Faceless

As the 1980s sparkled on, Director Jess Franco pursued ever more personal and lower financed projects. 'Faceless' proved to be the exception. A collaboration with French video magnate René Château ensured this was a multi-million pound venture and Franco's biggest ever budget. Always willing to surprise, his venture opened with the strains of a George Michael-style vocal song (performed by Vincenzo Thoma) that is repeated sporadically throughout – you may well know each verse word-for-word before the end credits roll. The subsequent sight of Jean Rollin leading lady Brigitte Lahaie (playing Nurse Nathalie) sitting in a car watching Barbara (former Hammer star Caroline Munro) snorting cocaine is delightfully surreal – two genre icons from widely differing backgrounds together! Perhaps surprisingly for a Spanish/French collaboration, the dialogue is spoken in English. The impressive cast is bolstered further by Anton Diffring, and a cameo from Howard Vernon as Dr. Orloff. Terry Savalas, in his last performance, stars as Terry Hallan, Barbara's concerned father – she has gone missing and is a prisoner of Berger's clinic. 'Faceless' could be seen as a partial remake of Franco's first hit, 'The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962)', which could be seen as a partial remake of French classic 'Eyes Without a Face (1960)'. There are some good effects – the slightly fey Docteur Flamand's (Helmut Berger) unfortunate daughter Ingrid (Christine Jean) looks convincingly scarred after an acid attack, and a later injection into an eyeball is achieved very realistically. There is a retarded servant, the eyebrow-less Gordon (Gérard Zalcberg) who also gets to commit a number of gory attacks. The story meanders somewhat from its fairly straightforward premise, but is a lot more enjoyable than it might have been, especially given the creative stagnancy in the horror genre in the late 80s. There is no real pathos for the scarred Ingrid as she is played without any suggestion of sympathy, and the open ending (changed from an upbeat finale by Franco) has irritated some – but I really enjoyed this film.

source: Faceless

'Faceless' is the most recent Jess Franco movie I have seen. While it lacks much of the visual flair and unique flamboyant touches of most of his sensational 60s/70s output, and reeks of compromise and commercialization, it still manages to transcend its limitations, and ends up a bloody good movie! (pun intended) A beautiful model (Caroline Munro - 'Maniac') is kidnapped. Her wealthy father (Telly Savalas) hires his ex-Vietnam Vet buddy (the charisma free Chris Mitchum, son of the legendary Robert) to investigate. All trails lead to a plastic surgeon (Helmet Burger - 'Salon Kitty') obsessed with restoring his beloved sister's horribly disfigured face. He is assisted by the salacious Nathalie (the tasty Brigitte Lahaie, star of Jean Rollin's 'Fascination' and 'Night Of The Hunted'), and ex-Nazi nutjob Dr. Moser (Anton Diffring - 'Circus Of Horrors'). This will all sound quite familiar to long time Franco-philes as it is basically a variation of his early 60s 'The Awful Dr. Orloff' and its sequels/remakes, all of which are ripped off Franju's demented classic 'Eyes Without A Face'. Dr. Orloff himself (Franco regular Howard Vernon) pops up for a cameo, but his scanty on screen time, Savalas' similar glorified cameo, the sheer dullness of Mitchum, and the general lack of nudity for a Franco film (especially considering Lahaie's involvement!) are the worst things about this movie. However, Berger is excellent and there's a fair bit of gore, and the whole thing is an enjoyable twisted romp. I even liked the odd and unexpected ending. 'Faceless' may not be as memorable as 'Succubus' and 'Vampyros Lesbos', or even 'Les Avaleuses', but it's still more entertaining than most of today's mediocre horror "product". Try this one, then backtrack to vintage Franco and be amazed!

A coke addicted fashion model is abducted by a notable plastic surgeon after a patient her scarred throws acid in the face of his beloved. He's trying to reconstruct her face with those of other girls. The fashion model's father sends Sam Morgan, his war buddy and now a private investigator to find his daughter. One of Franco's best films, it has the benefit of being coherent and not unwatchable, putting it in the class of Jess Fronco films that only number less then a handful. The presentation is nice EXCEPT the last line of Telly Savalas is in French for no reason all. My Grade: B- DVD Extras: Sub-titled Commentary with Jess Franco and Lina Romay; Partial commentary with Chris Mitchum; Interviews with Jess Franco, Caroline Munro, and Chris Mitchum; Photo gallery; Theatrical Trailer; Trailers for "Flesh for the Beast", "Virgin of Nuremberg", and "Bronx Warriors" Eye Candy: a couple breasts

