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Console best movie i've ever seen.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Leofwine_draca 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.

Michael_Elliott 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.

Scarecrow-88 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.

ferbs54 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.