The Awful Dr. Orloff



The Awful Dr. Orloff (Gritos en la noche) is a 1962 Spanish–French horror film directed by Jesús Franco. It stars Howard Vernon as the mad Dr. Orloff (or sometimes Orlof) who wants to repair his disfigured daughter's face with skin grafts from others, with the aid of a slavish blind henchman named Morpho. The film is considered to be the earliest Spanish horror film. Howard Vernon continued to appear in a number of Franco's horror films up until his death. Franco would later feature a number of blind or disfigured henchmen named Morpho in many of his later horror films, such as Vampyos Lesbos and Revenge in the House of Usher.

Production
While filming his tribute to Hollywood musical film (Vampiresas 1930), director Jesús Franco convinced his producers to watch the British film The Brides of Dracula (1960). After the screening, Franco proposed that he could make similar films "in the same vein, but with a different style". Franco eventually convinced same French co-producer who produced Vampiresas 1930.

Franco was concerned how the film would be handled by Spanish censors. Franco 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 cut. Spanish censors were also concerned with films that would damage the reputation of Spain. To avoid this, Franco set the film in France.

Release
The Awful Dr. Orloff premiered in Madrid, Spain in May 1962 under the title of Gritos en la noche, which translates into Screams in the Night in English. It premiered in Paris in May 1963 under the title of L'horrible Dr. Orloff, and was released in the UK as The Demon Doctor later the same year. In the US it was released in 1964, on the second half of a double bill with The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962). The Awful Dr. Orloff became the first internationally successful horror and exploitation film production from Spain.

A sequel to the film, titled El Secreto del Dr. Orloff also directed by Franco, was released in 1964.

Reception
The film received a negative reception from critics on its initial release. In 1964, a review in the New York Times for both The Horrible Dr. Hichcock and The Awful Dr. Orloff stated "For once, the adjectives in the titles were not only descriptive but also accurate." The Monthly Film Bulletin 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 of Epstein" 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 a "mainly trivial variations on Eyes Without a Face" while praising the "lighting of the castle and the night exteriors". In Phil Hardy's book Science Fiction (1984), 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".