighting as well. It's just a shame the story is so thin & weak. Forget about any gore as there isn't a single drop of blood in the entire film & Dr. Hichcock's necropilious activities amount to nothing more than a kiss, by todays standards this is PG rated stuff all the way.
Technically the film is very good with decent production values although there are only a few locations they are used to good effect. It's always hard to judge the acting when watching a dubbed film & a badly dubbed film at that.
L' Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock is a pretty poor film, sure it has a great visual style about it but is that enough? I'd say no as I'd take a good strong story over flashy visuals any-day of the week, it's just my opinion of course but I think this is a pretty poor film.