Generally considered the first horror film produced in Spain, THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF (L'horrible Docteur Orlof) launched the career of cult cinema's most colorful figure: Jesus "Jess" Franco. Cloaking the story in the visual style of the British gothic film, Franco injected ORLOF with the kind of morbid eroticism that would quickly become his signature (and is presented here in the uncensored French release version). Howard Vernon stars as a diabolical surgeon who, with the help of his blind minion Morpho (Ricardo Valle), lures beautiful women into the operating room of his stone castle, so they may provide the raw materials for a series of experimental face grafts for his disfigured daughter.