| Awful Dr Orlof/House Of Seven Corpses |
| Thought it would be nice to add a review section on genre dvds that may have been overlooked by the big websites.While these reviews won't be nearly as technical it will give you an idea about the dvd.Also a few of these haven't been covered anywhere else as far as I know. The Awful Dr Orlof Jess Franco has gone on to make a name for himself in the genre.Some hail him as a genius;others think he is a hack.Unfortunately now he is hacking out softcore and some hardcore porn/horror movies.But we all had to start somewhere and this is it with The Awful Dr Orlof.This owes a lot to the French classic Eyes Without A Face. Orlof's daughter has been facially disfigured.So with the help of the very creepy Morpho they abduct women and use their skin to try and restore Melissa's beauty.The police are stumped and the lead inspector's girlfriend takes it upon herself to go undercover to catch the killers.She winds up next on the operating table and her clueless boyfriend frantically tries to locate her. We do have some wonderfully moody outdoor nighttime shots.There is a rather intense sequence of Morpho chasing a young lady through a vacant house.But for the most part this movie bogs down in the middle with too much bull$#!% from incidental characters. Morpho is probably the creepiest human/monster I've seen.He's blind with pop eyes and a brain butchered by Orlof.This former sadist sometimes bites women in the throat just for kicks.The little facial tics and mouth movements by the actor convey more than words ever could. Black and white in widescreen at 1:66:1.If you've only seen this movie as a grainy dupe you will be pleasantly surprised.The picture is quite nice.There is some gratuitous nudity and Morpho will give kids nightmares(scared me 35 years ago too). House Of Seven Corpses This low budget flick is about making a low budget horror flick in a house with an unsavory past.Seven members of the Beal family met violent deaths (beatings,shootings, stabbings etc)and a film crew is shooting a movie at the house.The cast is led by old pros John Ireland as the director, Faith Domergue as the past her prime lead actress, Charles Macauley as a has been actor and John Carradine as Edgar Price, the house caretaker. One of the cast finds the Tibetian Book Of The Dead.After a quick look it is decided to use the actual chants out of the book to add some authenticity to the dialogue.And we know that this will reanimate a corpse or two out of the family cemetary.Said corpse begins to knock off the cast in the same way the elder Beals had died.The ending will leave you scratching your head if you have been following along closely. The cast is wonderful and truthfully the older stars are better than the material.This movie manages to hold your attention.It isn't gory and is best watched late at night.While no classic it isn't too bad.The movie is in color in full frame 1:33:1 ratio. |
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