Clearly inspired by the classic 1960 plastic surgery French horror film Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face), eccentric exploitation master director Jesús Franco (Bahía Blanca), who often goes by Jess, crafted the horror movie Faceless (1988) – his highest budgeted film in twenty years.
Sometimes things go bad right off the bat, and that is the case here – as a disgruntled former patient of famed plastic surgeon Dr. Flamand (Helmut Berger) tries to throw acid on him as payment for the botched job. . . unfortunately, it hits his gorgeous sister Ingrid (Christiane Jean) in the face, disfiguring her model-like visage.
Guilt riddles the already warped mind of the seemingly elite medical talent – for he had previously pushed the boundaries of plastic surgery unbeknownst to fellow colleagues and the general public. Now, with the only goal in his mind to make his sister the most beautiful woman once more, he begins to abduct the most stunning women in Paris in hopes of using them to beautify his sister.
With the help of his stunner of a partner, Nathalie (former adult star turned mainstream actress Brigitte Lahaie), and a Renfield inspired thug assistant, Gordon (Gérard Zalcberg), he has no problem in nabbing numerous women, the first being perhaps the most pesky: super model Barbara Hallen (Caroline Munro – The Spy Who Loved Me; Dracula A.D. 1972) – who, while being a pain from her padded cell in the maze-filled interior of Flamand’s practice, also has help coming from the outside. . . as her wealthy father, Terry (Telly Savalas – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service; Horror Express), is pulling all the strings to find her, including sending top private detective Sam Morgan (Christopher Mitchum – son of Robert), out on the trail in France to track her down. Plus, snoopy wheelchair bound patient Mme. Sherman (Stéphane Audran) seems to be realizing something nefarious is going on. . . so that might cause some problems for Dr. Flamand and his group.
Yet, it really only looks to be getting worse for the pretty women of Paris, as the plastic surgeon has been able to entice a truly mad scientist to join the team – the much feared Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon – Le Silence de la Mer), a former M.D. working for the Nazis during World War II, to help him with these intricate procedures. It is worth noting here that Vernon frequently collaborated with Franco, this time in a weird way playing a repeat character coming into a new film. . . as the actor played the same (or a very similar character) in The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962), as well as El Siniestro Doctor Orloff (1984); intriguingly, all of these features are a playful reworking of very similar narratives.
Caroline Munro, who plays super model Barbara Hallen in Faceless, with Filmizon.com’s Nikolai Adams
Infused with an impressively diverse cast (a joy to see each of the unique faces pop up), this meandering homage to a more famous and better horror film (let’s face it, the ‘meandering’ kind of pacing is one of the director’s trademarks), Franco playfully dabbles both within and outside of his preferred playground in this late portion of the classical slasher era horror picture. Using his distinctively original style, Faceless is filled with several memorable practical effects (some of which being quite bloody. . . others with no blood, but still bizarrely horrific), a few touches of the erotic, while also dabbling in his favourite B movie realm with elements of Nazisploitation, gialli, gothic horror (without giving too much away, the concluding minutes might bring to mind a specific work of the great Edgar Allan Poe), and so much more, it all making for quite the eclectic pastiche. So, if you’re a horror fan, you better save face by seeing this one. . . it’s doesn’t deserve to be entombed.