I recently finished watching the first season of Kojak which Universal released. With Telly Savalis fresh on my mind, I decided to buy this movie since he had a role in it. Immediately, it is evident that Franco had a bigger budget to work with. Combined with a better-than-usual script for one his movies and some acting talent (look for John Vernon from Zombie Lake is a brief role), and this movie was not bad. By this time, this genre of movie had started to fade away in terms of quality releases. Lucio Fulci had run out of steam by this point as had Umberto Lenzi. Even the great Ruggero Deodato was struggling having just released Body Count the year before. (Unlike Franco's "Faceless," Body County had some known actors but the script was terrible and they had nothing to work with.) It was interesting to see Savalis in this, even though he was not a main character. His bald head, distinct voice and flashy suit, just like from his days as Kojak, added to the movie. His small role could not have saved this movie if it was terrible. However, in this case he added to it and made it a decent effort from a director who is routinely criticized for his work. I would recommend giving this a look.

When the best films of 1987 poll kicked off ICM,the first thing which came to mind was to check the credits from the year, of who the old IMDb Horror board regs had called "Uncle" Jess Franco. Before he suddenly passed away this year, a family friend called Guy had told me that this was the last big budget (for him!) the auteur had made,and finding it matched the year,I looked at the faceless Uncle Jess. View on the film: The first time he had a decent budget since Jack the Ripper (1976),co-writer/(with Pierre Ripert/Jean Mazarin/ Michel Lebrun/ Dominique Eudes and producer Rene Chateau) directing auteur "Uncle" Jess Franco brings his Orloff creation back into the era of the Erotic Thriller,which Jess enters with a tasty heaping of stylised kitsch, (backed by the toe-tapping Disco crooning tunes sung by Vincenzo Thoma)brimming from the pounding bright reds and his own unique, scatter-shot whip-pans landing on the pristine, garish clothes, reflecting the vanity of those being forced under the knife for beauty. Whilst toning down his trademark button-bashing zoom-ins to light moments of hot lesbian action, Uncle Jess puts the extra cash he got on screen in excellent practical special effects set-pieces, striking from a Lucio Fulci-style poke in the eye, to gore hounds delight of face removal operations brimming with red. As detailed in Stephen Thrower's outstanding book Flowers of Perversion: The Delirious Cinema of Jess Franco- Volume 2, Jess had wanted to give Orloff (what would turn out to be the final appearance of the character) a bigger in the ending with a final twist, which was blocked by co-writer/producer Rene Chateau, and that leaves Orloff being given an added,subtle layer to his murky past,and a farewell threaded in a oddly bitter sweet vibe,when stepping out of the operation room for good. Surrounding the ghouls with a gaudy, eye-abusing backdrop, Jess goes down the corridor of women being locked in a (mental) prison, and with the co-writers attacks the amoral (a theme in Jess's work) vanity of the era with relish. Dripping exchanges between Dr Flamand and his "patients" with ripe acid dialogue, the writers twist the stereotype of the "Mad Doctor/ Scientist" genre, first in Ingrid not being forced, but a willing partner for the killings to be committed in order to restore her beauty, "specialist" Dr. Moser being more concerned with his ego than the acts being committed. Holding the richly cynical atmosphere right to the end, the writers avoid a clean happy ending, instead holding investigator Morgan on a cryptic ledge. Reuniting with Uncle Jess, sexy Brigitte Lahaie gives a icy cool turn as deadly vixen nurse Nathalie, whilst Caroline Munro and Stephane Audran (!) bring the screams as Barbara and Sherman. Joined by the welcome return of Howard Vernon's Orloff, and Helmut Berger's eyes of madness as Dr.Flamand, Anton Diffring gives a mesmerising turn in one of his last roles, drilling into the cold, deadly professional way Dr. Moser looks at the faceless.

