"Dr. Orloff's Monster" is an interesting curio, a sequel, in name only, to "The Awful Dr. Orloff", my favourite Franco pic. Only once in this version is the name "Orloff" mentioned. The Howard Verson role here, another disgraced surgeon, is played by Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui and his name is Dr. Jekyll. His "Morpho" equivalent, however, called "Andros" (Hugh Blanco), is a central character. Like Morpho, the blind manservant in "Awful", Andros kills for Jekyll and harbors a grudge or two.

The story is straightforward. Jekyll's niece Melissa (Agnes Spaak) travels to Austria to visit her uncle at his brooding castle. She finds an unhappy household (shades of "A Virgin Among The Living Dead") and a hostile reception from Jekyll who is all work and no play. But being a curious lass, Melissa takes time to explore the castle at night and meets up with Andros, who turns out to be her missing, deceased father, a tragic figure who lives in a state of walking death and is controlled by low level sonics.

Not as technically polished or atmospheric as "The Awful Dr. Orloff", it is still miles beyond most of the crap Franco churned out. Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui, as Jekyll, is not a very charismatic male lead, and reminded me of a poor man's Sebastian Cabot (from TV's "Ghost Story"). Spaak as Melissa is very pretty and sexy and Blanco manages to elicit our sympathy for his shambling dead man.

Stylistically, the film is uneven, and the pacing is funereal at times, evidence of Franco's work ethic melancholy. The director's trademark jazz clubs, saucy strippers and camera zooming are in surplus here, as is his penchant for lurid close-ups of deformed faces (something that must be admired). I like the film, but it lacks energy and suffers from cloudy motivation and one-dimensional characterization.

Still worth seeing, though.