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DR. ORLOFF’S MONSTER (1964) isn’t the masterpiece of Jess Franco’s first, less personal, pre-NECRONOMICON (aka SUCCUBUS) phase of his career. Said masterpiece would come two years later, with THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z. Its plotting is indifferent, giving us a villain whose motives are rather obscure, and leaving little room for Franco to indulge his phantasmagorical explorations of human identity and sexuality.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching.
(Thread)
What it does have is a robot-zombie visually recalling Cesare from THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, and jaw-dropping pictorial beauty. The night scenes are particularly striking, with every single shot an invitation to hit the pause button and gaze in wonder.
Franco gives even the most mundane events a high cinematic interest, with a lovers’ chat filmed in extreme long shot, or the comings and goings in the castle taken in either very low or very high angles. Watching this, it’s no surprise at all that Franco’s next gig would be working as second-unit director for Orson Welles on CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT.
