El enigma del ataúd

A mystery thriller with terrifying elements but it never should be considered the film to be a horror story , but instead feels it's a tale of "anguish". Wealthy owner Dam Gaillimh , Aka Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon) invites his relatives to his castle, all the while scheming to murder them when they arrive. They are his nieces and nephews : Greta (Danielle Godet) , her husband Daniel (José Bastida) , his brother Pablo (Adolfo Arlés) , Judith (María Saavedra) , the maid (Tota Alba), among others. However, when he himself is found murdered, the relatives know they have to find the murderer before he gets them all. Little by little other family members appear murdered , as the relatives have to find who the killer is... or they may be next! There takes place a twisted whodunit . Who's the killer ? . Along the way, a stubborn police inspector (José María Seoane) starts investigating the strange murders .

Austerily terror and crime movie film that contains thrills , chills , grisly killings , nudism , sleaziness and deemed to be one of the first movies of the ¨Spanish Fantaterror¨ . In this enjoyable as well as eerie flick , as filmmaker Santos Alcocer established a visually striking style with atmospheric cinematography , though it's marred by the continuous non-sense inserts of nude girls and sadomasochist scenes . This isn't a Jess Franco film , but it has his own trappings , even feels like a Frank movie. This so-so Spanish/French co-production is generally characterized by evocative frames that owe a great deal to Jesus Franco films , as it does it feel much like anything but a tired retread of an overused theme . Above all , this picture doesn't promise much, and the yarn delivers no more than the title promises . Although the film passed European censors upon its original release in 1967, the abundant nude woman caused controversy, existing a double version , both , a light Spanish and another hard French one . But this should not be considered as a horror movie but rather a mystery-thriller in which show up several nudists and strong scenes have been added , on the other hand, these sordid images complemented were typical of the French production company : Marius Lesoeur/Eurociné . Nice acting by Howard Vernon as Dam Gaillimh or Dr. Orloff himself , in an usual role, but he barely appears , only at the beginning and the end . Along with the notorious French actress Danielle Godet and a lot of Spanish actors , such as : José Bastida , Rosita Yarza, Tota Alba and José María Seoane as Police Inspector who figures out the killings .

Well produced but in low budget by the Hispamer/Sergio Newman , the French company run by Marious Lesoeur : Eurociné , and María Ángel Coma Borrás who also produced other Thrillers/Terrror movies as The awful Dr Orloff , Autopsy of a Criminal , Only a coffin and adventure films as Knights of Terror , Zorro de Monterrey and The Falcon of the desert. Stunningly filmed in black and white by cameraman Emilio Foriscot. This frightening picture was regularly written/produced/directed by Santos Alcocer , but it has a lot of failures , flaws and gaps . This filmmaker uses ordinary visual tricks, sustaining interest enough through the dark and well-designed scenarios , though in very short budget . The picture will appeal to mystery/suspense genre aficionados . Rating 5.5/10.

¨The Orloff series¨ deals with a mad doctor who removes the faces of gorgeous girls and attempts to graft them onto the ruined head of his disfiguring daughter starred a saga , imitating to classy "Eyes Without A Face" (1960) the masterpiece directed by George Franju and 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 ones . Orloff was usually played by Howard Vernon whose character subsequently to show up in various flicks . As Vernon is often 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 .Orloff role was 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 and the invisible man¨ (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.

The remarkable thing about Only A Coffin isn't its preposterous murder mystery plot, which involves a fake death, missing corpses, and ridiculous exposition in the final reel, but rather the bizarre random scenes of nudity, torture and sex that that have been clumsily spliced into the film, none of which has any bearing on the story.

The hackneyed plot involves greedy relatives of a terminally ill man, Dan (Howard Vernon), who are called to his home to learn how much they will inherit when he dies. Soon after, Dan is found dead, from suicide or murder; concerned that this will invalidate his insurance policy, the relatives pretend that he died of his cancer, but this isn't the only secret being kept by the occupants of the house.

As mysteries go, this one isn't bad, with a decent pace, acceptable performances, and a denouement as silly as it gets, but I have to say that I enjoyed this one more for its blatantly exploitative scenes of sex and violence, so clumsily inserted into the film in order to get more bums on seats. It's done so badly, with no attempt to integrate the new footage into the narrative, that it's hard not to admire.