It seems, with this movie, that Jess Franco was hopping in the cinema train and was going in the right direction. But it seems too that he fell asleep in this train and that someone threw him out...
The movie is in the spirit of those old-fashioned gloomy classics with streets of fog and strange menacing music playing on a granulous black and white image. The characters are typical and nothing, at first, makes the "Awful Dr. Orloff" different from other movies of the genre. It's when the suspense kicks in that things begin to go wrong. The doctor doesn't have naïve reasons to kidnap young girls; he has some real sick motives. He is deranged. And the magnificent Howard Vernon helps us believe in Orloff.
With an ending that doesn't surprise the viewer, but makes him feel uncomfortable, we begin to feel the grip of Franco, his trademark ... He practices his sickness with humor and that makes it almost acceptable, but still, he is pretty fascinating. If you want to take a glimpse at how the myth has started, feel the legend and watch THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF.
The movie is in the spirit of those old-fashioned gloomy classics with streets of fog and strange menacing music playing on a granulous black and white image. The characters are typical and nothing, at first, makes the "Awful Dr. Orloff" different from other movies of the genre. It's when the suspense kicks in that things begin to go wrong. The doctor doesn't have naïve reasons to kidnap young girls; he has some real sick motives. He is deranged. And the magnificent Howard Vernon helps us believe in Orloff.
With an ending that doesn't surprise the viewer, but makes him feel uncomfortable, we begin to feel the grip of Franco, his trademark ... He practices his sickness with humor and that makes it almost acceptable, but still, he is pretty fascinating. If you want to take a glimpse at how the myth has started, feel the legend and watch THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF.