Dr. Orloff's Invisible Man - 1970

Also known as:
Secret Love Life of the Invisible Man, Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster, Orloff and the Invisible Man, The Invisible Dead, Love Life of the Invisible Man, Orloff Against the Invisible Man...

Another Jesus Franco winner right here.  Obviously.  Look at those names, those are only the English ones!  This movie also features no less than 3 fully naked women in it, and a graphic rape scene!  Hooray!

 Convinced it's one you should watch yet?  Well do it!  This is the same man who did the nudity-packed romp Oasis of the Zombies, which makes this the most linear and best of his movies I've seen in comparison to that piece of shit.  Usually directors start in sleaze and porn then upgrade later to real films, seems it was the opposite for Mr. Franco.  In this, he was not directing, but only his characters were in it.

But seriously, this is part of the Dr. Orloff series, which has about 4-5 legitimate entries, and most of the series is directed by Franco.  This movie in particular was actually not directed by him, but it is a very similar style and obviously as seen above it does not leave the nudity behind.  We'll call it Franco-esque.  In the beginning, Doctor Garondet is summoned from his village by a boy.  The boy won't tell him much, just that he needs to come to Orloff's castle immediately.  Garondet immediately encounters everyone's petrifying fear of Orloff, as no one wants to go near the castle.  He is ditched in the middle of the road by his transporter, and proceeds on against all voices of caution.

Once at the castle, things don't look too much better.  Orloff's own helpers won't help the doctor, and instead send him this way and that, eventually though he finds that the first naked girl there on the left sent for him.  She sent for him because she believes there is some sort of ghost, a phantom, something she cannot see, that is around.  When Garondet encounters Orloff later, Orloff quickly confirms this to be true, then proves it by having things move around, seemingly by magic.  He relates to us a story of his daughter, who was killed and robbed, and how he got revenge by turning one of the men who did it into a monster - and then turning that monster invisible.

That takes us pretty much up to the 50 minute mark, and being only 75 long, this movie flew by.  There's not many boring moments, and for a low grade nudie flick, it has very good pacing.  The good doctor is a interesting enough main character, and the host of supporting characters all entertain us.  They did a good job of continually have us not know where the monster is; of course it's invisible, but there is always dialogue and actions people take to remind us the monster could be anywhere at any time.  In the scenes later on in the film where we do know where it is, it's always doing something horrible or deadly, so it's a good job by...whoever.

Pretty good cinematography, minimalism, and of course great pacing, solid soundtrack and good acting.  A bit crude of a movie, sure.  But without the nudity, I'd say this would still hold up to horror fans anywhere and could be considered ahead of it's time.  I give it 4 stars.