The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962) User Reviews (49)

Nice Franco film revolving around a Police Inspector goes after a nutty doctor , Orloff , who kidnaps beautiful women from nightclubs

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 6 February 2018]

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

No "Eyes Without A Face" But Still Pretty Darn Good

[ferbs54 · 7/10 · 14 November 2007]

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.

good old fashioned horror movie

[scritchours · 7/10 · 14 September 2004]

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.

surprisingly good

[Jonny_Numb · 6/10 · 1 February 2003]

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

A Good RIp-off of "Les Yeux Sans Visage" with "Frankenstein"

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 6 July 2012]

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")

Franco's most accessible film

[cread · 9 June 2000]

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.

Franco's first horror film

[Fuzzbomb · 7/10 · 12 December 1999]

Jess Franco's breakthrough film is a straight retelling of Yeux San Visage, albeit with some of the poetry removed and a more straightforward 'thriller' structure added. It's probably Franco's most 'normal' film, with only only a few of the the sleaze diversions that became the raison d'etre of his work from then until the present day. However, look closer and you can trace his obsession with nightclubs and mirrors (put to best effect in one scene in Vampyros Lesbos!) back to this film. Overall, a little on the long side for today's audiences, but a very important taboo-busting film at the time, and contains some very good cinematography, occasionally in an almost bava-esque style.

"Morpho, what have you done?"

[richardchatten · 4/10 · 3 December 2022]

A very poor man's 'Eyes Without a Face', it was sufficiently successful to rate four (repeat FOUR) sequels and put director Jesus Franco on the gravy train for life.

Most of the sequels were terrible, and Franco never learned how to pace his material. But at least first time round he tried hard to make it look good, and it didn't have the hideous colour of his films of the seventies.

Howard Vernon (unlike Pierre Brasseur in Franju's film) at least cuts an impressive figure striding purposefully through the streets of Paris in spats and a top hat and the mood is aided by a dissonant score. One advantage this version had over the nonsense that followed was Vernon's "sightless idiot" of a brother Morpho.

Franco gets his feet wet.

[mido505 · 7/10 · 14 July 2005]

After having waited years to see this film, I was surprised at how relatively tame it is, at least on the surface. Unlike, say, The Brain That Would Not Die, released the same year (1962), The Awful Dr. Orloff is free of any overt gore. Rather, this film disturbs on a more subtle level, in the attitude that director Jess Franco takes towards Dr. Orloff. Unlike its obvious role model, George Franju's extraordinary Eyes Without a Face, this film makes no excuse for its central character's sadism. Dr. Genessier in Eyes has forced himself to become immune to the sufferings of others through guilt at the role he played in the disfigurement of his beloved daughter. Like many a previous mad scientist, his base actions are a means to a noble end. Dr. Orloff, on the other hand, is something new. His actions are not reducible to traditional motivation; they are not explicable in the ordinary sense. Orloff is not doing evil for the greater good; he is not seeking revenge; he is not insane; he is not really conventionally evil. Orloff is operating under an entirely different moral system. Orloff genuinely enjoys himself, taking perverse pleasure in the horrible deeds that he perpetrates. This is most obvious during the film's one explicit moment, when Orloff begins operating on the nude body of his still living victim. As he starts making the incision, the lewd expression on his face as he fondles the girls exposed breast shows where his true interests lie. Orloff's daughter's disfigurement is only the catalyst that enables him to fulfill his unspeakable desires, and explains why she dies, for no apparent reason, when Orloff is killed. She has no further purpose.

Another odd touch in this very odd film is that the only vaguely sympathetic character is Morpho, Orloff's twisted, child-like assistant. Blind and seemingly dumb, with bulging eyes and odd, twitching mannerisms, Morpho is a genuinely unsettling creation, as he lurches and bites in the shadows at Orloff's murderous command. Incongruous shots of Morpho lying in his bed, staring, make him appear wretched, lonely, and pitiable. A killer from an early age, instinctively, impulsively bad, Morpho is an automaton, incapable of acting otherwise, in contrast to Orloff, who, we are told, was once a good man, and who is now something very different by choice.

