Alraune

Adaptation of the eponymous novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911:

Testing on lab animals, Professor Jakob ten Brinken finally succeeds in his attempt to create artificial life. Now, the fanatical scientist wants to employ artificial insemination in order to find out if the course of a man′s life is indeed predetermined by his or her genes, or if a person′s personality is rather shaped by social surroundings. For his experiment, he inseminates a prostitute with semen taken from an executed murderer. A baby girl is born, and Ten Brinken takes her into his own house, claiming she is his niece. But although ten Brinken raises her with great care and according to Christian values, the girl named Alraune grows up to be a cruel and mischievous woman, who flirts with men only to ruin them afterwards. In the end, she also turns on her "creator" and exacts her merciless revenge on him.