''The Awful Dr. Orloff'' ( es, Gritos en la noche, translation=Screams in the Night; french: L'Horrible Docteur Orloff) is a 1962
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
written and directed by
Jesús Franco
Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation film, exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1959 to 2013, he wrote, directe ...
. It stars
Howard Vernon
Howard Vernon (15 July 1908 – 25 July 1996) was a Swiss actor. In 1961, he became a favorite actor of Spanish film director Jesús Franco and began starring in many low-budget horror and erotic films produced in Spain and France. After po ...
as the mad
Dr. Orloff
''The Awful Dr. Orloff'' ( es, Gritos en la noche, translation=Screams in the Night; french: L'Horrible Docteur Orloff) is a 1962 horror film written and directed by Jesús Franco. It stars Howard Vernon as the mad Dr. Orloff (sometimes spelled ...
(sometimes spelled Orlof) who wants to repair his disfigured daughter's face with skin grafts from other women with the aid of a slavish, blind henchman named Morpho. A co-production between Spain and France, filmed in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, the film is considered to be the earliest Spanish horror film.
[Hortelano, 2011. p. 221]
''The Awful Dr. Orloff'' was the first horror film directed by cult filmmaker Franco, and the first of many subsequent collaborations with Howard Vernon. Franco would reuse the Orloff and Morpho characters in many of his later horror films, such as ''
Vampyros Lesbos
''Vampyros Lesbos'' ( es, Las Vampiras) is a 1971 West German-Spanish erotic horror film directed and co-written by Jesús Franco. The film stars Ewa Strömberg as Linda Westinghouse, an American who works in a Turkish legal firm. Westinghouse ha ...
, Revenge in the House of Usher,'' and
''Faceless''.
Plot
In early 1900s
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Police Inspector Tanner inspects a series of abductions of beautiful women from nightclubs. The perpetrator is Dr. Orloff, a mad scientist who wants to repair his disfigured daughter's face with skin grafts from other women with the aid of a slavish, blind henchman named Morpho.
Cast
Production
While filming his tribute to Hollywood
musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
s (''Vampiresas 1930''), director
Jesús Franco
Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation film, exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1959 to 2013, he wrote, directe ...
convinced his producers to watch the British film ''
The Brides of Dracula
''The Brides of Dracula'' is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Peter Cushing, David Peel, Freda Jackson, Yvonne Monlaur, Andrée Melly, and Martita Hunt. The ...
'' (1960).
After the screening, Franco proposed that he could make similar films "in the same vein, but with a different style".
Franco eventually convinced the same French co-producer, the Paris-based company Eurociné, who produced ''Vampiresas 1930''.
Shooting took place on-location in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
and at Estudios Ballesteros. The cast was predominantly Spanish, though the leading role was played by the France-based Swiss actor
Howard Vernon
Howard Vernon (15 July 1908 – 25 July 1996) was a Swiss actor. In 1961, he became a favorite actor of Spanish film director Jesús Franco and began starring in many low-budget horror and erotic films produced in Spain and France. After po ...
.
Franco was concerned how the film would be handled by
censors
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
from the heavily-conservative
Falangist regime. As a result, he produced two versions of the film, one that was unedited and one that was for British and Spanish audiences that had the scenes with
nudity
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to ...
in them cut.
[Shipka, 2011. p. 176] Spanish censors were also concerned with films that would damage the reputation of their country. To avoid this, Franco set the film in France,
a scheme that would later be employed by other Spanish horror filmmakers like
Paul Naschy
Paul Naschy (born Jacinto Molina Álvarez, September 6, 1934 – November 30, 2009) was a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures— The Wolfman, ...
.
Release
''The Awful Dr. Orloff'' premiered in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, Spain on 9 March 1962
under the title of ''Gritos en la noche'' ( ''Screams in the Night'').
[Munden, 1971. p. 52] It premiered in Paris on 1 October 1962
under the title ''L'horrible Dr. Orloff'' and was released in the United Kingdom as ''The Demon Doctor'' in late 1963, with a "X" certificate.
In the U.S. it was released on 7 October 1964
as the second half of a
double feature
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera ho ...
with ''
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
''The Horrible Dr. Hichcock'' (Italian title: ''L'Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock'', literally ''The Horrible Secret of Dr. Hichcock'') is a 1962 Italian horror film, directed by Riccardo Freda and written by Ernesto Gastaldi. The film stars B ...
'' (1962).
[Shipka, 2011. p. 177] ''The Awful Dr. Orloff'' became the first internationally successful horror and exploitation film production from Spain.
[Shipka, 2011. p. 175] The most complete print is the Spanish print, running 93 minutes.
Reception
The film received a negative reception from critics on its initial release.
A 1964 review in ''The New York Times'' for a double feature of ''Orloff'' and ''
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
''The Horrible Dr. Hichcock'' (Italian title: ''L'Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock'', literally ''The Horrible Secret of Dr. Hichcock'') is a 1962 Italian horror film, directed by Riccardo Freda and written by Ernesto Gastaldi. The film stars B ...
'' stated "For once, the adjectives in the titles were not only descriptive but also accurate." The ''
Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' described the film "at once appalling and unique, so bad as to be almost enjoyable for its ludicrous qualities, so singular that curiosity hunters are likely to look at it agog."
The review noted that one or two shots were "worthy of
James Whale
James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fran ...
or
Epstein The surname Epstein ( yi, עפּשטײן, Epshteyn) is one of the oldest Ashkenazi Jewish family names. It is probably derived from the German town of Eppstein, in Hesse; the place-name was probably derived from Gaulish ''apa'' ("water", in the sen ...
" and that the score was "quasi-musical noises." The review concluded that it was "a singular film...really most extraordinary."
From retrospective reviews, Donald C. Willis described the film as one of many "mainly trivial variations on ''
Eyes Without a Face''", while praising the "lighting of the castle and the night exteriors". In
Phil Hardy
Philip Hardy (born 9 April 1973) is an English-born former Ireland under-21 footballer who played as a left-back. With Welsh club Wrexham from 1990 to 2001, he played more than 450 games under manager Brian Flynn. He was named on the PFA ...
's book ''Science Fiction'' (1984), he stated that ''The Awful Dr. Orloff'' was declared as "the initiator of an entire subgenre mixing horror and medical Science Fiction in a gory way bordering on the pornographic".
Home media
A remastered
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
of the film was released in August 2013 by
Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films, ...
, containing the French and English-language dubs of the film.
Sequels
A sequel to the film, titled ''El Secreto del Dr. Orloff'' ("The Secret of Dr. Orloff", also released as ''The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll'') and also directed by Franco, was released in 1964.
Despite the title, the film had no direct storyline connection to its predecessor, instead featuring a new mad scientist character called
Jekyll.
The "Dr. Orloff" was reused by Franco in several subsequent films, usually with Vernon reprising the role:
* ''Only a Coffin'' (1967)
* ''Orloff and the Invisible Man'' (1970)
* ''The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff'' (1973)
* ''The Sinister Dr. Orloff'' (1984)
* ''El siniestro doctor Orloff'' (1984)
*
''Faceless'' (1988)
Franco also reused footage from ''Awful of Dr. Orloff'' in ''Revenge in the House of Usher,'' which starred Howard Vernon as a different character.
References
Footnotes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Review of ''Gritos en la noche''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awful Dr. Orloff, The
1962 horror films
1962 films
Films directed by Jesús Franco
French horror films
Spanish horror films
Mad scientist films
1960s Spanish-language films
Films set in Paris
Films shot in Madrid
Films set in 1912
1960s French films