The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Just perfect...

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Jess Franco reworks EYES WITHOUT A FACE with Howard Vernon stepping in as Dr. Orloff, a doctor using a deformed man (Richard Valle) to kidnap women so that the doctor can use them to rebuild his daughter's face, which was scarred in a fire. I will say right off the bat that I find it rather impossible that Franco wasn't aware of EYES WITHOUT A FACE when he made this but I guess there's always that slight shot that two people pretty much came up with the same story idea is a short period of time. With that said, there's no doubt that the "other" film is the true classic but this one here manages to be worth watching even through its sometimes silly moments. I think Franco is at his best here whenever there's a murder/kidnapping sequence going on. One could argue that the opening sequence is among the best work Franco has done as we see the deformed Morpho break into an apartment to kidnap a woman while terrified neighbors look on not wanting to help her. Another strong point to the film are the performances with Vernon doing a very nice job as Dr. Orloff. What makes his performance work so well is that he manages to be both sympathetic but also evil in his own way. Valle is also quite memorable in his role. The atmosphere is another major plus with the B&W cinematography adding another dimension to the film. The bad moments are many of the supporting performances and certainly the awful dubbing if you happen to be watching an English track.

When a series of strange women disappearances cause the authorities to get suspicious, a police investigator stumbles onto the scientist responsible and his deformed assistant abducting the women for experiments on his daughter and race to stop him.This was overall a really enjoyable Gothic horror. One of the best elements to this is the film's rather gritty atmosphere from the different stalking scenes out amongst the fog-enshrouded city streets as the shadows flitting across the walls make for truly impressive shots, and the slow-building mystery surrounding the disappearances makes for an even bigger part of what's going on. The appearance of the deformed helper and his grotesque visage strikes a very imposing image as he moves through his scenes as obedient as possible, generating one of the film's stand-out scenes as he stalks a helpless victim through a multi- floor Gothic mansion as she desperately tries to get away, and with the film's rousing finale in the laboratory and a pretty queasy surgery scene thrown in it makes for the film's best points. There's some flaws here, mainly in the fact that it's a straight rip of several other films that won't be too hard to come up with as inspiration here, and that this does nothing new with the material other than added a deformed hulk doing the killings doesn't allow this to stand-out all that much. As well, the low-budget nature of this one is quite apparent and allows some silliness to shine through in inopportune times to really hurt this one somewhat, but it's still enjoyable enough when it counts.Today's Rating-R: Violence and Nudity.

In 1912, five beautiful easy women are kidnapped and the efficient Inspector Tanner (Conrado San Martín), who is engaged of Wanda Bronsky (Diana Lorys), is assigned to the case. The responsible for the abductions is Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon), a former prison doctor, and his deformed assistant Morpho Lodner (Ricardo Valle), who was a prisoner sentenced to death and revived by Dr. Orloff, that bring the women to the Hartog Castle to remove the skin of his victims to repair the face of his daughter that was burned in a fire. When Wanda decides to help her beloved fiancé to find the criminal, she becomes the next victim of Dr. Orloff. Now Inspector Tanner's last chance to find Dr. Orloff relies on the lead of the drunkard Jeannot (Faustino Cornejo)."Gritos en la Noche" (a.k.a. "The Awful Dr. Orloff") is one of the best films of director Jesus Franco that I have seen so far. The story combines the story lines of the successful 1960 "Les Yeux Sans Visage" ("Eyes without a Face") with Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes and the result is good. The cinematography in black and white is great and the acting is decent. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Terrível Dr. Orloff" ("The Terrible Dr. Orloff")

Ruthless and obsessive Dr. Orlof (an excellent performance by Howard Vernon) abducts gorgeous young women so he can restore his disfigured sister Melissa's beauty. Earnest Inspector Tanner (a likable portrayal by Conrado San Martin) tries to nab Orlof. Meanwhile, Tanner's sweet ballerina girlfriend Wanda Bronsky (winningly played by Diana Lorys) poses as a cabaret singer to lure the diabolical doctor. Writer/director Jess Franco's first notable foray into the horror genre delivers a bold and creative blend of standard Gothic elements like the remote forbidding castle and fog-shrouded dark empty streets with such more racy contemporary ingredients as gore, nudity, and an offbeat experimental score. Moreover, Franco relates the luridly compelling story at a steady pace, stages the murder set pieces with real brio and style, does an expert job of maintaining a properly spooky atmosphere throughout, and even tosses in a few nifty nigh club scenes to further spruce things up. The acting is overall solid, with stand-out contributions by Riccardo Valle as Orlof's blind and malformed henchman Morpho, Perla Cristal as Orlof's reluctant assistant Anne, and Maria Silva as sultry singer Dany. Godofredo Pacheco's crisp and lively black and white cinematography offers a wealth of striking visuals (a shot of Orlof and Morpho carrying a body across a windy landscape is particularly stunning). The eclectic score by Jose Pagan and Antonio Ramirez Angel alternates between crashing free-form cacophony and more conventional shuddery ooga-booga stuff. Well worth seeing.