Man with Two Heads, The (1972)

... aka: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Blood
... aka: Man with Two Faces, The

Directed by:
Andy Milligan

By Milligan standards, this is a disappointingly dull, slow, routine and somewhat tame adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Technically-speaking, it's slightly more competent than most of his other films. He's still stuck with a microscopic budget, but in this instance the camera seems to stay on a tripod much of the time, the primary actors are decent (it was actually filmed in England using local talent), the sets and costumes look a bit more convincing than usual (maybe they were allowed to raid a theater wardrobe department instead of someone's linen closet) and the whole production has a stage play feel to it. Sadly, because it's a fairly faithful Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation, Milligan's personality seems almost completely absent from the dialogue. It's almost as if he was trying to go legit or was aiming for respectability. Either that, or someone had him on a tight leash throughout the production. There are still trademark Milligan flashes to the cinematography from time to time, such as the camera spinning around to where you can't tell what the hell is going on during most of the horror scenes, but for the most part, this is a sterile and impersonal effort. The only thing of distinction is the high level of misogyny and that it has some of the absolutely worst overlighting in the history of cinema. During most of the scenes, the actors faces are drowned out in white glare.

In merry England, a hag prostitute (who's later referred to as a "young girl") gets stabbed and gutted. After the killer is captured and commits suicide, atheist medical school professor Dr. William Jekyll (Denis De Marne) gets permission from the dead man's wife to procure the body for his studies. Jekyll's theories on how to eliminate man's criminal urges are so outlandish they've alienated from the entire medical board and he's only been able to find six students in all of Europe to teach. His students dismember the killer's corpse (they actually start hacking into it with cleavers and a hatchet!), remove the head and Jekyll uses his special formula, which isolates and treats the "evil area" of the brain, on the killer's brain. It turns the bad area blue and the deeper the blue the more evil the person.

Sensing his formula will work on humans, having already created an antidote and frustrated by the fact he's going to have to wait on a shipment of vicious animals to do further tests on, an impatient Jekyll decides to go ahead and drink the serum himself. Little does he know, but his favorite student Jack Smithers (Berwick Kaler) has accidentally erased Jekyll's antidote formula by spilling liquid on the papers. Smoke fills the room, Jekyll writhes in agony and then transforms into a misogynist alter ego with a palid appearance, a toothy grin and thick eyebrows. Clad in a top hat and cap and introducing himself as Danny, Jekyll starts frequenting a local pub and sets his sights on singer / prostitute April Conners (Julia Stratton, billed as "April Conners"). After beating a man with his cane, Jekyll accompanies April back to her apartment and then proceeds to degrade her ("You're a cheap little slut. You know that, don't you? You shouldn't be allowed on the face of this Earth. You're scum!" You're the defecation of the slums of London!"), slap her around, pulls her hair, smack her over the head, makes her bark like a dog and then burns her with his cigar. He decides not to kill her, though, and just knifes a prostitute outside after he leaves.

The next day, Jekyll wakes with ripped, blood-stained clothes but no recollection of the past evening's events. From here on out, he'll slip in and out of the Danny persona. He starts being mean to his mothering sister Carla (Jacqueline Lawrence), starts neglecting his fiance Mary Ann (Gay Feld) even more than he already was, tells his sole female student that "All women should be in bed to be used!," shows up at Jack's to stab him to death and set his house on fire, then pays another visit to April to whip her with his belt. On his third visit to April he decapitates her with a meat cleaver, but any trace of gore seems to have been removed. Things get a bit frantic with the seizure-like 'shakycam' camerawork whenever anything horrific or action-oriented occurs.

Though De Marne gives a fair performance as the tortured doctor, this is sadly both boring (with many gruelingly long talk scenes) and completely unoriginal. It's almost like an attempt at a Hammer Film, minus those film's production values and general competence. It does however have one solitary bizarro scene where Jekyll spends the evening in a hazy brothel where kinky sex and mutilation take place. Unfortunately, the copy I watched was so damn bright I couldn't even make much of it out.

Billed as "Jeremy Brooks," Gerald Jacuzzo (from the director's much more memorable TORTURE DUNGEON) has a small role. Originally filmed as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Blood, the title was changed by producer William Mishkin to cash in on the success of The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971) and The Thing with Two Heads (1972). The only VHS releases I'm aware of in America came via Midnight Video in 1982 and then through Something Weird Video.

