4/10
Inferior entry in Jesus Franco's Doctor Orloff saga , this time starred by William Berger replacing Howard Vernon
20 September 2012
A heiress named Melissa Comfort (Monserrat Prous) , who is bounded-chair , keeps suffering from a nightmare dealing with her daddy (Jesus Franco) who was formerly killed . Another daughter (Loreta Tovar) and the widow (Kali Hansa) plan to take the inheritance . There then appears Orloff (William Berger) who is attempting to help her but he has some dark secrets of his own , as he is seeking vengeance . Meanwhile , Inspector Corsby (Edmund Purdom) is investigating the deeds . Melissa is helped by a neighbor (Robert Woods) and her girlfriend (Lina Romay has been almost a constant actress in Franco's films) .

This low-budgeted film contains thrills , chills , intrigue and lots of murders . It's a below average film directed by prolific filmmaker Jess Frank and also produced by his own production company, Manacoa Films, and he uses his usual marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY and managing to work extraordinarily quickly. Mediocre cinematography filmed on location in Barcelona and Islas Canarias . Atmospheric musical score composed by means of synthesizer by David Kunne , who is actually Jesus Franco under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others. The motion picture was lousily directed by Jesus Franco. In many of the more than 180 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films.Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals. But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production has diminished since the 90s .

The Orloff character starred a 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 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" . 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 , as usual .
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