Dagora, The Space Monster

986. THE HEAD (1959-Germany). With Horst Frank, Michel Simon. This outrageously creepy horror film is sure to scare you totally out of your wits. It rates right up there with any classic chiller you can name. The scenario charts the plight and curious destiny of one Dr. Abel, a brilliant scientist who has recently completed an experiment in which he kept the severed head of a dog alive for four months. This has been accomplished via his invention of a special concoction known as Serum-Z. Dr. Ood, Abel’s new assistant (played with blood-curdling intensity by Horst Frank), suggests that it may be possible to do the same with the head of a human being. Abel would never consent to such a mad endeavor. Ood (whose name might as well be “Odd”) has other ideas. He is a pasty-faced psycho/genius with a dour demeanor, hidden lusts and a diabolical scheme up his sleeve. His opportunity to kindle mayhem arises when Abel proposes a procedure in which his weak heart will be replaced by the healthy one of a dying man. Ood wrests control of the operation, resulting in the strangest of fates for Abel. This is just the beginning of Ood’s reign of madness. Another of his schemes is a real humdinger. It concerns the grafting of the head of Abel’s pretty but physically deformed nurse onto the perfectly proportioned body of an exotic dancer. Dubbed in English. 91 minutes. Horror