Amazon.com

Jesús Franco, Spain's crazed cult auteur, had made a couple of features before The Awful Dr. Orloff, but this infamous thriller (reportedly Spain's first horror film) gave birth to Franco's brand of erotic horror and surreal madness. The story of a mad surgeon who kidnaps and disfigures beautiful showgirls in an attempt to restore the face of his scarred daughter is right out of George Franju's Eyes Without a Face. The style, however, is a mix of foggy Universal monster movies and sexed-up Hammer horror, which Franco pushes to the limits of Spain's 1960s censorship restrictions (and beyond). Gaunt, hollowed Howard Vernon plays the sadistic surgeon Orloff (a role he revived in a number of sequels), and Ricardo Valle dons a phony but freaky mask to play his grunting, blind, bug-eyed henchman, Morpho, who has a savage habit of taking a big bite of the victims.

It's a smooth, elegantly orchestrated thriller with handsome sets and vivid locations, and the fogbound cobblestone streets, dark alleys, and eerily empty mansions create a genuinely spooky ambiance. He also tosses in a wild, creepy, thoroughly modern experimental score. Franco went on to direct more than 150 films under a dozen pseudonyms, most of which make the brief flashes of flesh and perversity here look tame, but this trendsetting landmark is still considered one of his greatest. Image's new widescreen edition, mastered from a gorgeous French print, is reportedly restored but contains some abrupt transitions and jump cuts. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (4)

CREEPY "MORTHO" LIVES...On Dvd
When I was a boy they would show this movie very late saturday nights on TV and I'd stay up way past bedtime just to watch Gothic Horror Euro-movies like this and BLACK SUNDAY(a.k.a. "The Mask Of Satan")which terrified and scared me to death. I grew up, but I never forgot those two, amongst several other OLD gothic horror flicks I've been lucky to find on Dvd these past couple years. I always thought the terrifying "Mortho" was a vampire! All I know and have never been able to forget is that I was Mortho-fied with fear and terror at the site of him. I'd be so terrified laying in bed when the lights were out because I feared seeing his face on the ceiling if I opened my eyes. He still seems quite creepy after all these years. This movie is a CLASSIC of its genre and a 'must have' for collectors. It is a gem of a remaster in classic B&W, mostly filmed at night(it seems), nevertheless, it's a well made atmospheric movie. More of a "thriller" than a "horror" flick. Nice to have just for the memories of loving scary movies as a child...

GRAND OLD EUROSHOCKER.....
I love this movie. Awful acting and all. There's atmosphere to spare and a morbid story that moves. A mad surgeon uses his disfigured mind-controlled "slave"---Morpho---to kidnap women to use in fiendish skin graft experiments to restore the ruined face of his beloved daughter. Set at the turn-of-the-century, his laboratory is the basement of an old castle surrounded by a moat. In this European version, there's a few [breast]shots here and there. But it's the delirium of the entire movie that keeps me going. Hysterically awful at times but so lovable as a relic of a bygone genre that I have to rate it high. The music is a cacophonus clanging that just adds to the lurid aura of Morpho stalking the women as his "master" waits nearby. Delicious b&w photography is preserved wonderfully on DVD. Jess Franco was noted for his sexy shockers but this is my favorite of them all. Dubbing is bad and this works just fine as well in making this a true-blue "Euroshocker" that to me defines itself.

The Awful Dr. Orloff (DVD)
This movie reminds me some what of Lugosi's "Human Monster", but it really doesn't measure up. Somewhat atmospheric, but there really isn't much entertainment value here. If you find dubbed audio tracks distracting, then forget this one.

The Awful Dr. Orlof - DVD Review
STORY: When beautiful music hall entertainers begin to disappear under mysterious circumstances, Inspector Tanner is summoned to investigate. His resourceful fiancée decides to help him by 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!

PICTURE: 4/5 Image has given Jess Franco's "The Awful Dr. Orlof" a nice looking transfer at 1.66:1. The picture is sharp and blacks look good and solid, but in some scenes the blacks look a little on the gray side. I saw 3 vertical lines on the print and i did not notice any film grain. To spite a couple of flaws on the print, I think the picture looks the best the film will ever look.

SOUND: 3/5 The sound is 1.0 Mono English and French. The english track sounds good and clear, but i heard a couple of pops and the track distorts sometime when the music comes on. Overall, not a bad sounding track for a 26 year old film.

EXTRAS: 2/5 This is where the disc is a let down. You get not thing. But you do get some great liner notes from Tim Lucas.

