Der schreckliche Dr. Orloff

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.

One of Franco's first movies (when he was still considered a good director), very pleasant to watch. It has all the elements of the traditional horror recipe and is often inventive and surprising ; of course it is not really scary (well, at least not anymore), but the angst mood does still work pretty well, and it is both funny and seriously set (what post-Scream so-called horror movies are not) ; and sometimes even beautiful (the black and white pictures help). Actor Howard Vernon is a good Frankenstein/Jack the Ripper villain, and has something of Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee. If you like old terror tales (from Universal 1930's to Hammer 1970's, that kind), you should give it a try, really.

'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.

It is very difficult for me to discuss the various merits of the 1962 Spanish-French horror film "The Awful Dr. Orlof" without comparing them to the French-Italian horror film "Les Yeux Sans Visage" ("Eyes Without a Face"), which came out three years earlier. While both films concern a deranged doctor who kidnaps young women in order to procure skin grafts for his mutilated daughter, "Les Yeux" is the classier of the two; more literate, more shocking and more poetic. Still, despite its lousy reputation, "Orlof" does have lots to offer. It is beautifully shot in B&W, with consistently interesting camera work, and features an effectively creepy score, utilizing mainly piano, percussion and weird sound effects. Thus, a genuinely unsettling aura is achieved throughout the picture. The film also boasts some surprising nudity and a few shock scenes; these latter are not as gross as the ones in "Les Yeux," but still make an impression. And whereas "Les Yeux" gave us the sinister and beautiful Valli as the mad doctor's accomplice, "Orlof" gives us Morpho, a scarred, bug-eyed human robot whose every appearance is visually fascinating. The gorgeous Spanish actress Diana Lorys also stands out here as the police inspector's ballerina girlfriend who goes undercover to stop the demented doctor. Though a fairly paint-by-numbers affair, "Orlof" still proved a fun and riveting entertainment for me, and, thanks to the fine folks at Image Entertainment, it has been nicely transferred into a fine-looking DVD. Too bad about the terrible dubbing, however; subtitles would've been so much more preferable.

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