ma-cortes In the village of Holfen, a number of young women are found stabbed to death by what is determined to be an ancient dagger with a curved and rusty blade . The superstitious locals believe the murders to be the fulfillment of a curse placed on them in the 17th century by Baron Von Klaus, a sadistic libertine who killed many women before dying in the swamps surrounding his castle. The Baron's spirit is said to live on in his male descendants, but Von Klaus heir Ludwig (Hugo Blanco) along with his girlfriend (Paula Martel) don't arrive in town until the day after the latest murder . He is entrusted with a key to his ancestor's torture dungeon and begged to bring an end to the family curse by visiting it, destroying it, and leaving the castle, never to return again. But will he have the willpower to resist the lure of his horrific heritage? . Meanwhile , Inspector Borowsky (Georges Rollin) investigates the strange murders along with a journalist (Fernando Delgado) . There are some suspects , as a doctor (Sergio Mendizabal) and a Baron Von Klaus's descendant called Max Von Klaus (Howard Vernon) .This average-budget film contains thrills , a criminal intrigue and lots of murders . It's a passable slasher movie directed by prolific filmmaker Jess Frank and also produced by his own production company, Manacoa Films along with Albatros SA . Here Franco manages to give us an adequate ambient , an evocative production design by Antonio Cortes , being rightly narrated , including a murder plot enough to keep you intrigued throughout the flick . Based on a story by David Khune or Jesus Franco and screenplay by Pio Ballesteros , Juan Cobos and by the same Jesus Franco or Uncle Jess . The picture was well starred by good Spanish actors , such as Fernando Delgado , Paula Martel , Gogo Rojo and Hugo Blanco , who subsequently worked for Jesus Franco in "The Secret of Dr. Orloff" . And of course , Howard Vernon , Jess Frank's usual , ordinarily playing Dr. Orloff . The Spanish support cast is frankly fine as Sergio Mendizabal , Maria Frances , Jose Luis Coll and the great Manuel Alexandre , among others . The picture belong to Franco's first period in which he made acceptable pictures such as ¨Gritos en Noche¨, ¨Miss Muerte¨ or ¨Necronomicon¨, developing a consolidated professionalism . However , his career got more and more impoverished in the following years, but his endless creativity enabled him to tackle films in all genres, from "B" horror to erotic films.Atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Godofredo Pacheco filmed on Northern Spanish locations . Good musical score by Daniel White , Franco's usual musician , including Jazzy soundtrack , wonderful songs and musical numbers . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jesus Franco. However , here he doesn't use his trademarks , as he carries out a traditional narration , without zooms , neither lousy pace . Jesus uses to sign under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others . Franco used to utilize usual marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY and managing to work extraordinarily quickly . In many of the more than 180 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. His first was "We Are 18 Years Old" and the second picture was ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ (1962) , the best of all them , also titled "The Awful Dr. Orlof" , it's followed by various sequels such as El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" , " Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" and finally "Faceless" (1987) . He also directed to the great Christopher Lee in 4 films : "The Bloody Judge" , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨The Blood of Fu Manchu¨ and ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ . Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films . Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals . But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production has diminished since the 90s ; however he went on shooting until his recent death .