The Awful Dr. Orloff is atmospherically photographed, with the occasional evocative image, but Franco is no Mario Bava, and the film has zero poetry, again unlike Eyes Without a Face. The plot is tedious, without drive, mystery, or tension; the dialog is dully expository; and Franco takes no interest in the block-headed police or in the shrill, sluttish victims. Typically, for a Franco film, the ending is rushed and abrupt, as if the director cannot bear to kill off his most interesting characters, although custom dictates that he must. This is the first true spatter movie, albeit without the splatter. Although it looks like a Universal Horror, The Awful Dr. Orloff points the way directly to Blood Feast, which came a year later, and beyond, to the modern horror film, in which the killers are the de facto heroes. Morpho is Jason Vorhees without the hockey mask, and Dr. Orloff is a dry run for Dr. Lector. In The Awful Dr. Orloff, the age old moral landscape of the horror film is altered for the first time. That, for what it is worth, is its dubious achievement.

Cheap Frankenstein-like Movie

[TheOtherFool · 4/10 · 4 October 2004]

The Awful Dr. Orloff was one of the first movies legendary shock director Jess Franco did, and it's probably as cheap and silly as most of his other stuff.

Dr. Orloff has a daughter whose face was disfigured in a fire, and now he seeks other women to kill and scalp to make his daughter beautiful again. Obviously not without the help of his bazaar slave (Morpho) and some female helper. But then he makes the mistake of abducting the girlfriend from a police inspector...

Plot holes everywhere, silly dialogs, bare breasts: this one's got it all. Well, except all the ingredients of a good movie of course...

4/10.

Franco's masterpiece

[Bogey Man · 9/10 · 31 July 2002]

Jess Franco's Awful dr. Orlof aka Gritos en la noche (1962) stars Howard Vernon as dr. Orlof, who makes experiments and skin transplants on girls he kidnaps in order to return her savagely injured daughter back to her physical beauty. He has Morpho, a horribly disfigured human monster, with him helping him and kidnapping the girls. A police detective starts to investigate the strange disappearances and soon he gets some clues where the missing girls might be..

The story is pretty close to many classic monster horrors like King Kong (1933) and other stories in which a desperate character tries to fight against wrongs and obstacles he has encountered, only to find himself even deeper in the misery. Orlof wants to safe his daughter's face and beauty, but by doing bad things (murder, torture) he cannot reach his goal, and this is the moral and message of this film. The ending in Orlof is very sad and tragic, and also close to King Kong's ending. It is all as tragic as the life itself, and by watching these immortal classics among cinema we have an opportunity to understand little better how things in our lives should be solved and by which means, no matter what. Also this film teaches us to value all the positive things in our life, not just to think about what there ISN'T in our lives. There are always somebody whose life is very sad and miserable compared to yours and mine.

Orlof is also very atmospheric horror film and shows the talent of director Franco, who has also specialized in trash and exploitation in many of his films. His other achievements among many are Bloody Moon (sex/slasher), Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun (nunsploitation), Sadomania (WIP), Faceless (ultra gore), Virgin Among the Living Dead (sexploitation, vampires) etc etc. Awful dr. Orlof is definitely among his greatest cinematic achievements, and is as effective and valuable as other black and white Euro classics like Mario Bava's La Maschera Del Demonio (1960) starring Barbara Steele.

There are many great scares in Orlof and atmospheric segments in the castle of Orlof and in his chamber. Franco uses weird camera angles effectively here and they work fine and create the ominous feel to the film. This is the kind of film which should be seen in movie theatre on big screen. I give Awful dr. Orlof definitely 9/10 rating and recommend it highly to every one interested in classic black and white European horror cinema, which has all the unique elements usually lacking in nowadays' commercial efforts. Awful dr. Orlof is also a must see for those who think Franco is bad film maker.

The Awful Dr. Orloff

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 17 April 2010]

One of Jesús Franco's first films, early in his career, may be too straight and commercial for his more die-hard admirers who prefer the more surreal and experimental work, which included freedom to explore adult subject matter and the human body for that matter. And while I like some of his later films, I like this early Gothic horror period because the genre is my favorite. I like the period setting, the castle on the hill, the mad scientist Orloff(Franco's long time collaborator Howard Vernon, whose interesting face was always utilized well by the director ), his grotesque henchman (Ricardo Valle)the diabolical experiments(Orloff's insane desire to preserve beauty, returning it to his scar-faced child), the detective out to catch the kidnappers, the damsel in distress(the Inspector's fiancé), and the difficulty developing a case as our heroes must secure clues to find the criminals body snatching. Kind of an uninspired, abrupt conclusion, but "The Awful Dr. Orloff" was more of a launchpad for Franco anyway. I like the movie's villain even though the film's premise is similar to countless other plots involving "face graft" experiments where a scientist attempts to restore loveliness to his daughter's damaged visage(Eyes without a Face; The Witch's Mirror), often more than not failing to succeed almost always on the verge of a breakthrough, yet coming up short. In this film, Orloff realizes he must use tissue from live specimens, understanding that his failures were because of using face flesh from dead women. Orloff likes to frequent the cabaret for potential lab rats to experiment with, dancers and singers he considers undesirables and unworthy to live, their importance less than his daughter's recovering her beauty. There are two scenes containing nudity such as a female victim being cut with a scalpel by Orloff, her breasts exposed. Conrado San Martin is Inspector Tanner, in charge of catching Orloff, the curvy, voluptuous Diana Lorys(Fangs of the Living Dead)his fiancé, ballerina Wanda, who puts herself in harm's way by posing as a floozy to upend the mad doctor. I think Orloff and Count Dracula are films made by Jesús Franco that will appeal to a larger horror audience than his more out-there work as "The Awful Dr. Orloff" maintains a more professional, conventional, and level-headed presentation..that's a good or bad thing depending on what you prefer when watching a Jesús Franco film.

Truly terrible all around

[Michael-96 · 3/10 · 17 July 2001]

I watched this film after having seen Vampyros Lesbos, and then read a comment on that film regarding The Awful Dr. Orloff. Where Vampyros Lesbos mostly succeeded, Dr. Orloff fails dismally - the characters are two dimensional and poorly acted, the dialogue varies from boring to inane, and the plot fails to grip the viewer at all.

Add to this that the film is absolutely riddled with errors, and you end up with a result that is only worth watching if you're a fan of cinematography's poorest works. Like Ed Wood? Watch this? Like the genre and want a good film - rent something else.

Early overrated Franco chiller.

[Infofreak · 29 January 2002]

'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.

An essential early Franco horror film

[jivers01 · 7/10 · 12 April 2013]

This is the first major film by controversial Spanish director Jess Franco. Though dated, it serves as a key to his later work. The film reveals his methods, imagery, and obsessions that will play out over the course of an almost absurdly prolific career (over 200 titles). For the first time we see his infatuation with stylish, offbeat fantasy, an unhealthy mix of eroticism and horror, a casual disregard for character development and narrative logic, and a strong defiance of convention (in particular, a weird nude scene that was highly radical for its time).

But what is most surprising about this medium-budget feature is how good it looks. The atmospheric black and white cinematography, the careful lighting and framing, the attention to detail, and the overall production reveals a professionalism that is sadly absent from his late-period filmography. After a string of interesting, visually striking fantasy/horror films in the '60s and early '70s, the quality of his work went steadily downhill. By the '80s his movies had become so cheap and nasty (and violently misogynistic) that he was written off as a shameless and depraved hack. Clearly, the later films have ruined his reputation, and possibly his legacy, as a director. But it seems a good time to take a stab at rehabilitating Franco by reviewing the early phase of his career starting with this film.