I wouldn't say so. And I have many reasons to doubt it. Sure, the movie is filled with great scenes. The gore-meter is about to explode, and the french babes used here are worth a look. The story is also funny, breaking the incest taboo, and the sleaze is not absent. However, the style Franco incorporated in most of his 70's classics is totally absent here. Sure, there is a reference to his beginnings, and this is a "kind of" remake of THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF, but I think I know what sounds dishonest with that one. It has been shot with a VERY big budget, and written by four guys, among which Franco is NOT. And when the short spanish director does not have the last word, let me assure you that his work is DENATURED. Sure the movie is excellent, but this is NOT Franco. This is a guy called Jesus Manera directing someone else's movie for money. To pay the rent. Hell, even Kojack is there ! I must say the ending confused me too. Was it an attempt to make the audience beg for a sequel ? What's the point ? Overall a good movie, with some pure moments of genius, that is worth the fuss you hear about. But let me tell you that this is NOT representative of what Franco does and did.

although jess franco has a name in horror circles and i haven't seen any of his films yet except this one, i would say franco sure hasn't anything to offer this movie was boring, never got real sleazy enough and the gore was pretty tame, except for 1 or 2 scenes, it was more a dull movie where 2 or 3 gore scenes were put in just not to make the whole movie really boring!!! the acting was non-talented (i think telly savalas died of shame for being in this piece of trash) and the opening movie song keeps on coming back in the movie and sounds like antything Britney Spears would sing, it's like Hellraiser 6 with a soundtrack by Boyzone, it has that effect the movie also never becomes scaring, there are none of franco's known camera work, it could have easily been made by a obscure Italian director or a Georgian pharmaceutical, the movie never separates itself from other Eurotrash movies. at least, New York Ripper had real interesting gore scenes and that special Fulci touch, but it seems to me this hasn't that Franco touch, whatever it might be i think Franco was in a depression when he made this. everything about this movie plain sucks, from the lame gore scenes (exception of 1 gore scene) to the boring lesbian scenes one to avoid, for better gore, watch Braindead, for better sleaze, watch a * movie, for better film, watch many other movies!!

The renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Flamand (Helmut Berger) owns the Clinique des Mimosas in Saint Cloud. While shopping in Paris during Christmas with his beloved sister Ingrid Flamand (Christiane Jean) and his lover and the head of the clinic Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie), Dr. Frank is attacked with acid by a client that had her face partially destroyed by him in a unsuccessful operation. However, he sidesteps to the acid attack and the face of his sister Ingrid is totally deformed. Dr. Frank becomes obsessed to restore Ingrid's face and together with Nathalie and their dumb and retarded servant Gordon (Gérard Zalcberg), they kidnap beautiful women and Dr. Frank kills them expecting to prepare a solution to recover the beauty of his sister. When the addicted model Barbara Hallen (Caroline Munro) is kidnapped by Nathalie, her wealthy father Terry Hallen (Telly Savalas) hires the tough private eyes and his friend Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum) in the United States of America and sends him to France. Meanwhile Dr. Frank summons the Nazi Dr. Karl Heinz Moser (Anton Diffring) that was well succeeded in sadistic experiments implanting faces in scarred pilots. Sam snoops the clinic and discloses the dark secret of the place. "Faceless" has the same storyline of 1960 "Eyes without a Face" by Georges Franju but revisited by Jesus Franco, with his usual bizarre situations and characters, with kink sex, rape, lesbianism, beautiful actresses and so on. The wooden face of the unconvincing Chris Mitchum is not well cast and the open conclusion is the weakest part of this film. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "Sem Face" ("Faceless")

Jess Franco's "Faceless" is late 80's euro-exploitation with the typical storyline of early 60's euro-exploitation! Namely, a celebrated surgeon who kidnaps and kills beautiful women in order to restore the beauty of his own sister who's face got horribly deformed in a very banal acid-accident. Franco, among other prominent horror directors, already made similar movies in the 60's, like "The Awful Dr. Orloff" which he still refers to whenever he has the opportunity. In fact, "Faceless" is pretty much a remake of that film but, since it's the 80's, our director can now insert a lot more nauseating gore and sexually perverted sub themes. The result is one of the most energetic Franco movies ever, with enough sleaze and sadism to satisfy even the sickest puppies among us! There are extremely graphic facial operations that'll nearly make your stomach turn, random bloody executions and an uncanny sidekick (Gordon) who feasts his lusts on the female corpse-leftovers. In between all the sickness, Franco takes the time to create a stylish and truthful portrait of the Parisian night life and the dialogues are much more adequate that usually in his films. Last but not least, "Faceless" is blessed with one of the greatest ensemble-casts in exploitation cinema ever, with Anton Diffring ("Circus of Horrors"), Brigitte Lahaie ("Island Women", "Fascination"), Helmut Berger ("Salon Kitty", "The Damned") and Caroline Munro ("Maniac", "Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter"). The biggest names regretfully only appear in cameos, like Telly Savalas and Franco-regular Howard Vernon ("The Sadist Baron Von Klaus", "Miss Muerte", "Zombie Lake"...). My advise: see this film!!