★

Cellar Dweller (1987)

... aka: Cannibal Monster, The
... aka: Ork
... aka: Underground Werewolf

Directed by:
John Carl Buechler

Comic book artist Colin Childress (Jeffrey Combs), best known for his horrific "Cellar Dweller" series, has been using an ancient Satanic book to fill in his dialogue bubbles. In the process, he manages to resurrect both a big demon monster and a lady in peril, all of whom go up in flames. Thirty years later, horror-loving cartoonist Whitney Taylor (Debrah Mullowney, who'd marry actor James Farentino and go by the professional name Debrah Farentino) arrives via taxi to the secluded Throckmorton Institute for the Arts, an artist's colony which used to be Childress' home. A big fan of the "Cellar Dweller" comics, Whitney decides she wants to do something along those lines with her career. She's given a chilly reception by school administrator Mrs. Briggs (Yvonne De Carlo), who remembers Whitney unfavorably from a convention years earlier and doesn't believe comic art is actually art (calling it "populist tripe'). The cellar where Childress did most of his work, and the same place he and the woman died (Childress was blamed for killing her) is off limits to everyone.

Whitney soon meets a handful of other students, including young abstract painter Phillip Lemley (Brian Robbins, then known as the star of the series Head of the Class and now a successful producer and director), eccentric performance artist Lisa (Cheryl-Ann Wilson) and cigar-chomping pulp writer and Raymond Chandler wannabe Norman Meshelski (Vince Edwards). There's also the bitchy Amanda (Pamela Bellwood, just wrapping up her long stint on the primetime soap Dynasty), who had previously attended another art school with Whitney and made her life a living hell because she was jealous of her success. Since Mrs. Briggs is on Amanda's side, the two women team up to try to get Whitney kicked out of the artist's colony by setting her up as a plagiarist. Meanwhile, Whitney keeps hearing noises coming from the cellar. Upon investigating, she discovers all kinds of remnants from Childress' career, including copies of his comics and the Satanic book ("Curses of the Ancient Dead"). How none of this stuff was damaged or destroyed in the fire, or removed by the police, is anybody's guess.

Whitney convinces Mrs. Briggs to let her set up her work station in the cellar. She starts messing with the evil book, draws the titular creature and then people start dying as the flesh-hungry creature materializes in the 'real world' and gobbles them up. Some interesting things happen; Whitney begins drawing comics that come true, but then the drawings start materializing out of thin air, we learn the creature is fueled by literally consuming creative energy, etc., but they aren't always adequately expanded upon. One nice touch toward the end is that our heroine discovers she can both contain the monster and bring those who have been killed back to life, but that aspect is completely undermined by a poor ending.

Seems the filmmakers were shooting for nothing more than a fun, escapist movie with an appreciation for macabre art and a comic book feel, but they're only partially successful because of the muddled, half-hearted creature mythology (the film runs just 77 minutes and probably could have used at least another 10 to fill in the gaps). Farentino is a likable and appealing lead, De Carlo has a fun supporting role (Combs is pretty much wasted, though) and the design on the big, wolf-like monster is pretty good. There's also an old-of-left-field fantasy sequence featuring an axe-wielding zombie. Director Buechler (best known as a make-up fx man) had already made TROLL (1986) for executive producer Charles Band's Empire Pictures (note the posters for DOLLS and GHOST TOWN on the wall). He'd also go on to also direct FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD (1988), GHOULIES III: GHOULIES GO TO COLLEGE (1990), WATCHERS REBORN (1998), MINER'S MASSACRE (2002) and others.

Screenwriter Don Mancini would go on to write CHILD'S PLAY (1988) and all of its subsequent sequels; finally stepping into the director's chair for SEED OF CHUCKY (2008).

It was filmed in Italy and released to VHS several times (through New World, Starmaker and others). Image released a laserdisc, though there's no DVD as of this writing.

★★

El secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964)

... aka: Brides of Dr. Jekyll
... aka: Dr. Jekyll's Mistresses
... aka: Dr. Orloff's Monster
... aka: Maîtresses du Docteur Jekyll, Les
... aka: Mistresses of Dr. Orloff, The
... aka: Secret of Dr. Orloff, The

Directed by:
"Jess Frank" (Jesus Franco)

An Austrian / Spanish / French co-production, this was originally released in both America (Dr. Orloff's Monster) and Spain (El secreto del Dr. Orloff / "The Secret of Dr. Orloff") as a sequel to Franco's earlier hit Gritos en la noche (1961) aka THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF (1961), though not in France, where it was titled Les maîtresses du Docteur Jekyll ("The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll"). So, is it a sequel to the original Orloff film or not? Well, yes and no. Technically-speaking, the French title is the most accurate since the film deals primarily with Professor Jekyll, though there's a brief appearance by an elderly man who's presumably Dr. Orloff. Sort of passing the torch down if you will. Sequel or not, the two films have much in common, including similar characters (though the names have been changed), bawdy musical numbers, an old castle setting, numerous scenes in jazz clubs and a disfigured killer being controlled by an evil, intelligent scientist / doctor mastermind. Most seem to think this one isn't nearly as good as the first Orloff film, but I beg to differ. It's just as good.

