"The horrible secret of Dr. Hichcock") is a 1962 Italian horror film, directed by Riccardo Freda and written by Ernesto Gastaldi.

The story is set in 1885 and concerns Dr. Bernard Hichcock (Robert Flemyng), a necrophiliac whose "horrible secret" of the title involves drugging his wife, Margaretha (Maria Teresa Vianello), for sexual funeral games.

[4] The film began when Luigi Carpentieri phoned screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi to write a giallo story that he liked, titled Spectral.

[5] The original script did not 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".

[7] Avallone mentioned that two versions of some sequences were shot: the original Italian, which was more suggestive and chaste, and another for foreign markets that was more risque, as Freda did not want to shoot the more explicit scenes.

[8] The assistant cameraman, Giuseppe Maccari, played down the second units, stating that multiple cameras were used only on some scenes, such as the climax with the fire in Hichock's villa.

[8] The film's make-up artist, Euclide Santoli, recalled the grotesque scenes where Hichcock's face swells and deforms right before the camera.

[9] It was released in Italy on 30 June 1962 and was distributed by Warner Bros.[1] The film grossed a total of 142 million Italian lira on its theatrical run.

[10] It was released in October 1964 in the United States as The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock, where it was distributed by Sigma III Corporation[10] as a double feature with The Awful Dr. Orloff.

[10] In 2015, a novelization of the film by Michael R. Hudson was published in the United States by Raven Head Press as part of a series of adaptations of several of Gastaldi's scripts, including My Name is Nobody and The Case of the Bloody Iris.

"[11] In France, Positif described the film as to "seem a hymn to necrophilia [...] the storms, the excesses, the veneer of a modern chirurgical décor to cover a stylised rococo background, even the photography dominated by fascinating and artificial flashes of color".

[10] The Monthly Film Bulletin declared the film "consistently gripping and enjoyable", despite numerous borrowing from numerous sources, including Vampyr, Jane Eyre, Rebecca and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; the "guiding hands of director Riccardo Freda and cameraman Raffaelle Masciocchi are unmistakable" noting the use of colour, light, editing and "visually striking compositions.