Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of The Invisible Dead - AKA Orloff And The Invisible Man; here's the breakdown of my ratings:
Story: 0.75 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.50 Acting: 0.75 Enjoyment: 0.75
TOTAL: 3.50 out of 10.00
The Invisible Dead is nothing more than a cheap third-rate Hammer'esq period horror that suffers badly throughout.
Pierre Chevalier (who also directed) and Juan Fortuny bring you Doctor Orloff, the mad scientist of the story. And, this guy is truly insane. He has an understandable bee in his bonnet after his housemaid and gamekeeper break into the crypt and robs his daughter's corpse of her jewellery. When his daughter suddenly awakes from death, the gamekeeper stabs her. She stumbles to her chambers and rats out the thief to her father. Who then unleashes his wrath on them both. But he's not merely angry at this devious duo. No, he's furious with the rest of the peasants and villages and sets about their downfall by creating an invisible beast to do his bidding. The concept is sound and offers plenty of possibilities to generate an engaging and absorbing story crammed with credible and intricate characters. Sadly that doesn't happen. The individuals are so flat and dull that I began to dose off. There's a lot of nothing going on in the story. Utilising this emptiness to expand the concept or the folk on the pages would have been ideal. Or the director could have used the void to generate an eerie atmosphere or to add action, etc. - A missed opportunity to achieve a great deal in these spaces of nothingness. And then it gets worse when the performers start to recite their dialogue. It could be down to the translation and the vocal talents employed to do the dub-over, but I don't think so. Some of the lines are dreadful - and they're more noticeable thanks to the hammy overacting of the cast.
Chevalier isn't much better behind the camera. Though he attempts to throw in some stimulating camera angles, they fail due to the scene's content. When the good doctor manages to procure a carriage to transport him to Orloffs Castle, he decides to take a snooze. Chevalier composes this in a head and shoulders shot. And we watch Doc catch some Zeds as he's jostled about on the rough road. The trouble is that Chevalier holds the shot for too long, making it awkward and boring and giving the audience time to analyse what's wrong with the visual - such as nothing is happening in the scene and that the light inside the cab is too bright because it's growing darker outside. Giving the audience time like this is terrible as it draws them out of the movie in an unwarranted way. But then you get the outlandish management of scenes. When the Doc arrives at the castle, he's greeted by the caretaker, who slams the door on him. Luckily, he knows the foot-in-the-door trick and pushes his way in, only to be informed it must have been the maid who sent the message. Then we watch one of the most bizarre conversations I've witnessed in a movie. It's unnatural due to the poor writing and oddball because of the directing. Now, when handled well, strangeness can be a wonderful thing. Sadly, The Invisible Dead, it's not directed well.
Lamentably, the cast has to try and cope with these pitfalls. And, respectfully, most of the performers try to do right. Evane Hanska playing the servant maid, and Fernando Sancho portraying the gamekeeper, are the best of the bunch. Brigitte Carva is okay as the daughter Cecile, though she does tend to go off the rails with hammy gusto. However, the two male leads let the film down most. Both Howard Vernon, as Orloff, and Paco Valladares as the Doctor are dreadful in their tediousness. They appear fed up and uninterested in the movie wherein they're starring. However, Vernon appears to augment a little anger and pride when recanting the history of his daughter and the creature. Regrettably, he falls back into banality when it slips over to a narration. These are not the leading men Hammer would have chosen.
I would recommend digging out a Hammer movie instead of watching The Invisible Dead - you'll be better entertained. This picture is one to miss unless you want a crash course on how not to make a good film.
Jump into the nearest horse-drawn carriage and come over to review my Absolute Horror and The Final Frontier lists and see where I ranked The Invisible Dead - or to find better entertainment.
Take Care & Stay Well.
Story: 0.75 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.50 Acting: 0.75 Enjoyment: 0.75
TOTAL: 3.50 out of 10.00
The Invisible Dead is nothing more than a cheap third-rate Hammer'esq period horror that suffers badly throughout.
Pierre Chevalier (who also directed) and Juan Fortuny bring you Doctor Orloff, the mad scientist of the story. And, this guy is truly insane. He has an understandable bee in his bonnet after his housemaid and gamekeeper break into the crypt and robs his daughter's corpse of her jewellery. When his daughter suddenly awakes from death, the gamekeeper stabs her. She stumbles to her chambers and rats out the thief to her father. Who then unleashes his wrath on them both. But he's not merely angry at this devious duo. No, he's furious with the rest of the peasants and villages and sets about their downfall by creating an invisible beast to do his bidding. The concept is sound and offers plenty of possibilities to generate an engaging and absorbing story crammed with credible and intricate characters. Sadly that doesn't happen. The individuals are so flat and dull that I began to dose off. There's a lot of nothing going on in the story. Utilising this emptiness to expand the concept or the folk on the pages would have been ideal. Or the director could have used the void to generate an eerie atmosphere or to add action, etc. - A missed opportunity to achieve a great deal in these spaces of nothingness. And then it gets worse when the performers start to recite their dialogue. It could be down to the translation and the vocal talents employed to do the dub-over, but I don't think so. Some of the lines are dreadful - and they're more noticeable thanks to the hammy overacting of the cast.
Chevalier isn't much better behind the camera. Though he attempts to throw in some stimulating camera angles, they fail due to the scene's content. When the good doctor manages to procure a carriage to transport him to Orloffs Castle, he decides to take a snooze. Chevalier composes this in a head and shoulders shot. And we watch Doc catch some Zeds as he's jostled about on the rough road. The trouble is that Chevalier holds the shot for too long, making it awkward and boring and giving the audience time to analyse what's wrong with the visual - such as nothing is happening in the scene and that the light inside the cab is too bright because it's growing darker outside. Giving the audience time like this is terrible as it draws them out of the movie in an unwarranted way. But then you get the outlandish management of scenes. When the Doc arrives at the castle, he's greeted by the caretaker, who slams the door on him. Luckily, he knows the foot-in-the-door trick and pushes his way in, only to be informed it must have been the maid who sent the message. Then we watch one of the most bizarre conversations I've witnessed in a movie. It's unnatural due to the poor writing and oddball because of the directing. Now, when handled well, strangeness can be a wonderful thing. Sadly, The Invisible Dead, it's not directed well.
Lamentably, the cast has to try and cope with these pitfalls. And, respectfully, most of the performers try to do right. Evane Hanska playing the servant maid, and Fernando Sancho portraying the gamekeeper, are the best of the bunch. Brigitte Carva is okay as the daughter Cecile, though she does tend to go off the rails with hammy gusto. However, the two male leads let the film down most. Both Howard Vernon, as Orloff, and Paco Valladares as the Doctor are dreadful in their tediousness. They appear fed up and uninterested in the movie wherein they're starring. However, Vernon appears to augment a little anger and pride when recanting the history of his daughter and the creature. Regrettably, he falls back into banality when it slips over to a narration. These are not the leading men Hammer would have chosen.
I would recommend digging out a Hammer movie instead of watching The Invisible Dead - you'll be better entertained. This picture is one to miss unless you want a crash course on how not to make a good film.
Jump into the nearest horse-drawn carriage and come over to review my Absolute Horror and The Final Frontier lists and see where I ranked The Invisible Dead - or to find better entertainment.
Take Care & Stay Well.