Ditching the period setting of the first, this updates the story to modern times but keeps the atmospheric Gothic trappings intact. Dr. Conrad Jekyll (Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui) has just learned (from his elderly superior Dr. Orloff) the secret of how to use ultrasonic sound to activate and control a humanoid robot. So what's the first thing he does with his newfound power? Why, make the robot strangle a topless stripper, of course! Conrad is constantly haunted by memories of an affair his wife Ingrid (Luisa Sala) had with his brother, which angered him so much he ended up killing his sibling. Actually, the robot killer, Andros (played by "Hugh White" / Hugo Blanco), is his brother. Andros (who's tall, pale, gloved, dressed in all-black, walks upright and stiff and will instantly remind viewers of Cesare in the silent classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) still has vague memories of his past, but is at the mercy of Conrad, who keeps him locked up in an upright glass coffin when he's not using him to kill.

Because of an inheritance she's supposed to get on her twenty-first birthday, Jekyll's niece Melissa (Agnès Spaak) arrives over Christmas break with a male admirer of hers named Juan Manuel (José Rubio) in tow. Melissa never got to actually meet her father, and her mother passed away after saving enough money for her to attend college. Melissa is immediately perplexed at her aunt and uncle's erratic behavior. Ingrid is a sickly, bitter and reclusive alcoholic who hates her unfaithful, neglectful husband and suffers from nightmares where she screams "Murderer!" over and over again. Uncle Conrad forbids anyone from going into either his tower laboratory or his dead brother's room and refuses to allow Melissa's beau to come inside and forces him to stay at a hotel in town. After seeing a picture of the father she's never met and then seeing Andros walking about, Melissa decides to try to solve the mystery before heading back to school.

While not quite as atmospheric as the first Orloff opus, this is still fairly stylish (the art direction, photography and lighting are all good) and has the superior screenplay. There's more of an actual plot here, better-defined characters and more natural, sometimes even humorous, dialogue. There are also surprisingly affecting scenes of Andros going to visit his own grave and sneaking into his daughter's bedroom at night to take a gander at the now-grown daughter he never got to meet and now refuses to harm. Franco's favorite milieus; smoky jazz clubs, seedy strip bars and even an opium den, are exploited as the mad Dr. Jekyll gets his jollies sending Andros out to murder innocent (well, sort of...) women. Perla Cristal , who played Orloff's reluctant female companion is the first film, shows up in this one, too, as a victim who performs a memorable song called 'Pepita.' Also in the cast are Pastor Serrador as the obligatory police inspector, Manuel Guitián as the Jekyll family's servant and José Truchado and Ramón Lillo as cops. Franco himself has a cameo as a blind piano player whose girlfriend is attacked after taking a bath; one of two instances of nudity in the film. Daniel White contributes an outstanding score to the proceedings.

Based on a novel by David Khune (Franco). Image handled the DVD release and put out a nice-looking, subtitled print. Other films in Franco's Orloff series include THE ORGIES OF DR. ORLOFF (1969), THE INVISIBLE DEAD (1971), THE SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF (1973) and THE SINISTER DR. ORLOFF (1984).

★★★

Gritos en la noche (1962)

... aka: Awful Dr. Orloff, The
... aka: Cries in the Night
... aka: Demon Doctor, The
... aka: Diabolical Dr. Satan, The
... aka: Screams in the Night

Directed by:
Jesus Franco

Franco's very first foray into the horror genre gives fans of vintage Gothic horror exactly what they want to see: a mad scientist played by a charismatic, distinctive-looking actor, a murderous and disfigured killer who has both zombie and vampire tendencies, voluptuous ladies in distress, an isolated castle, beautiful shooting locations, lots of fog and plenty of atmospheric, shadowy shots of forboding sillhouettes being cast upon roadways and buildings. Most important of all is the quality of the black-and-white cinematography, which is more crucial to the success of one of these things than either the acting or the screenplay. Thankfully, this film is very successful in that regard. It's a beautifully-shot and crafted film with obvious love and care put into both the lighting and shot compositions. And hell if this thing doesn't go one extra step further by even providing a few topless shots, which needless to say wasn't a common occurrence at all in the early 60s. Naturally, the nudity (including a scene of a naked woman getting sliced with a scalpel) was censored in both the American and British theatrical prints of the film, but have since been restored for our home viewing enjoyment.