OVERALL: 4/5 IMO, The Awful Dr. Orlof is a classic! If you like the old gothic films of Hammer, Mario Bava and Universal, then you should like The Awful Dr. Orlof. Even though this disc does not have any extras, it's still worth the buy to see this cool film. ... Read more

Description

After losing her mother at an early age and being raised at a boarding school, Cristina Reiner is notified of her father's death and summoned to Monserrat Mansion for the reading of his will. Other members of her strange, accursed family are found there awaiting the imminent demise of Cristina's ailing stepmother, whom she has never met. When Death finally visits the castle in the person of an elegantly attired Queen of Darkness, Cristina is approached by the ghost of her father, who advises her to flee the castle and her cold-skinned, bloodthirsty relatives. But is it already too late? Find out if you dare in cult director Jess Franco's legendary cult classic, uncut in America for the first time! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Haunting Euro Horror
I was dying to see this film after reading about it in "Images in the Dark" ( a must have book on gay and lesbian films) The film is a lot better than I expected. Yes it does suffer from a low budget and atrocious English dubbing; but director Jesus Franco creates some haunting images that will stay with you after the final fade out.

One of Jess' Best
Franco's 150+ films can be divided into two types: crude, deritive films he quickly cranked out in order to maintain an income, and those into which he poured his heart and soul. The fact that most of his films fell into the former category, that he had low budgets and short filming periods, his films are often poorly translated, and ill-advised cuts were often created by his american distributors, has led to an underappreciation of Franco's skills. Although most of his films deserve all the criticism they receive, this disk should help lead to a reevaluation of Franco.

This film, despite the unfortunate title imposed upon it by the producers, is one of Franco's better films, although those looking for a horror film or one of Franco's more fun-filled movies, such as The Girl From Rio, will likely be disappointed.

After the death of his favourite star, Soledad Miranda, in a tragic accident, Franco spent about a year cranking out lousy films in order to quickly fulfill his contractual obligations with a German distributor. Afterwards, he created this film which is a very personal, poetic, surreal and melancholy rumination upon death, most likely inspired by Soledad's death. One of the themes touched upon is how death is especially tragic when it happens to someone who is young and innocent.

Attempting to describe the plot only does this film injustice. Without conveying the film's actual mood created through image, music, and acting, the story sounds absurd and simplistic. Fortunately, Image has for the first time released Franco's true vision of the film. As another reviewer notes, you should watch this in the original language. Previously the dozens of different cuts available in the american market were bastardized versions with inserts created by different directors. Some of these schlocky inserts are included on the disk as an extra, including some by Jean Rollin (from whom I would have expected much better).

What???
I first came across this movie on vhs rougly 6 or 7 years ago. I was browsing the horror section of a local Suncoast when I first discovered it. The cover had several grotesque looking zombies on it and the description of the film sounded pretty good so I took it home and watched it thinking I was in for a real surprise! I sure was! Too bad the surprise was that not only was this film so bad but it didn't even have anything to do with zombies. I have watched this movie a dozen times and still have no clue what it's about. There's no story, no plot, no zombies and it ends so abruptly that if you're not sitting down when it ends you'll fall over. It's like having the carpet pulled out from under you. Funny thing is I thought this would be the one film that would never see the light of day on dvd. Shows how much I know about marketing. I gave this film one star but only because that's the lowest I could go. Otherwise this movie would be in the red.

Cool 70s supernatural film!
Remember those supernatural gothic films of the 70s?Here's a good one from the legendary Jess Franco.Gratuitous nudity and an oft-times muddled plot temporarily take points away from this poetic,atmospheric meditation on life and death.Gosh,I miss the atmosphere those 70s gothics generated so well.A beautiful woman goes to visit family that live in a dark mansion that seems to drift in a netherworld and it all leads to an ulra-creepy ending.
Forget about the zombies,people.The title was coined to make the film appealing to fans of zombie films.This is still a brilliant film,though.

