Nice Franco film revolving around a nutty doctor , Orloff , aka Jekyll , who sends his disfigured monster to attack beautiful women from nightclubs . It begins with the gorgeous teen Melissa (Agnès Spaak) travels from Austria and meets the Spanish Juan Manuel (Pepe Rubio) , who flirts with her , and going to the mysterious house of her uncle Dr. Conrad Jekyll (Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui) in Holfen to spend Christmas with him , while he intends to transfer the inheritance to her . There Melissa meets the burnt-out and bittered aunt Inglud (Luisa Sala) who has dark secrets , too . Meantime, a police inspector (Pastor Serrador) and underlings (José Truchado, Ramón Lillo) to discover the real culprit , by investigating the complex cases about killed women and going after some suspicious people . Thanks to the help his girlfriend , the young Juan Manuel ((José Rubio or Pepe Rubio) finds out the prime suspect , who results to be Dr. Conrad Jekyll (Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui) or Dr. Orloff , assisted by a horrific servant (Hugo Blanco who has a decent make-up) to execute his murderous schemes .
Austerily wonderful horror film about an ordinary Franco plot , as a mad scientist creates an ominous monster , being currently helped by the creepy servant , a deformed and hideous monstrosity . It contains thrills , chills , haunting poetic fantasy and deemed to be one of the first movies of the ¨Spanish Fantaterror¨ . In this enjoyable tale titled ¨The Orloff's secret¨ as well as the former eerie flick ¨The awful Dr Orloff¨, Franco established his uniquely poetic and visually striking style , though imitating to classy "Eyes Without A Face" (1960) , the masterpiece directed by George Franju , while in ¨The Awful Dr. Orlof¨(1962) by Franco himself , Orloff removes the faces of gorgeous girls and attempts to graft them onto the ruined head of his disfiguring daughter . This decent 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 1964 , the disturbing attacks and erotic scenes still caused controversy , existing a double version , both , a light Spanish and another hard French one . Nice acting by sympathetic
and wonderful Agnès Spaak ; excellent and eerie Hugo Blanco as Andros a monster turned into a killer zombie controlled by ultrasonic radio wave , fine Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui as a brilliant and demented researcher/scientific/surgeon haunted by past tragedy and likeable Pepe Rubio as the brave boyfriend . And a lot of familar Spanish faces giving attractive support cast , such as : Perla Cristal , Pastor Serrador , José Truchado , Ramon Lillo, Marta Reves , Manuel Guitián , Maribel Hidalgo , Julio Infiesta , Rafael Hernández . And brief appearance , as usual , by Jesus Franco or Jess Frank as a pianist at a bar .
Tenth 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 Leo Films , Nueva Films S. A. (Spain) and the French company run by Daniel and Marious Lesoeur : Eurocine . Stunningly filmed in black and white by cameraman Alfonso Nieva , using continuous lights , shades and expressionist darkness . Shot on location in San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Castillo de la Coracera , Madrid, Spain , posing as the fictitious French town of Hartog . This vintage 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 Detectives 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 being considered to be a pretty good fim.
The Orloff character as a mad doctor who tries to use skin of murdered women to repair his beloved daughter's fire-scarred face and whose role subsequently to show up in various flicks starring a long 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 is often assisted by Morpho , Andros-lookalike, who delights in killing his victims and sadistic practices . 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.
1 out of 1 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink