THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF 1962
The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962), directed by the often-labeled king of Eurosleaze, Jesús Franco, is a landmark film in European horror cinema. Franco has made over 150 movies; however, due to the various re-titling, re-edits, and the insertion of hard-core scenes for ‘specialty’ markets, a definite total is hard to say. This Spanish-French co-production stars Howard Vernon as the titular Dr. Orloff, a deranged scientist attempting to restore his daughter’s disfigured face using skin grafts from kidnapped women. The film is probably the earliest spin-off of Georges Franju’s medical horror. – Eyes Without a Face in 1962, in which the mad doctor grafts women’s faces onto his disfigured daughter.
The film follows Dr. Orloff and his blind, deranged, and deformed assistant Morpho (Ricardo Valle) as they abduct beautiful women from Parisian nightclubs. Morpho has a nasty proclivity to bite his female victims to death! Meanwhile, Inspector Tanner investigates the disappearances, aided by his fiancée Wanda Bronsky, who bears a striking resemblance to Orloff’s daughter.
Franco’s direction emphasizes atmospheric Gothic horror, featuring Chiaroscuro lighting in the castle and night exterior scenes, creating a haunting ambiance, and the use of evocative photography, such as the silhouetted shots of the two villains carrying a coffin towards the forbidding castle and a murder which occurs in front of an upstairs window, viewed only by the street below. One of his driving motivations is to make the viewer as uncomfortable as he possibly can.
There are unsettling close-ups of Vernon’s piercing gaze, described as reaching “deep into your soul.” The film is pretty graphic (for its time) with its depictions of surgery and violence, including a scene of Orloff making a gory scalpel incision on a topless woman and the grotesque appearance of Morpho, with his bulging eyes and lecherous behavior.
The Awful Dr. Orloff is considered a pivotal work in the evolution as the first internationally successful European / Spanish horror film. It helped launch the career of Jesús Franco and established several Gothic narrative tropes that would recur in European horror. The Mad Scientist narratives blend horror and medical science fiction. As one of the trademarks of the director, he loves to use increased focus on graphic violence and eroticism with the use of atmospheric locations and Gothic imagery and the more explicit, boundary-pushing films that would follow in the 1960s and 1970s. The European version reveals more gruesome surgical shots and hints at necrophilia, which were removed from the American prints. The subdued American version was a double bill with The Horrible Dr. Hichcock 1962.
Initially met with negative reviews, the film has since gained cult status. It’s praised for its atmospheric cinematography. by G. Pacheco, evocative score, and willingness to push genre boundaries. The character of Dr. Orloff became a recurring figure in Franco’s filmography, appearing in various forms in later works. Franco revisited the character in various forms throughout his career, with The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff being one of the later iterations.
THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK 1962
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) is a landmark Italian Gothic horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and written by Ernesto Gastaldi. Starring Robert Flemyng as Dr. Bernard Hichcock and Barbara Steele as his new wife, Cynthia, this often disturbing film explores themes of necrophilia, guilt, and the consequences of dark desires.
Set in 1885 London, the story follows Dr. Hichcock, a brilliant surgeon with a disturbing secret: he drugs his wife Margaretha to indulge in necrophilic desires. When an accidental overdose seemingly kills her, Hichcock flees England. Returning 12 years later with his new wife, Cynthia, he finds himself haunted by his past and struggling to resist his perverse urges.
The film delves into taboo subjects, blending elements of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” with themes of guilt, obsession, and the battle between scientific progress and dark human impulses.
Freda’s direction emphasizes the colorful Gothic atmosphere through interior Chiaroscuro lighting. Unsettling close-ups of Flemyng’s piercing gaze and the expressionistic use of color, particularly vivid reds, symbolize lust. Once again, the film focuses on Mad scientist narratives blending horror and medical science fiction, and, much like Dr Orloff, its focus is increased on the graphic confluence of violence and eroticism.
The film has gained cult status and is praised for its atmospheric cinematography by Raffaele Masciocchi and evocative score by Roman Vlad. The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock draws inspiration from and pays homage to several classic thrillers and horror pictures, including Alfred Hitchcock’s works, particularly Rebecca, Vertigo, and Jane Eyre.
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