L'horrible Docteur Orlof

This is a successful, if not brilliant, Gothic entry which marked the debut of director Jess Franco, that prolific Spaniard who would go on to film all manner of sleaze and depravity within the next thirty years. Desperately hoping to cash in on the success of the Hammer films, as well as the various Italian Gothic chillers of the time, THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF models itself on these films, but truth be told, Franco is no Bava or Fisher. While all the trappings are right, there are none of the odd camera angles and stylistic touches which made contemporary directors like Freda and Margheriti such masters of their art. Throughout this film the camera is fairly static, although thankfully there are none of those annoying zooms of which Franco became so fond of in later years.

The plot itself seems merely to be a retread of the 1959 French classic, EYES WITHOUT A FACE, except with the added sleaze trappings you would expect from Franco. Actually, the sleaze here is very tame, but Franco still finds ways to incorporate all manner of exotic dancing, chained females, and women in tight-fitting clothes into his film. The black and white photography works in this film's favour, highlighting some spooky buildings and drawing out the shadows in darkened streets, the starkness of which would have been lost in colour. Unfortunately, the low budget is rather obvious too, with most of the action being consigned to office sets and little in the way of scope - all of the scenes are character-focused, without any of the scene-setting that Hammer might have inserted by having, say, mountains or landscapes in the background. Some of the incident in this film is also too dark, making it hard to see the events playing out on screen.

Despite some poor dubbing, the acting, while not brilliant, works here, chiefly with Howard Vernon's villainous turn. Vernon uses his bizarre, cruel features to create a truly loathsome mad scientist, unflinchingly murdering innocent girls in the name of science. Vernon later became a Franco regular, appearing in many of his films such as THE BLOODY JUDGE and FACELESS. Ricardo Valle has the role of the deformed sidekick, complete with dodgy-looking bug eyes, and manages to evoke a grain or two of sympathy for his wretched character. Quite surprising for a character who is both blind and mute. The ladies are all very glamorous-looking, but only the lead actress possesses any real talent.

A police investigation manages to slow events down to a crawl, but there are still plenty of memorable images which this film conjures up. The opening has an unsuspecting victim opening her wardrobe to find the bug-eyed manservant jumping out at her, while other scenes evoke Jack the Ripper with the doctor, replete in cape and top hat, prowling the gloomy streets looking for more victims. Sadly, despite being by all accounts a rather tame film, the film is trimmed of all surgical scenes in the UK so I am unable to give an account of these. Most of the action is saved for the finale, as is the case with these films, and it doesn't disappoint. Altogether, this is very much an average affair which goes through the motions but is too happy to feed off other classics which have gone before it.

Moody terror movie about a mad doctor who removes the faces of gorgeous girls and attempts to graft them onto the ruined head of his disfiguring daughter . Early XX Century at a French town called Hertog , the police officer Edgard Tammer (Conrado San Martin) is assigned by his chief (Felix Dafauce) to investigate a case about missing women . Thanks to the help his girlfriend , the Opera ballerina Wanda (Diana Lorys) , discover the real culprit results to be Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon) , who is assisted by the creepy blind servant Morpho (Ricardo Valle who has a magnificent make-up) , a deformed monstrosity who delights in biting his victims and sadistic practices . Orloff is a veteran Prison doctor who attempts to remake the bruised face of his injured daughter (Diana Lorys in double role) using skin of young girls .

Austerily wonderful terror film that contains thrills , chills , haunting poetic fantasy and deemed to be the first movie of the ¨Spanish Fantaterror¨ . In this enjoyable as well as eerie flick , Franco established his uniquely poetic and visually striking style , tough imitating to classy "Eyes Without A Face" (1960) , the masterpiece directed by George Franju . This splendid Spanish/French co-production is generally characterized by unforgettable images that owed a great deal to early cinema in general and German Expressionism in particular and turns out to be a symbolic attack on the ethics of science . Although the film passed European censors upon its original release in 1962, the disturbing facial surgery scene still caused controversy, existing a double version , both , a light Spanish and another hard French one . It was reported that several audience members fainted during the surgery scene . Nice acting by Howard Vernon as a former prison doctor who tries to use their skin to repair his beloved daughter's fire-scarred face and whose role subsequently to show up in various flicks . As Vernon is brilliant as a demented researcher/scientific/surgeon haunted by past tragedy who takes girls removing their faces and attempts to graft them onto the head on his wounded daughter . Acceptable acting by Conrado San Martin as the hero Inspector who figures out the killings . And a lot of gorgeous girls as Diana Lorys , Maria Silva , Mara Lasso and Perla Cristal . And brief appearance , as usual , by Jesus Franco or Jess Frank as a pianist at a bar .