During a delay on a film in 1961, Franco dragged his reluctant producers to see "The Brides of Dracula". At the time, horror movies were not taken seriously in Spain, but Franco admired Hammer's style and adult-themed stories. The film confirmed that the genre had great commercial potential. Franco dashed off a script in a few days and the result was Spain's first horror movie, "The Awful Dr. Orloff".

Set in 1912 Paris, the story is a mix of old-fashioned police procedural and Gothic horror. Franco cobbled together ideas and characters from three highly-regarded thrillers. The main plot, about a mad scientist who abducts women, is largely a remake of the contemporary horror classic "Eyes Without A Face" (1960). The historical setting, which concentrates on shadowy, nocturnal views of the back alleys of Paris, has the atmospheric feel of "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (Universal, 1932) starring Bela Lugosi. As the sinister Dr. Mirakle, Lugosi also abducts beautiful women for scientific experiments. Assisting him is the creepy, ape- like Janos who looks like a hairy refugee from "Island of Lost Souls".

Franco's titular Dr. Orloff is taken from another Lugosi film, ''The Human Monster'' (UK, 1939). Lugosi/Orloff is a sadistic criminal who runs a home for the blind. He also has a hulking brute for an assistant. Jake, a blind monstrosity with a deformed face, does Orloff's dirty work. In Franco's film, Orloff (Howard Vernon) also has a hideous, blind henchman named Morpho to do his bidding. And Morpho, like Jake, eventually turns on Orloff after the doctor kills his only friend.

Franco's Orloff is a former prison doctor who abducts beautiful cabaret singers from nightclubs and carries them off to his suburban castle. There he uses them for skin grafts in a futile attempt to restore his daughter's fire-scarred face. He is simply portrayed as a cold, morally bankrupt man with no compunction about murdering people to achieve his goal. He is not a sadist or an obsessed madman and his character remains undeveloped. Similarly, nothing is revealed about his daughter who just lays around on a lab table for the entire story.

One of the better sequences is a remake of a scene from ''The Human Monster''. Orloff locks one of his intended victims inside a dusty, vacant château. There the tall, shambling Morpho, guided only by his hearing, tracks her down and renders her unconscious with a bite to the neck. The biting, and Morpho's long black cape, is an obvious, almost humorous, reference to vampire films. Although Morpho is a mindless oaf, he – much like Lobo in Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster" – shows feelings for the women he abducts, making him an almost sympathetic character at times.

Police Inspector Tanner is a typically bland hero, and a bit of a dope. He ignores many obvious clues (all the victims were abducted after singing at a music hall. Duh!). Much time is spent on him and his gorgeous fiancée (Diana Lorys) who appears to have more brains than the detective. When he finally puts the pieces together this concludes with a fairly suspenseful, if not entirely logical, "King Kong" type ending at Orloff's castle.

Franco shot two versions of the film. The unedited print has a half-minute scene of a topless girl on an operating table as Orloff makes a chest incision. A rather perverse, non-erotic use of nudity. In 1962 this was considered shocking, even in the permissive milieu of Paris. A second version without nudity was made for British and Spanish audiences. Over the years the film (like most of Franco's work) has been re-edited several times. In the version watched for this review, the operating scene was reduced to a mere five seconds.

Unoriginal story aside, the film is mainly an exercise in style. Moody German Expressionist lighting recalls Universal's '30s heyday and '40s film noir. There are some wonderful large compositions and tight detail-shots (such as evocative close-ups of a spooky owl and a black cat). Eerie organ music and atonal noise are also used to great effect. But there is more here than simply an homage to the past. Franco also appears to be looking forward, anticipating the daring and shocking Giallos, slashers, and sex-horror films lurking just around the corner. For anyone making a study of modern horror films, "The Awful Dr. Orloff" seems like a good place to start. (This film can be seen at the free Veehd.com movie archive.)

