El Enigma del Ataúd

The Orgies of Dr. Orloff
Les Orgies du Docteur Orloff / Erotik in der Folterkammer / Die Folterkammer des Doktor Orloff / Only a Coffin

Spain/France 1967
produced by
Santos Alcocer, Maria Ángel Coma Borrás for Hispamer Films
directed by Santos Alcocer (as Walter Alcox)
starring Howard Vernon, Danielle Godet, María Saavedra, Adolfo Arlés, Tota Alba, José María Seoane, Rosita Yarza, José Bastida, Fabián Conde, Emilio S. Espinosa, Nuria Gimeno, Mery Leyva, Javier de Rivera
screenplay by Santos Alcocer, based on the novel by Enrique Jarber, music by Ramón Femenías

Dr. Orloff

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Orloff (Howard Vernon) is dying from liver cancer - and thus he has invited all his greedy family members to his castle to mock them in his final hours, telling them he has wasted all the family fortune he was made guardian of after his brother died, but has insured himself for a vast amount of money, which the heirs will only collect though if some ridiculous conditions are met ... and then he kills himself, which would make the insurance claim immaterial of course, but his relatives and employees cover this up neatly, first and foremost his drunk nephew Daniel and his secretary Judith - who soon are found in bed together by none other than Daniel's wife Greta (Danielle Godet), the "innocent" family member. And then Daniel is killed before her very eys, and his body disappears, she thinks she has seen Orloff's dead body in a chest when he has already been buried, and later the live Orloff attacks her, too ... but she has no proof for any of this, and everybody thinks she's going crazy, everybody but Daniel's estranged brother Pablo, who has long secretly loved her. And then the police arrives, digs up Orloff's coffin and finds two bodies in it, one's Daniel, the other ... not Orloff. Then Judith is found dead, and when Orloff appears to attack Greta again, he is felled by the housekeeper (Tota Alba). With Orloff's body, the inspector (José María Seoane) is able to close the case, Orloff and Judith have conspired to fake his death (not sure why), but first Daniel stumbled over key evidence, which caused his murder, then Orloff figured Judith knew too much, and finally he needed to go after Greta, too ...

A typical piece of Eurotrash that at the same time shows why the genre is loved by some but ridiculed by many (and feel free to count me to the first category): Basically the film's a not very well thought-through murder mystery with a plot waaay too contrived to come across as believable. Plus the characters all lack depth and the performances are either ham or wooden. And add to this the fact that this was not originally intended as a Dr. Orloff flick at all, but sold to many regions as one anyways thanks to Howard Vernon's enjoyably ham performance and the usage of some of the same locations of The Awful Dr. Orloff, and the fact that for distribution in some regions, torture chamber (non-hardcore) sex footage was added starring a hooded guy and three hooded but otherwise naked girls that has no connection whatsoever to the main plot, and you've got ... well, one bad movie, but if you're in the right mindset you'll at least find it amusing.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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