Great NOT ZOMBIE movie
This is one of best Franco's films: a poetical, surrealist, oneiric and tragical tale of an orphan girl who so much absorbs people's sorrow that she becomes insane and dies.
However, my review's aim is to make clear some mistakes: 1) it is NOT a zombie-film: the zombie-scenes are included in the dvd only as extras and have been shot by Rollin. So, if you are zombie-fans, avoid this film. 2) The original title was obviously different: A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD is only the producer's title. 3) Avoid the English soundtrack, because the dubbing is bad and the music, which in the original version is very beautiful, is totally different. The French soundtrack (with English subtitles) is absolutely great. 4) The film isn't uncut because when producers added the awful zombie or erotic scenes (which are not included in this dvd) they cut off other sequences or footage, which unfortunately haven't yet been recovered. Nevertheless this is one of the most personal Franco's film. It was shot for Cannes Festival, but its destiny was to be spoilt by producers, in order to sell it in the B-cinema-halls. ... Read more

Description

The French film banned in France! This rarely seen Euro shocker is a sexy version of the story of Count Zaroff, the manwhose favorite past time was hunting humans on his private island.Seven Women forSatan is a stylish and bloody thriller filled to the brim with nightmarish scenes. It wasactually banned by the French government for its shocking mixture of sex and violence. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

not bad
Rarely seen French exploitation effort from actor/director Michel Lemoine. This is a very loose remake of The Most Dangerous Game. Generally the film drags a little bit, but is punctuated by some startling scenes of horror and sleaze.
I liked the Music score - very typical of the period.
The transfer is good but the print used here has a fair amount of damage and is not up to MondoMacabro's usual high standards. ... Read more

Reviews (63)

A black comedy about having the neighbors for dinner...
What can you possibly say about a post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of a decaying apartment building who creates cannibalistic meals for his tenants who are some of the weirdest characters you will ever find on film? This is a world in which protein is hard to come by and the little old lady across the hall is starting to look good. "Delicatessen," a 1991 French film directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is certainly imaginative but equally rude, a world in which good taste is certainly a relative concept. Of all the tenants trying to avoid being served up as dinner by their neighbors, the best is the woman who keeps trying to commit suicide but whose attempts, um, go slightly astray (I will say no more). This film is certainly on my evolving list of Top 10 Black Comedies, certainly much better than "Eating Raoul," the obvious American cinematic counterpart.

This is especially for francophiles!
This movie is my all-time favorite and for many reasons. If you see it for no other reason, the coordination between the bouncing on the bed, cello playing, painting, mooing toys, etc is well worth it. This scene is a perfect example of why this movie is so amazing. I saw it for the first time on the Independent Film Channel and jumped at every chance afterwards to see it again. The characters are brilliant and you lose yourself in their quirks. Even those who don't speak French will appreciate the movie as a lot of the beauty of the film isn't in the dialogues, but in the style, backgrounds, and subtleties throughout. If there was one movie that everyone should see, this is it. It gives a nice picture of the dark side of humanity without being too frightening and preachy. Plus I am a big fan of Dominique Pinon.

A pity this isn't available
I find it hard to believe this isn't available on DVD when there is so much junk out there that is still available. This film isn't that old. I really hope they bring it out on DVD. I first saw it when I was learning French and years later when I could speak French. Both times it was great.

Dark movie shining bright.
If there is a Hollywood director closest to Jeunet, then it would have to be Tim Burton. Domnique Pinon's character brings to mind a French version of Edward Scissorhands or Ichobald Crane from 'Sleepy Hollow'. The out of place new guy who's blatantly unaware of the machinations that lie behind the faces he sees. In 'Delicatessen' Jeunet spends a lot of time focusing on faces and you get the feeling that it must have been a lot of fun casting this film. Each actor seems to have been chosen as much for their extraordinary face as for their acting abilities. Not a frame is wasted as every facial tick bears with it the same intensity of expression as every action sequence.

Like Burton, Jeunet also came to film direction through animated shorts and it's this animated sensibility that has given him the discipline and vision to create truly amazing live action films. Which is one of the main reasons why this subtitled film seems to be such a success with American audiences. It thrives on that most American of cinematic sensibilities, a heightened sense of unreality. Most European movies prefer to dwell on the emotions that lurk beneath the mundane aspects of everyday life. Not so stateside where such an elevation of the ordinary is met with the Homeric cry of "Bo-ring!" It's not surprising then that European directors such as Jeunet and Pedro Almodovar will continue to have success across the water as long as their fantastical and colourful stories glitter bright in the land that likes to dazzle.

STUNNED...
That was my impression after watching through this very strange movie.