Spanish shocker has the trappings of a classic but fails to achieve greatness

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 16 October 2015]

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.

THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF (Jesus Franco, 1962) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 7 May 2011]

I first-watched this on Boxing Day 2004 in the wake of my DVD viewing of Georges Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960), which clearly inspired it; being in Spanish with no subtitles, I recall admiring the film's undeniable pictorial qualities but only ended up rating it **1/2 (incidentally, I know I jotted down notes back then but never opened these up into a proper review and, regrettably, I seem to have misplaced them in the interim!). Going through it a second time, in English now (its Spanish origins – again, this was allotted the French "Eurocine" stamp – are given away by the songs being performed in that language), the film proves every bit the solid effort the director's hardened fan-base has always claimed it to be! For the record, I am not sure off-hand how long the original was, or how it may have differed from this current copy, but the latter runs for 83 minutes. Anyway, Franco's fourth feature (but only the Spaniard's first genre outing) is naturally a seminal work within his vast canon but also the "Euro-Horror" movement since the title character (subsequently spelled with an added 'f'!) would become something of an icon and appear in myriad other (though usually unrelated) 'vehicles'!

As I said, THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF – by the way, I much prefer the original title, which translates to SCREAMS IN THE NIGHT – looks great (especially given the period setting) but obviously also benefits from lead Howard Vernon (previously relegated to eccentric character parts)'s star-making turn and the presence of his unforgettably bug-eyed assistant Morpho (again, for whatever reason, Franco's filmography is littered with mute and vaguely sinister manservants, sometimes played by the director himself!); incidentally, it was an inspired touch to have Morpho introduced emerging from a closet and, needless to say, his nightly rampages for fresh victims constitute some of the film's definite highlights. The "DVD Savant" review rightly remarks of the incongruity of Morpho's condition to diligently carry out his tasks (for one thing, he has to be guided by Orlof's tapping of his cane!), but is not that part of what makes these films endearing to begin with?!; similarly, Morpho regularly attacks his victims by biting their necks ("Savant" suggests this is an externalization of the audience's own desires, with the obvious detachment represented by the assailant's own disability!) which, blind as he is, he might damage their visage...then where would he (and, more importantly, Orlof) be?!

Two other recurring devices (which I also denoted in reviews of recently-viewed titles by this notorious exploitationer) are the chanteuse and the cop (a Police Procedural sequence here, unfolding two very diverse identikits of the presumed assailant, would virtually be replicated wholesale in Franco's much-later JACK THE RIPPER {1976}…who even gets stuck with the Orloff moniker!). In this case, however, they are adopted by the figures of the heroine (played by the stunning Diana Lorys, with whom Orloff becomes obsessed because apparently she looks like his daughter: the actress was later the protagonist of NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT {1970}, dealing with another much-reworked Franco premise i.e. the hypnotized assassin) and hero (called Tanner, who also recurs a lot in Franco's oeuvre…though, typically, he is depicted as lacking the insight to be anything like the villain's equal, when he decides to shun a letter – even if it keeps turning up – until it is nearly too late!).

The plot, then, is among the first to rehash the afore-mentioned Franju masterpiece: practically contemporaneously there were MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN from Italy and THE WITCH'S MIRROR from Mexico – the three of them, along with Franco's own subsequent THE DIABOLICAL DOCTOR Z (1965) and the French-made THE BLOOD ROSE (1969), actually constitute the best of countless variations over the years…though none really came close to recapturing the deft (one might even say, audacious) mix of haunting poetry and in-your-face realism that marked the original. One significant shortcoming here is that the fire-victim daughter whose face Orloff intends to restore remains nothing more than a cypher throughout, being confined to a bed the whole time and deemed of only a handful of shots along the way (unlike the poignant Edith Scob, with her eerie blank mask, in EYES WITHOUT A FACE)!