Fifth film of the prolific writer/producer/director Jesús Franco , considered to be one of the best films in his first period . Well produced but in short budget by the Hispamer/Sergio Newman and the French company run by Marious Lesoeur : Eurocine . Stunningly filmed in black and white by cameraman Godofredo Pacheco , using continuous raining , lights , shades and expressionist darknes . Shot in Madrid of the Austrias , posing as the fictitious French town of Hartog . This classic terror motion picture , a classic in some circles , was well directed by Jesús Franco who never considered the film to be a horror story, but instead felt it was tale of "anguish" . Franco is really influenced by ¨Eyes without a face¨, B-movies about cops or Noir Films , German expressionism from Cabinet Dr Caligari , and the Universal Terror . Initial releases of the film were met with negative reactions from film critics , while the general critical reaction had been poor , however ,today is considered to be a pretty good fim.

The Orloff character starred a saga , using the same shots in more than one film ; some of his actors relate how they they were hired for one film and later saw their name in two or more different one . Orloff was habitually played by Howard Vernon who initiated in ¨Gritos en la Noche (1962) , the best of all them , also titled "The Awful Dr. Orlof" . It's followed by El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" - USA . It's gone on by " Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" , ¨Ojos siniestros de Doctor Orloff¨(1973) . Furthermore , El enigma Del Ataúd (1969) aka "Only a Coffin" and El Siniestro doctor Orloff (1984) aka "The Sinister Dr. Orloff . Finally in ¨Faceless¨ or Depredadores de Noche¨(1987) Orloff appears as a secondary role also performed by Howard Vernon

I'll admit I'm not a fan of director Jess Franco or his movies, but "The Awful Dr. Orloff" is an old-fashioned, black-and-white surprise. Orloff (Howard Vernon, of "Zombie Lake") and his bug-eyed henchman Morpho kidnap lovely damsels to use their skin in an attempt to reconstruct the scarred face of the doctor's daughter. Granted, the movie is long on talk, but the black-and-white photography creates a genuinely spooky atmosphere, and some of the Gothic images are worthy of Bergman. Franco does a good job of building a suspenseful third act, thereby redeeming the movie.

6/10

'The Awful Dr. Orloff' is obviously ripped off the extraordinary 'Eyes Without A Face'. I didn't really have a problem with that in itself, only that what Franco does with such potentially rich material. Which is, nothing much. Sadly this early Jess Franco effort, though entertaining enough, never reaches the surrealistic heights of his late 60s/early 70s peak ('Vampyros Lesbos', 'Succubus',etc.).

My enjoyment of this movie was lessened by it being the badly dubbed American version with inane dialogue. The way English versions of European horror invariably dumb down the scripts/characters is one of my pet peeves. Why do they do this? Lack of respect for genre movies? Or some kind of reverse Hollywood snobbery? Not having seen the original Spanish cut though I'll give this movie the benefit of the doubt. It just might be better than I think.

Veteran character actor (and Franco regular) Howard Vernon ('Alphaville') is excellent in the title role, and his side-kick Morpho (Ricardo Valle) is suitably menacing, but the Inspector Tanner character is a joke, and the scenes of police "procedure" really drag this movie down. Disappointing overall knowing what Franco would achieve in later, more original movies, but still a reasonable way to waste a rainy afternoon.

I saw this, one of Franco's first films, late at night and although it was creepy and at times rather surreal, there is little to approach the weirdness of Vampiros Lesbos et al. But instead we have a well-crafted gothic fantasy reminding one of Universal or Hammer horrors, but ultimately surpassing these in terms of suspense and scares. There is also very little of the violence or nudity that characterises his later work (although I did see a slightly trimmed version). This is probably Franco's most accessible film and, although he has himself remade it at least 4 times, this still remains the ultimate version. And unlike just about anything else by Franco, it stays the right side of cheese throughout, relying on Franco's skill as a director rather than cheap nudity thrills. Definitely recommended for fans of euro-gothic horror, although fans of Franco's later more whacked-out work would have to prepare themselves for something making a little more sense than normal.