The Orloff Collection (The Awful Dr. Orlof / Dr. Orloff's Monster / Orloff and the Invisible Man / Revenge in the House of Usher) (4-DVD)

Devious. Diabolical. Devilish. He's Dr. Orloff, the villainous creation of horror cult director Jess Franco introduced in the gothic classic, The Awful Dr. Orlof. Determined to restore the beauty of his disfigured sister, the doctor sends his monstrous manservant, Morpho, on a quest for nubile beauties to provide fresh skin for his experiments. Then one of Orloff's disciples creates a humanoid servant, Dr. Orloff's Monster, with his niece falling into a trap of murder and insanity. Then prepare to meet Orloff and the Invisible Man when the good doc hosts a traveler at his castle and unleashes an invisible terror that's already turned his daughter into a raving lunatic... or has it? Finally, the Poe classic is turned inside out as Revenge in the House of Usher entails a family curse, a deranged brother and sister, a lonely traveler and footage from the first Orloff film to tie it all together!

The Awful Dr. Orlof (1964, B&W, 83 minutes, Widescreen, Dubbed in English): Spanish horror master Jess Franco's first international success. When beautiful music hall entertainers begin to disappear under mysterious circumstances, Inspector Tanner is summoned to investigate. His resourceful fiancee decides to help him by going undercover as a cabaret singer, and succeeds all too well, attracting the attention of the diabolical Dr. Orlof, who, with his blind henchman Morpho, is using the skin of slain women to restore the beauty of his disfigured sister, Melissa! The Awful Dr. Orlof is one of the last films of the 1960s to strike a genuine chord of Gothic horror reminiscent of the great classics of Universal, and the silent masterworks of Germany's UFA. Simultaneously, it strikes an underlying harmonic of progress and innovation, heralding a new age of erotic and sado-masochistic permissiveness within the genre.

Dr. Orloff's Monster (1964, B&W, 85 minutes, Widescreen European Edition, Dubbed in English / French with English Subtitles): Melissa, an attractive Austrian college student, travels to Holfen to spend the Christmas holidays at the castle of her uncle, Dr. Conrad Fisherman, but the mood she encounters there is hardly festive. Her uncle's behavior is cold and furtive, and her Aunt Ingrid is perpetually drunk, trying to forget the night so many years ago when Conrad caught her making love with his brother Andros (Melissa's father) and murdered him. Melissa's chance discovery of a photograph of her late father, whom she never knew, awakens her curiosity about the past, just as Dr. Fisherman, a disciple of the mad Dr. Orloff, awakens the corpse of Andros as a human automaton with a high-frequency command to kill! This is the full length version with sequences shot especially for French audiences.

Orloff and the Invisible Man (1970, Color, 76 minutes, Widescreen Edition, Dubbed in English): One rainy night, Dr. Garondet is summoned to the castle of Professor Orloff. Making it to the castle on foot, the good doctor meets Cecile, Orloff's daughter, a seemingly deranged girl who is convinced that an invisible phantom is at large on the premises. Orloff explains the story behind Cecile's insanity to the doctor--a tale involving premature burial, grave-robbing and flagellation--and invites him to stay over. As Garondet spends an uneasy night at the castle, he finds himself sharing in Cecile's delusions.

Revenge In The House Of Usher (1985, Color and B&W, 91 minutes, Widescreen Edition, Dubbed in English): Dr. Alan Harker rides to the crumbling castle of his former university professor, Dr. Eric Usher, to find the old man caught in the grip of paranoia, his mind eroded by his ongoing attempts to resurrect his comatose daughter Melissa with the blood of abducted women. As he nears inevitable death, Usher enters a twilight world that exists between life and death. There, he is taunted by the blood-drinking ghost of his dead wife, by his faithless housekeeper, and by the various women he has bled to death over the years in the service of his daughter! Spanish horror maverick Jess Franco blends Edgar Allan Poe with echoes of Bram Stoker's Dracula and his own Awful Dr. Orlof in this bizarre tale of horror and obsession!