The Daily Dig: Faceless (1988)

A plot with potential is wasted by plodding drama in “Faceless”, but it is at least accented by some heavy blood and gore.

A doctor kidnaps women to fix his sister’s burned face. Let’s dig into 1988’s FACELESS, directed by Jesús Franco!

As I See It

I’m not sure I have ever come across as promising a plot as this with such a miserable end product.

The fact that director Jesús Franco had two swings at it is even more egregious. It’s ostensibly the same plot as his earlier film, The Awful Dr. Orloff, and yet he seems not to have fixed or cared to mend earlier mistakes.

What this film is good for are its highlight-worthy gore gags. A large drill through the head, an injection in the eye, acid to the face, and the most gruesome of all, the face transplant scene.

Is it worth watching for those bits alone? No, it’s not.

Hopefully, someone can make a supercut, and you can spend less than three minutes on the good and gory rather than sit through an hour and forty minutes of bland sludge.

The fact that the whole plot of the movie is to find a face for one person is rather bogus as well.

Maybe if there were some larger scheme, say a cadre of criminals who need new faces to run from the law or some syndicate like Parker in Richard Stark’s The Man With the Getaway Face, we could have some fun.

As it stands, we’re dealing with some poor writing and half-assed directing.

Famous Faces

Seventies TV star Telly Savalas (Terry) starred as the chrome-domed lollipop addict Kojak.

Caroline Munro (Barbara) has a long list of genre credits and can be considered an OG scream queen. On her resume are The Abominable Dr. Phibes (as well as the sequel), Slaughter High, William Lustig’s cult hit Maniac and an appearance as a Bond girl alongside Roger Moore’s 007 in The Spy Who Loved Me.

Howard Vernon (Dr. Orloff) played the same character in that earlier Franco film, as well as Frog Man in the oddball dystopian french black comedy/horror Delicatessen.

Of Gratuitous Nature

There was plenty to imply a Nazi past to the procedures and techniques without bringing in an actual Nazi doctor, let alone the protege of the angel of death himself, Dr. Mengele. Too many logs on the fire, in my opinion. Not to mention all the sex slave scenes.

Heartthrob

Caroline Munro is an iconic horror beauty. Enough said.

Ripe for a Remake

It is already a remake (of the 1960 French film Eyes Without A Face) — and a poor one at that. Yes, I am keen on the possibilities of the plot. But this one is better left on the cutting room floor.

Spawns

No progeny to report.

Where to Watch

Severin Films released a 2-disc limited edition Blu-ray with a massive amount of extras.