The Horrible Dr. Hichcock

Never miss a chance to see Barbara Steele on the screen. The movie may be a bit schlocky, bur=t she is lovely. One of the few movies where she is pure victim.

The lovely Cynthia marries the widowed Professor Hichcock. They return to his old house where his wife passed away after an evening indulging Professor’s Hichcock’s festush, that of drugging her and then having sex with what he imagines is her corpse. Poor Cynthia is convinced the ghost of the deceased wife is haunting her while her husband has designs on her taking part in his unusual hobby.I love these gothic movies from the early 60s. You think they are going to be about ghosts, maybe an inheritance, and a lot of creeping around with candles and then boom it hits you with necrophilia as the good doctor’s secret. You don’t expect necrophilia anymore than you expect the Spanish Inquisition and it makes for an unexpected twist to the plot. Barbara Steele is as usual amazing with her big inquisitive eyes as she creeps about playing detective in the spooky house. She is always great in these roles of women in Victorian garb being tormented by deranged loons. I really give Paul Flemyng credit for taking on a role of a necrophiliac. I bet that didn’t help him land more roles afterwards but he does a great job as the sinister doctor. A great gothic horror movie with a plot that I did not expect. I like when a movie throws a curve ball this hard it hits me smack in the side of the head. What date do you bring up your interest in drugging your partner into unconsciousness before hopping on? Maybe you wait until after the marriage to really try out that for better or worse part.

As I think other reviewers have mentioned, this is the OliveFilms version of 77 minutes. In comparing this version to the overseas edit, "The Terror of Dr. Hichcock," that I have on VHS tape - which is, I believe, rated at 84 minutes - the only major difference I noted was in the very beginning. In "The Terror of Dr. Hichcock," the movie starts with the film credits - titling the film, incidentally, "Raptus" - then proceeds to the beginning, with our "good" doctor knocking out the gravedigger before proceeding to open the coffin containing a young woman. In "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock," the movie starts right in with the graveyard scene, and only after that is completed does it show the credits, which are shorter, containing no mention of "Raptus." I detected no differences in the scenes of Dr. Hichcock fondling the corpse in the cemetery, or later his unconscious wife Margaretha, or still later the body in the morgue. "Horrible" does seem to have some quicker take-a-ways from one scene to another, which serves to mildly increase the pace. I didn't notice any other changes that could account for an alleged 7 minute difference in the two versions. The biggest difference to me was in the picture quality. Granted, this is a bit unfair because I'm comparing a DVD to a VHS tape, but the source print of the former was certainly sharper, if also darker at times. It was great to finally see all the Victorian colors in their intended glory, and see the "Horror of Dr. Hichcock" etched on the the strange, beautiful face of Barbara Steele. The biggest disappointment was in the sound: the quality between the two is about the same. Overall, I thought I would be disappointed in the DVD version because I had supposed that the seven minute difference would be reflected in key scenes being edited out. They aren't. As such, I recommend this DVD version because of the tight editing and good picture quality.

The best version of this film currently available. The prints is in good shape and the widescreen anamorphic 16 by 9 is good too. Colors are vivid and this film's vivid use of color inspired Dario Argento--who sites this director as being more of an influence on him than Mario Bava. Though this isn't blu ray--I have seen the OLIVE release blu ray and this version looks nearly as good, sounds much better, and is far less cut up-- The quality in this release is so much better than previous crappy looking versions that, for now, this is the way to see this movie. I liked it so much better finally seeing this decent DVD that it was like seeing the film for the first time. This version seems to be uncut or any cuts made to it were done professionally as there aren't any jumps in the fine music score or anything too obvious. This is a relatively early horror film so you shouldn't expect lots of nudity or bloodshed. The necrophilia aspects of this are solidly implied.This is one of those key films in Italian horror cinema. DVD also includes trailers for some other Italian films and some of these are also widescreen. Yes it is a DVDr but they give you a good product at a decent price. Now if only someone, or they, would do an equally good version of the follow up film by this same team THE GHOST.

Alright, here we are with another "Olive Films" Blu-ray edition. The movie print they used looks good for the age of the movie, etc.I like the movie and the "Doctor" played here is one sick puppy. He can't stand the idea of his beloved Margaret being buried in the ground, so what does he do? He goes to the cemetery where she is about to be buried by the caretaker and literally gets her body back out of the coffin, fondling it before he does.As I have stated in my other reviews, "Olive Films" has zero special features and that is sad, to say the least.I am sure there is a theatrical trailer out there for this movie if they looked for it AND the movie runs (76:48) in length from opening to end.So any of you thinking of buying this edition, it looks good, but it is not the extended version of 83 minutes as some reviewers have stated.The only features the MENU has to offer are CHAPTER SEARCH and ENGLISH SUBTITLES.Comes with an Olive Films Mini catalog inside also.I would look around for a good deal on this one, if you really want it on HD Blu-ray. The print does look good on the Ultra 4K TV, but it isn't as sharp as some of her black and white movies on Blu-ray.

I enjoyed this film from the beginning to end. I am a great Barbara Steel fan. She really fills the mold of a horror classic actress. I highly recommend this gem of a DVD.

This is the first time I have viewed this film with an English sound track. It loses nothing in the translation.The description on the DVD outlines the story, which is remarkably frank for the time (or even now), but nothing will prepare you for the oppressive atmosphere the film creates. This is 'proper' horror cinema. The acting is played straight which adds to the doomladen effect. I don't wish to give anything away, so will simply note that one scene is genuinely horrifying in this very disturbing movie.

The film is ok,unfortunately,it is cut/censored by about 12 minutes.