The Sinister Dr. Orloff

El siniestro doctor Orloff borrows the basic story outline of The Awful Dr. Orlof, shifts agency from the infamous surgeon onto his psychotic son, and infuses the mise-en-scène with cut-price retro sci-fi, harking back to Dr. Orloff’s Monster and La venganza del doctor Mabuse. Sadly, as a return to the site of former glories it substantially lacks the charm of its forebears. What emerges is a pale shadow of the classic original, lacking any of its atmospheric seductiveness. … This is a film of missed opportunities and, for a supposed horror project, a lack of interest in terror that borders on contempt. … While it’s marginally better than the talky and tedious Los ojos siniestros del doctor Orloff and at least give us a chance to see Howard Vernon back in the role that made him a horror icon, El siniestro doctor Orloff simply cannot hold a guttering candle to the Orloff films of the 1960s.