The Man with the Severed Head (1973)
Eurocine films are generally known for their cheap production values, utilizing the same scenes in several films and indeed the same actors in differing sizes of roles. Their Nazisploitationers more often than not used the same white bricked chateau location, which in the best Eurocine traditions is also on show here in The Man With The Severed Head. A film that takes the main plot line from the Karloff / Lugosi classic Black Friday, adds Spanish legend Paul Naschy to proceedings and somehow manages to come up with a real stinker.
Why a stinker? Mainly because it lacks any of the sleaze and violence you'd expect from both Eurocine and Naschy. There is no gore whatsoever and violence so minimal that what we have on show is no more than a PG rated effort at best. Eurocine are reknowned for their dodgy acting, dialogue and clunky scripts so the exploitation elements and Naschy are the main draw. To cap it all Naschy himself isn't really in the film until the final 20 minutes making this a real time waster and not in the good sense.
I'm not sure if it's Arrow's fault this is such a lame duck although i suspect the blame lies with them as additional scenes of sex and nudity are included as an extra so surely they should have been reinstated to give the film a bit of the Eurocine sleaze the company is notorious for, thus making it a little more of an exploitation film that punters would expect.
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