The Invisible Dead

I always assumed that it was Jess Franco who had a monopoly on this type of cinema, namely: the routine euro-exploitation flicks with an always-returning villain (Dr. Orloff), absurd story lines (invisible ape-creatures??), truckloads of sleaze and absolutely no logic at all. Every small detail in "Orloff Against the Invisible Man" has got Franco's name written all over it, so it was quite a surprise to find out that he actually hasn't got anything to do with it. But still Franco admirers don't have to fear that this will be a 'soft' film, because director Pierre Chevalier proves himself to be "Godfather of Sleaze" as well and his movie is delightfully trashy and nonsensical. Howard Vernon (normally a Franco-regular as well) stars as a totally insane man of science who created an invisible monster, supposedly for his daughter that got traumatized after being buried alive when she was 16. How exactly this creation helps the poor girl's situation is entirely beside the point, as are many other sudden twist in the script. Everything eventually revolves on the sexual aspect when the invisible ape-man goes completely berserk after graphically raping the housemaid (sickly illustrated by an overlong scene showing the poor woman struggling naked on a pile of hay). Every normal film-loving person will most likely detest this film, but for exploitation-fans, there is always the weird atmosphere and morbid set pieces to admire. Orloff's castle is genuinely ominous, with lots of dark cellars and secret tombs and Howard Vernon looks uniquely sinister again. Great entertainment for the slightly more demanding cult-freaks among us.

Everyone else's reviews on here pretty much say what I would say, however, I wanted to add that that music score is quite impressive. I usually don't listen to the music in a film unless it strikes me and this one stuck me as being more than just boring background music. Also, the lighting they used really gave the movie a unique feel. It seemed like everyone was lit up brightly with a light right in their face. It added much needed color to the film. Without the color and music, this movie would have been very drab. Also, the "horror" nature of this film focuses on rape more than anything gory or gross. The rape scene with the maid was too much for me to watch, I had to close my eyes. It seemed to go on forever. Quite unsettling and distasteful. And the ape suit guy was hilarious. Very far from the "superior race" of people the doctor thought he was creating. It seemed like just a dumb ape to me.

3/10 because of the music, lighting and unintentional humor.

OK, so the plot is risible, the acting woeful, and the production values worthy of Ed Wood. However this early Eurocine outing is a great "B" movie- at least for those who understand cinematic irony.

Crumbling castles, dandyesque clothing and buxom wenches all give it the authentic sexploitation feel. The camera angles add that dangerous and unpredictable quality that only lovers of bad movies can really appreciate.

More than that, the film is best known for the most famous bush in cinematic history, that of Brigitte Carva. Oh for the days when women were not just plastic-packed crotch-shaven dollies! The women in this film are real, and the creaking plot makes their naked exploits all the more impressive. For collectors of the genre (or admirers of the hirsute), this B-flick is a must. The plot is only marginally of relevance.

This Gothic horror film was released by Eurociné who were purveyors of cheap French exploitation movies. While it has slightly higher production values than most of the others released by this distributer, it's still a pretty bargain basement effort. It's one of a series of Dr Orloff movies. The character was a Euro horror alternative to Dr Frankenstein and seems to have fulfilled a similar role. The story starts when a new village doctor is summoned to Orloff's castle on business unspecified. The local populace are aghast that he would consider going to such an evil place. On arrival, it seems it was the doctor's daughter who has requested him secretly in an attempt to turn her father around from his dangerous experiments that she fears are endangering her life and his sanity. It turns out that Orloff has created an invisible man…

I think the chief problem with this one is that an invisible man makes for a very underwhelming villain. Aside from a few simple trick shots an invisible character involves very little effort to create. He is certainly a cheap alternative to a decent monster that's for sure. We are treated to floating drinks trays, pages of books turning by themselves, footprints in flour and…eh…invisible rape. The latter was clearly added to up the requisite sleaze factor that the early 70's Euro Gothic horrors were aiming for. There is quite a bit of nudity in general in the movie but it's never in danger of becoming erotic unfortunately. From the horror side of the fence, aside from the invisible man, there is a back story involving premature burial and grave robbery. Nothing of which is anything too memorable. Perhaps the single most original idea in the film is the fact that, for reasons never really explained, the invisible man appears to be a gorilla! The invisible ape…you couldn't make it up! Acting performances are generally dull but Howard Vernon (Dr Orloff) is always watchable.

ORLOFF AND THE INVISIBLE MAN (1971) *** Howard Vernon, Brigitte Carva, Fernando Sancho, Paco Valladares, Isabel del Río, Evane Hanska. In this 1971 French-Spanish co-production, the irrepressible Howard Vernon returns for his second turn as Dr. Orloff. This time, he's created an invisible man who feeds on human blood. It's fairly typical Eurosleaze fare: there's the usual muddled plot, cheap special effects (wait until you see the invisible `man'!) and a fair amount of gratuitous nudity (the rape of the servant girl by the invisible man, with shots of Vernon leering through the whole thing, is especially tasteless). But a good score, nice atmosphere and fairly brisk direction by Pierre Chevalier manage to keep things interesting.