OGROFF aka The Mad Mutilator (1983) – This thoroughly bizarre French movie whose maker somehow conned horror icon Howard Vernon into appearing is easily one of the worst films ever made. Norbert G. Moutier owned a video store in France and published a horror fanzine.
Moutier decided to make his own movie on Super-8 and despite having virtually no money he succeeded. While most films like Ogroff go absolutely nowhere, Moutier rented out his labor of love to customers of his video store.
Like a film version of a garage band miraculously making it big, word of mouth spread regarding the graphic (yet fake looking) blood and gore in the movie. Howard Vernon’s name gave it the extra push it needed to become a cult item in Continental Europe and then the world.
WARNING: Ogroff is not for everyone. If you don’t like bad horror films which are so poorly made that the ineptitude makes them more disturbing than many polished projects, don’t click on “Continue reading.”
Though the clothing and cars indicate that the time period is the 1980s, our title slasher Ogroff is a survivor of Nazi atrocities in World War Two. There’s VERY little dialogue in this movie, so characterization is non-existent, but at some point Ogroff settled down in a home in the forest and took to slicing and dicing anyone and everyone who dared venture into his territory.
He kills men and women alike and mostly uses his axe but mixes in some other weapons like a chainsaw here and there. His mask is stark but memorable and his kills are blood-soaked and bizarre.
Our Mad Mutilator even humps off against the long handle of his axe when he’s in bed. After several lather, rinse, repeat scenes of Ogroff stalking and chopping up victims he meets a very weird woman.
She’s apparently like those unstable women who fall in love with serial killers in the real world because she starts a romance with the homicidal maniac and moves into his creepy Leatherface-style home. She learns that Ogroff feeds body parts from his dismembered victims to some zombies who live in the lower levels of the madman’s lair.
The woman accidentally frees the zombies and they try to kill her and her “man.” Ogroff then becomes a Psychotronic monster rally flick like Ray Dennis Steckler’s Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher as our slasher character battles the zombies.
From the earlier slasher film set pieces this flick moves on to zombie movie set pieces as our axe-wielding main character hacks up as many zombies as he can to keep himself and his lady alive. This section of the movie has a perverse “Michael Myers vs George Romero zombies” feel.
Out of nowhere, the one and only Howard Vernon shows up, driving along a road near Ogroff’s home.
Vernon turns out to be a vampire priest! I have no idea how he regularly functions around religious iconography as a member of the undead, but you know how lacking in logic these movies can be. (Maybe he’s like the vampire in Deafula.) Howard as the vampire wants to prey on our Mad Mutilator’s woman, but he’s not having it.
We now get some figurative Ogroff vs Orlof action, since Dr. Orlof was one of Vernon’s best known horror roles. I won’t spoil the ending, suffice it to say that this review should make it clear to you if Ogroff is your kind of bad movie.
At one point the Mad Mutilator even uses his axe to destroy a Citroen 2CV driven by one of his victims. It’s that kind of flick.
Balladeer's Blog 
So it’s really a rom-com! Sounds wonderful ha Great review.
Ha! Yeah, a rom-com! The feel-good movie of 1983! Thanks!