In the end, Orloff commits an imprudence by eliminating another (female) aide when objecting to more killings and especially his assertion that, for the operation to be a complete success, the face-grafting has to be done when the (unwilling) donor is still breathing! Since she had been sympathetic to Morpho, he rebels and cuts short Orloff's plans – and life – when inconveniently (indeed literally) stumbling upon her body at the climax! When he takes up the abducted Lorys to the roof of Orloff's castle (his intentions unclear – is he going to toss her over the walls or will he be keeping her as a personal prize for his pains?), Morpho is promptly shot by the nick-of-time arrival of the hero – a scene which is practically recreated in the first loose sequel to the film, namely DR. ORLOFF'S MONSTER (1964; also helmed by Franco).

Worthwhile but flawed retelling

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 7 May 2013]

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.

Morpho, What The Hell Have You Done?

[strong-122-478885 · 3/10 · 2 August 2014]

Completely putting aside all of the rest of this decidedly dumb, B-grade horror movie (from 1962) - My full 3-star rating goes exclusively to Morpho's absolutely priceless make-up effects.

In the story, Morpho was the awful Dr. Orlof's bug-eyed, mute, lunatic, assistant/whipping-boy (who just so happened to like to bite the women he abducted).

Every time Morpho made an appearance on screen it was, again, another wonderful opportunity for me to get in a good, hearty laugh, or two. Morpho's goofy, never-blinking eyes, along with his petrified-wood performance, made those idiot aliens in 1954's Killers From Space look positively first-rate by comparison.

Yes, indeed. Morpho's screen presence was, without a doubt, the absolute highlight of this pure dead-end picture with its ultra-cheap chills & thrills.

Set in the year 1912, this sadistic, little fright flick (directed by Jess Franco), also featured a grate-on-your-nerves romance between the big, brave police inspector, Edgar Tanner, and his lovey-dovey, little, prima ballerina girlfriend, Wanda Bronsky.

Stunned by this woman's sheer stupidity, I couldn't believe it when Wanda-dear foolishly went way out on a very daring limb in order to help her handsome hero solve the perplexing case of the 5 missing whores.

Worth a look

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 8 April 2013]

This has its moments and there are some splendid b/w street scenes amid the torrential rain. Good use is also made of the interiors with excellent and strange accompanying music/sound. So its not 'awful' but just not as good as it might have been, indeed, of course, not anything like as good as the earlier and quite amazingly scary/poetic, Eyes Without a Face. Howard Vernon is okay and Diana Corys does well in the dual role. Mind you having had the great idea to have the same actress play Orlof's disfigured daughter and the inspector's fiancé, more could have been made of this. As it is you would be forgiven for not even realising it were the case, but for the portrait on the wall. This is not a terrible early effort from Franco and better than some of his more really awful ones, but he did also make some great Euro trash cinema and whilst I think it was always a struggle as to how much he should really let himself go, he often got it right, even if too lurid at times, for some. Worth a look.

"Eyes Without A Face" a la Franco isn't as bad as I feared it would be...

[lemon_magic · 5/10 · 13 September 2015]

The main lesson that "ADO" gives us is that Franco was capable of pretty good work when he took his time and polished it...but even early on, it's obvious from this movie's choices that Franco was mostly interested in shock and exploitation in his films, even at the cost of common sense or real story telling.

The movie is an obvious retelling of "Eyes Without A Face", not as well plotted or acted overall. It's still quite watchable thanks to some effective black and white cinematography, some attractive (or at least interesting looking) actors and character designs, and a weird, churning organ/drum based sound track that helps maintain the mood even when things drag.

Alas, there are pacing problems, holes in the plot you could drive a submarine through, and some gimmicky nudity (I'll grant that the topless shots actually make sense in the context of the scenes). Franco overuses certain kinds of shots - seemingly half the movie consists of Morpho carrying dead/unconscious women from place to place. And what's the deal with Morpho, anyway? He's got some kind of vampire neck biting thing going on which is never explained, so it's obviously just Franco translating sexual assault through ripping off Universal's and Hammer's versions of "Dracula".

