The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
| The Horrible Dr. Hichcock | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Riccardo Freda |
| Produced by | |
| Screenplay by | Ernesto Gastaldi |
| Story by | Ernesto Gastaldi |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Roman Vlad |
| Cinematography | Raffaele Masiocchi |
| Edited by | Ornella Micheli |
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Production
company |
Panda Cinematografica
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. (Italy) |
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Release date
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Running time
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84 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Budget | ₤96 million |
| Box office | ₤142 million |
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.
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.
Unlike director Riccardo Freda's previous gothic styled film I vampiri, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock was made in a climate where there were more gothic horror films being produced in Italy. The film began when Luigi Carpentieri phoned screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi to write a giallo story that he liked titled Spectral. Gastaldi wrote his own treatment under the title Raptus. The original script did no contain the necrophilia that is in the film, which Gastaldi commented that he did not remember why he added it, suggesting that "perhaps one of the associates asked for something harder, more macabre" Freda later claimed that the story was his idea, proclaiming that "It is entirely my idea. I nurtured it for a long time but it is Ernesto Gastaldi, av ery good scenarist, who shaped it into form." Gastaldi commented on this saying that when he met Freda they did not discuss the film with him and that producer Ermanno Donati gave Freda the script saying "Let's see if you have the balls to shoot this stuff, it's about cropses!" Gastaldi stated that Freda did not even read the script, and replied "As long as I get paid, I'm shooting even the phone book."
Among the cast was Barbara Steele who took 10 days off the set of Federico Fellini's 8½ to perform her role in the film.Robert Flemyng who was predominantly working in television at the time time and took the script as he wanted to go to Rome. After reading the script titled Raptus and only later found the film involved necrophilia and attempted to get out of the film. His agent stated it was too late as he had signed the contract and went forward with making the film.Harriet White had been working with Italy since the end of World War II. She received a call from Flemyng before shooting suggesting that they act so badly that the film would not be released. The Italian cast and crew hid their names under British sounding names, this included Freda being credited as Robert Hampton while set designer Franco Fumagalli became Frank Smokecocks, a literal translation of his last name. Each cast member spoke his or her own language when filming.
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