Set in 1912, the film opens as a drunk tart is strangled to death by blind, googly-eyed henchman Morpho ("Richard Valley" / Ricardo Valle) after he pops out of her closet. Morpho then wanders off with the body in the company of his master, the caped and top hat sporting Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon). Orloff sets his sights on a not-too-bright cabaret performer named Dany ("Mary Silvers" / María Silva). He promises her jewelry in exchange for her romantic attention, lures her to a large home, locks her inside and lets Morpho do the dirty work for him. The two then place the body in a coffin aboard a stagecoach and take it back to his secluded castle home, which is so far out of the way that it can only be accessed by boat. At the castle, we discover that Orloff is keeping his depressed daughter Melissa (Diana Lorys) in a glass coffin until her beauty can be restored after being severely burned in a lab fire. The women he has been abducting and killing are to provide skin for his unsuccessful grafts. Orloff eventually determines the grafts aren't taking because he's been using the tissue of dead women instead of trying to strip it right off of living victims. He tries this technique out on his latest victim - busty blonde singer Irma Gold (Mara Laso) - and then chains her up in a secret room after disfiguring her.

Since five ladies of easy virtue (whom Orloff deems "utterly worthless") have disappeared in just a three month period, Inspector Tanner ("Conrad Sanmartin" / Conrado San Martin) and his trusty assistant Martin (Fernando Montes) are put on the case. Tanner is dating famed ballerina Wanda Bronsky (Diana Lorys again), who Orloff has been eyeing from afar since she looks identical to a pre-accident Melissa. Deciding to help her boyfriend out (though not informing him she's actually doing it), Wanda puts herself in harm's way by dressing provocatively and frequenting the smoky nightclub where numerous victims (including Dany) have already disappeared from in hopes she can trap the killer. It isn't long before she finds herself being drugged, rushed off to Orloff's castle and in need of saving.

Aside from the wonderful look and feel of the film, we're given interesting insights into Orloff, Morpho and Arne (Perla Cristal) - a bitter woman who lives as a virtual prisoner in the castle with them, is getting increasingly more disgusted with Orloff's activities and is the only person to give a hoot about Morpho. Orloff used to be a respected prison doctor and had all but disappeared seven years earlier. Before he'd left, he'd saved Morpho (who had murdered his own father, a little girl and numerous others) from the gallows. He'd also rescued Arne from life in prison by giving her insulin to induce a death-like state and then removing her from her casket before it was buried. Orloff threatens to kill Arne if she leaves him. Morpho's current grotesque appearance is due to the fact that Orloff has used him as a guinea pig in previous experiments.

The scenes dealing with the police drag at times, there are several instances of unsuccessful humor (an artist trying to do a police sketch from conflicting stories, a nutty man who wants to take credit for the killings...) and the plot line completely rips off the French classic EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1959), but for the most part this is a nicely-done little chiller. It was based on a novel by "David Kuhne" (an alias for Franco).

Dr. Orloff would be a recurring character in many of the director's other films, though not in any kind of connected series. Vernon is best associated with the character, though he'd only actually play him in THE ORGIES OF DR. ORLOFF (1966), THE INVISIBLE DEAD (1971), THE SINISTER DR. ORLOFF (1984) and FACELESS (1987). In the first (sort-of) sequel; DR. ORLOFF'S MONSTER (1964), the character had just two scenes (and was played by an elderly actor), and in JACK THE RIPPER (1976), Klaus Kinski's titular killer was named Dr. Dennis Orloff. Dr. Orloff was also played by Siegfried Lowitz in THE VENGEANCE OF DR. MABUSE (1972), Jean-Pierre Bouyxou in FEMALE VAMPIRE (1973), William Berger in THE SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF (1973), Ricardo Palacios in ALONE AGAINST TERROR (1983) and others.

The run time is usually listed as being 87 or 90 minutes, but the version I saw (distributed by Image Entertainment in 2000) seems complete and runs 83. Image also released a "Dr. Orloff Collection" box set in 2004.

★★★