And the dubbing (at least in the DVD I saw), sinks it. None of the English voice talent is incompetent, but it seemed as if the "main" voice roles were performed by actors not really fluent in English on a native level - lines are shouted, declaimed, recited and delivered,but nothing sounds authentic. I am sure the movie would be much better with subtitles.

Decent. There were moments I forgot I was watching a Jesse Franco film - but inevitably,I would quickly be reminded. See it if you like Franco, exploitation in general, or "Eyes Without A Face".

Patch it Together

[apeart · 8/10 · 6 November 2004]

As I ruminate over the matter right now, this is my favorite film of the genre. The general consensus of this film's silliness does not discourage me. Horror is the most cinematic of cinema avenues, and this one works for me because it evokes a mood through atmosphere and sustains it.

Ostensibly we have a story about a mad doctor who steals female bodies and uses their individual parts to patch up a unified whole. The real patching up lies in what Franco does here in regard to elements from horror past. We have Morpho, who is a composite of creatures: a Frankenstein, a Dracula, the deformed Karloff monster from The Raven. And we have Orlof, who embodies a myriad of established characters, notably Doctor Gogol from Mad Love.

And it's all wrapped up in the atmosphere of such Univeral classics. The atmosphere drips. This is a wonderful film.

Pretty good, though the soundtrack was pretty awful.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 30 September 2013]

There have been many versions and variations of the plot in "The Awful Dr. Orlof" including a Bela Lugosi movie ("The Human Monster") and a reworking of the tale in "Eyes Without a Face". Jesús Franco made this Spanish-language film, though the version I saw was kind of weird--it had been dubbed into French and then subtitled into English!

Dr. Orlof is a crazed man whose sole ambition is to restore his daughter's face. How the face became disfigured and why she's in a coma was never explained during the film. Regardless, with the aid of his homicidal maniac servant, Morpho, they kidnap prostitutes and skin them! At first, he tried doing this on dead women but when the results were not satisfactory, he began keeping some of his victims alive! Nice guy, huh? Much of the film is taught from the viewpoint of the police inspector working on the case. He seemed pretty competent and worked hard to figure out the murders. However, and this part annoyed me, his girlfriend (or was it his wife? I dunno) decided to investigate matters on her own. Here is where it gets really insane, as she dresses like a 'professional girl' and hangs out in dives--hoping to lure the killers. However, she has absolutely no backup nor does she tell anyone about her actions!!!! So, despite a very creepy plot, creepy characters and an interesting story, late in the film it all hinges on a complete moron! Because of this and the awfulness of the soundtrack, the film loses a few points. Still, however, it is entertaining. However, parents be aware that Franco usually throws gratuitous nudity in his films and this one is no exception. In fact, one scene looked like he almost randomly tossed it in just to please folks looking for some skin!

Disappointing Horror film Without any Fright

[osloj · 2/10 · 8 December 2006]

This film has nothing outstanding or even average about it, on the whole, it is the work of a very immature director who only wanted to make a film for money on the quick.

The plot, or the tedious 1 & 1/2 hour worth of filler, is absolutely ridiculous. Insane dialogue is scattered in long tedious shots.

The acting is atrocious, most of the actors look like they belong in some cheap cabaret in a skid row area of town; they can't express true emotion that the roles demand. Take for example the lead inspector, he is an insincere and unbelievable character whose inability to solve the obvious murder case is incredulous.

I sat there bored to death, and the other reviewers said it was 'scary'. Nothing at all was frightening about this, the dumb monster is played by a guy in rubber makeup and he's also blind, someone should have just torched him.

The ending is not only expected (heroine saved, monster killed) but abrupt and absurd, as the lead inspector shoots the monster while it is holding the heroine from about 80 yards, while it is up on the castle balcony.

Avoid this if you can, it isn't worth anything.