MARIO GAUCI My last-viewed Jess Franco movie had been the supremely silly CELESTINE, AN ALL-ROUND MAID (1974); I was therefore relieved to catch something from his initial black-and-white phase, not that the end result proved exactly satisfying (especially since, at 95 minutes, it tends to drag somewhat). Incidentally, since I missed out on celebrating the notorious Spanish director's 80th birthday last year, I was ready to make amends now with as many as 15 Franco titles scheduled for this month (10 of them will even be first-time viewings) and 5 more that are in a way related or somewhat similar in theme and approach! This pretty much evokes the same mood as the superior THE DIABOLICAL DOCTOR Z (1965): in fact, I think his style kept improving or, if you like, gradually became more polished and reached its zenith in that film before he turned his attention to color and, with the new-found permissiveness, his erotic concern also came to the fore (which, in my book, was not a good thing but that argument is better left for another day and another film). By the way, even if these early efforts were officially Spanish productions, they are easier to come by in their slightly-altered (emphasizing the nudity quotient, sometimes gratuitously so, which on its home ground would have been repressed by the State Censorship Board!) French versions via the Eurocine company; thankfully, this copy retains the French dialogue which is (by far) superior to the English dubs…though the original Spanish title, which translates to THE HAND OF A DEAD MAN, is decidedly classier than the one it got stuck with here!The narrative is quite typical and, in fact, his later Dracula'S DAUGHTER (1972; no relation to the 1936 Universal horror classic) makes for a direct remake of it: if anything, Franco frequently ingeniously (or is that ingenuously) revamped a plot that he felt a particular affinity with or, perhaps to put it more crudely, a formula that seemed to work – personally, I find his most interesting double-feature in this vein to be the blood-sucking combo of COUNT Dracula (1969; which I will be revisiting presently since I have only caught it thus far in the slightly extended but unsubtitled Spanish-language version) and VAMPYROS LESBOS (1970). Anyway, this is not bad but it does not reach any great heights either: we have a series of murders which seem to be tied to one particular family and, apparently, are a reprise of a killing spree perpetrated by an ancestor. The obvious suspect is the new head of the family (played by the sinister-looking and Franco regular Howard Vernon) but, as it turns out, it is someone else who had so far been depicted as reasonably sympathetic and virtuous – that said, there are clues to his true nature when he barely bats an eyelid over the death of his mother…unless this was a combination of bad direction and listless acting (with Franco, you are never really sure)! In the end, he voluntarily joins his progenitor into the swamps (again, foreshadowing a subsequent picture by the director, namely A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD {1971}).The film contains elements which would soon become trademarks such as the dysfunctional family unit, the cabaret act and the Police procedural, yet Franco is most inspired when he tries to emulate his idol Orson Welles – particularly a night-time chase through the streets marked by tilted camera angles! As I said, on the other hand, the would-be titillating inserts do not really add anything to the proceedings or the film's overall assessment: indeed, these so-called "Continental Versions" were never more than sensation-seeking exploitation ploys and, at this juncture, come across as mere curiosities!

Witchfinder General 666 Too often is the prolific Spanish Exploitation-deity Jess Franco dismissed as a producer of nothing but sleazy trash. Fact is that the man's impressive repertoire of over 190 films, especially his earlier work, includes several creepy, elegant and downright brilliant films, such as "Gritos En La Noche" ("The Awful Dr. Orloff", 1962) and "Miss Muerte" ("The Diabolical Dr. Z.", 1966), just to name the two most outstanding examples. While "La Mano De Un Hombre Muerto" aka. "The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus" of 1962 is not nearly as great as the aforementioned two film, it is yet another good example for the stylish creepiness of Franco's early Horror films, and the man's well-deserved status as a pioneer of European Exploitation cinema."The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus" is set in a German village the residents of which are still haunted by its past. Once, their ancestors had suffered from the evil deeds of a sadistic Baron, who terrorized the area. When a young girl gets brutally murdered, the first suspect is the Baron's descendant (Howard Vernon), who happens to be the spitting image of his murderous ancestor...Franco creates a morbid and creepy atmosphere by employing the typically elegant black-and-white cinematography, eerie settings and macabre set-pieces of his early films. Most of the film is set in gloomy alleys, a dark forest, Gothic castles, tombs and other eerie places. Franco also delivers pioneering Sleaze - the film features female nudity as well as sadistic sexual perversions, which was not exactly the norm in 1962. Franco once again employs the great Howard Vernon, the most regular leading-man of his early films and a true master of sinister roles. The film drags a tiny bit in the middle, but the second half is truly intense. Overall, Franco's second Horror film is not as essential as the masterpiece "The Awful Dr. Orloff", which was released shortly before, but definitely a very good Horror film and early Euro-Exploitation effort that my fellow Franco-fans can not afford to miss. 7.5/10.

macabro357 This is NOT a horror movie. It is a serial-killer movie, so you won't find any aspects of the supernatural, here.B/W feature, set in Germany, dubbed in French with English subtitles. I suspect that it was actually filmed in northern Spain. Don't know for sure.A modern day Baron's ancestors have a curse that goes back 500 years to when the ancient Baron was involved in a series of murders of young women by knifing and torturing them. The police and a crime reporter from out of town go on the hunt to search for the killer.Btw, it didn't take rocket-science to know who the killer was since this became apparent early on in the film.The film does have some spooky atmosphere to it and it also has one S/M scene where the barmaid (Gogo Rojo?) is chained up from a rafter, topless with very faint whip marks on her back. She is stabbed by the killer although it isn't shown on the film directly, but slightly off camera with no blood shown.But besides all this, I think it is a weak film that deserves no more than a 3 out of 10 for sheer boredom.