I had started watching it expecting a "weird French film", and that was indeed what I got at first. I couldn't believe the atmosphere that the directors had created in this film, though I imagine it might have been somewhat familiar to some Francophones living in the destruction after WW2. The introductory sequence to this film is MASTERFULLY shot, and it raised my expectations quite a bit.
Unfortunately, the same level of energy didn't seem to last when the movie really started. The atmosphere was fantastic, yes, and the inventions that were made in this movie (a MUSICAL SAW?) were totally unique. However, no amount of weird atmosphere can amend a movie if the story and characters aren't up to the job. In fact, it's a lot harder to create good characters & plot for a movie like this, because the movie has to make sense within its own unique world and yet make us the viewers feel like something REAL is at stake.
For a while, it seemed like Delicatessen was only as deep as its cover; scenes whose only purpose seemed to be to show the inventions of the movie dragged on too long, and the various conversations that the tenants of the apartment building had (I'm assuming you know the general story here) seemed to have no meaning. The Troglodytes that came in about 1/2-way through also didn't quite seem to fit in.
However, by the end of the movie all was justified. I realized just what an enormous task the movie had done; this is not a story of just the two main characters, but a story of at about a dozen tenants of the apartment building. By the end of the movie, each tenant of the apartment building was portrayed as a unique individual, and each had their own story. These mini-stories are masterfully weaved through the main plot of the movie, and much to the movie's benefit, because I came to care for these secondary characters as much as for the main ones.

The movie was also DEEPLY disturbing for me to watch. It doesn't wince at talking about the subject of cannibalism, and the true worth of a human being. It was very disconcerning when I realized, near the end, that this movie had something to say about OUR world as well, and it was not a very approving message.

As strange as it may sound, this could really happen.
Watch the film, and think about it. ... Read more

Description

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! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Simply Terrible
Anyone who has read my reviews or seen my listmania list knows im a huge fan of gothic horror. As for this one, save your money for something better. The dubbing was horrific and i had a hard time understanding what the characters were saying. The movie was hard to follow (perhaps because i could'nt understand what was being said) and very slow moving. It was very hard to get through this one.

Franco fans will love this.
Typical Fanco film - castles, chained women, mad doctors, ghosts, lots of atmospheric photography. The story is an insane cross between "House of Usher", and the Orloff films (And does re-use some Orloff footage for flashbacks.) The film looks very nice, with plenty of colour and fantastic scenery shots. Not one of Franco's best, but atmospheric and entertaining.

piece of crap
AVOID AT ALL COSTS! do not le the title fool you this film has nothing to do with zombies. i rented this movie under its alternate title "Revenge in the House of Usher" cause i knew it was alzo titled as "Zombie 5." i thought it would ave been better than it's follower "Zombie 4:Virgin Among the Living Dead" by was i wrong. if you ever see this ovie under this title or th other titl "Revenge in the House of Usher" RUN! unless you like movies with meaningless plots,horrible acting, the weakest blood and gore. then go ahead buy it but dont say i didnt warn you.

IGNORE AT ALL COSTS
ignore this movie at all costs! ignore the title this movie hs nothing to do with zombies what so ever. its just a mix up of volent scenes put together in so many confusing orders. dont buy this movie unless you want the whole 'weird' zombie set. its code named tha because there's two sets of zombie films. this set is not the set to Lucio Fulci's masterpiece "Zombie" oh no it isn't. my advice ignore this [one] and move on. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The six films in the Criterion Crime Wave 6-Pack were shown together on on the International Film Channel in January 2004.

Although best known for his samurai classics, Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa proved himself equally adept at contemporary dramas and thrillers, and 1962's High and Low offers a powerful showcase for Kurosawa's versatile skill. The great Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy industrialist who receives a phone call informing him that his son has been kidnapped, and by unfortunate coincidence the ransom demand is nearly equivalent to the amount Mifune has raised for a corporate coup. What follows is both a tense detective thriller, as the police attempt to track down the kidnapper, and a compelling illustration of class division in Japan--the "high and low" of the title. Far be it from Kurosawa to make a mere thriller, however; this loose adaptation of the Ed McBain novel King's Ransom provides the director with ample opportunity to develop a visual strategy that perfectly enhances the story's sociological themes. --Jeff Shannon

In Toyko Drifter, Seijun Suzuki transforms the yakuza genre into a pop-art James Bond cartoon as directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The twisting narrative takes hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari) from deliriously gaudy nightclubs, where killers hide behind every pillar, to the beautiful snowy plains of Northern Japan and back again, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. Suzuki's extreme stylization, jarring narrative leaps, and wild plot devices combine to create a pulp fiction on acid, equal parts gangster parody and post-modern deconstruction. --Sean Axmaker

There's Bonnie and Clyde--then there's Martha and Ray. One-shot writer-director Leonard Kastle set out to make a film about lover-murderers that was everything Arthur Penn's movie was not. He succeeded. Consequently, The Honeymoon Killers, based on the Lonely Hearts Killers case of 1949, may be too lurid for some. But there's a heart beating inside its (tawdry) chest and Kastle clearly cared about these two crazy, mixed-up kids who should never have met. But met Martha (Shirley Stoler) and Ray (Tony LoBianco) did and proceeded to fleece several widows before doing them in. The film isn't graphic in its violence, but each murder is increasingly disturbing. Dramatic lighting and dark passages from Mahler keep the mood close and clammy throughout. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Seijun Suzuki's absolutely mad yakuza movie Branded to Kill bends the hit-man genre so out of shape it more resembles a Luis Bunuel take on Martin Scorsese. Number three killer Goro Hanada (Jo Shishido) is a hired killer who loves his work, but when he misses a target, he becomes the next target of the mob. Goro is no pushover and easily dispatches the first comers, but the rat-a-tat violence gives way to a surreal, sadistic game of cat and mouse. The legendary Number One mercilessly taunts his target before moving in with him in a macho, testosterone-laden Odd Couple truce that ends up with them handcuffed together. Kinky? Not compared to earlier scenes. The smell of boiling rice sets Goro's libido for his mistress so aflame that Suzuki censors the gymnastic sex with animated black bars that come to life in an animated cha-cha. --Sean Axmaker

1965's Alphaville is a perfect example of Jean-Luc Godard's willingness to disrupt expectation, combine genres, and comment on movies while making sociopolitical statements that inspired doctoral theses and left a majority of viewers mystified. Part science fiction and part hard-boiled detective yarn, Alphaville presents a futuristic scenario using the most modern and impersonal architecture that Godard could find in mid-'60s Paris. A haggard private eye (Eddie Constantine) is sent to an ultramodern city run by a master computer, where his mission is to locate and rescue a scientist who is trapped there. As the story unfolds, the movie tackles a variety of topics such as the dehumanizing effect of technology, willful suppression of personality, saturation of commercial products, and, of course, the constant recollection of previous films through Godard's carefully chosen images. --Jeff Shannon

The Belgian satire Man Bites Dog is dark, dark, dark--but also right on the money in its sly sendup of the media's fascination with violence and its complicity therein. This mock documentary has a trio of filmmakers shooting a cinéma vérité feature about a garrulous serial killer who lets the film crew follow him around as he selects victims and then dispatches them. But at what point does filmmaking become participation? These hapless documentarians soon find out as their subject eventually pulls them into his world, including a gun battle with a rival film crew and their own criminal star. Gruesomely hilarious, with a deadpan wit that's hard to resist. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Criterion Crime Wave / IFC crossover promotion
From the other persons reviewing this 6 DVD bundle there seems to come confusion as to why Amazon would group said discs. The reason is for cross promotion with The Independent Film Channel (IFC) who will show all six movies on January 30th and 31st of 2004. Of course, all are Criterion titles as well, and the budding collector may feel compulsion to buy all of these at once to achieve a discount (an extra 5% PER title above individual prices here at Amazon) and saving on S&H. Aside from the tie-in to IFC, Amazon is supporting a contest with prizes to be given away and you can register here at this site.

All that being said, there is no other reason these titles would form a cohesive box set, but then again, it is not being sold as such. Unlike other Criterion box sets (which to this point have always showcased a single director), this is working off of a theme and not someone's body of work. There is no mention of a "box" to house all these DVDs, but instead are just bundled together in a group. Each of these films though are solid titles, with Man Bites Dog being far and away my favorite and the two Suzuki films probably being the least appealing (though, still good films).

If your first introduction to the Criterion Collection is from watching these films on IFC at the end of the month, you will come to find the company to be the Rolls Royce of DVDs. From film restoration to bonuses to retrieval of obscure cellulite, Criterion is unparalleled in the retail field and is a must for any serious film students or lovers of great cinema.

Great movies, strange price
This is a great collection of classic films. I have all
but one on DVD or Laserdisc.

I am confused on the pricing. ..

Great movies, silly collection
Each and every one of these films are fantastic...from the police procedural of Kurosawa's High & Low to the cinema verite nastiness of Man Bites Dog to the goofiness of Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. That being said, they are all different one from the other and have little in common (with the exception of Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill...both by Suzuki), and other than an at times tangential relationship to the crime genre (Godard's Alphaville is "crime" film only to the extent that a private investigator is used as a plot device), it's strange why in the world these films are grouped together. Well, all of them are issued by the Criterion Collection...but even Criterion Collection boxed sets have a stronger kinship, as in the Hitchcock and Kurosawa boxes.

Truly a mystery why these are being marketed this way. ... Read more