Faceless
Faceless
| 22 June 1988 (USA)
Faceless Trailers

A detective investigating a missing model in Paris uncovers a plastic surgeon’s horrifying secret involving kidnapped women, blood, and organs.

Reviews
ChikPapa Very disappointed :(
BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See
Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.
Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Scott LeBrun The classic French horror film "Eyes Without a Face" is reworked, Jess Franco style, in this enjoyably lurid exploitation drama. An incredible international cast of stars is gathered for a story in which there are many horrific highlights, including a hypodermic needle jabbed into an eyeball, a decapitation by chainsaw, a person being drilled while hiding inside a locker, and the disturbing sight of a face being surgically removed while the patient is alive and conscious. Franco guides the various trashy goings-on with a steady hand, always keeping things interesting and amusing. An American fashion model, Barbara Hallen (Caroline Munro) is kidnapped and a supposedly tough as nails private eye, Sam Morgan (the miscast Chris Mitchum) is hired by her father (Telly Savalas) to find her. The perpetrators did it in the attempt to find a donor face for Ingrid Flamand (Christiane Jean), the sister of renowned plastic surgeon Frank Flamand (Helmut Berger), Ingrid having been scarred by a vindictive former patient of Frank's, victim of an unsuccessful surgery. The eclectic group of actors also includes the stunning Brigitte Lahaie as Nathalie, Frank's nurse and lover and partner in crime, Anton Diffring as the distinguished Dr. Moser, Stephane Audran as the snoopy Mme. Sherman, Franco regular Howard Vernon as Dr. Orloff (a role he'd played for the director a number of times previous), and Franco's longtime partner Lina Romay as Orloff's wife. In addition to the trashier moments, there are also more humorous ones, as Sam threatens an effeminate photographer. On location shooting in Paris is a real asset. The soundtrack, however, gets a little repetitive with its use of that one pop song. Makeup effects are mostly quite impressive and exploitation fans will be pleased with the level of depravity on display. They'll also get a kick out of the mentally slow, hulking henchman Gordon (Gerard Zalcberg) employed by Frank and Nathalie. A number of the women present are real lookers, and it could only have made this film even better had they shown off more of their bodies. Still, this is fun stuff overall for trash fans, although the ending falls short of real satisfaction what with the way it leaves us hanging. Eight out of 10.
Jacob Please regard this as an objective review because I'm one of those fretful viewers very hard to entertain to say the least however this movie really blew me away because it truly has something I've never seen in any other horror movie. ****PLOT SPOILERS COMING****YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS PART**** A dissatisfied patient decides to take vengeance on her doctor (Helmut Berger) for the failed plastic surgery by splashing acid in his face, but accidentally hits doctor's sister mutilating her for life. After that Dr. Frank Flamand feels obliged to get her a new face by luring beautiful young women (I mean drop dead gorgeous young women) into his clinic and then together with his assistant and mistress Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie) trying to transplant their faces to fit his sister. And since all the operations fail, we get to see many-many sick disturbing images. They also have there a deranged killer helping them to get rid of the dead bodies later who really likes his job, especially decapitating and dismembering dead bodies. One of those missing girls turns out to be a famous model (Carolyn Munro) whose wealthy businessman father (Telly Savalas) hires a private detective (Christopher Mitchum) to find her. ****PLOT SPOILERS END HERE**** What I mostly enjoyed in this movie was the beautiful and romantic Paris atmosphere that forms a rather existent and compelling mixture together with some of the most disgusting scenes I have ever seen. I have to say that to me even the most shocking scenes from movies like Cannibal holocaust (Ferox), Salo, Hostel etc. weren't as disturbing as the plastic surgery sequences of which this movie is plenty. But with all that extreme constant violence and perversion accompanied with the best love song ever by Vincenzo Thoma 'Destination nowhere' you're strangely enjoying every bit of this movie to the very last frame because it's very entertaining and has a great plot. Franco outdid himself doing this movie really. Although Franco isn't considered to be as successful in this genre as other euro-horror directors, to me with this movie he easily beats them all, because this movie is highly and far more interesting to watch than many other acclaimed masterpieces that are still masterpieces but were a bit boring to me, whereas watching this one you want to know what's going to happen next all the time. All in all Jess Franco created some unforgettable characters and simply marvelous movie and should be proud of it. And I'm really happy for him. Although I'm not a big fan of the horror genre, there are some horror movies I really love and watch them occasionally, but this one is distinguished even among them. Extremely entertaining and beautifully photographed, and as for the contents very well written and memorable. It's a movie you just want to keep going and telling the story, and when it does end, it still leaves you thinking what's going to happen next.
Witchfinder General 666 "Faceless" of 1987 is cult director Jess Franco's demented and ultra-gory 80s take on a classic Horror topic. In the heyday of European Gothic Horror some of the greatest genre films dealt with a mad scientist who was murdering young women in order to restore the life or beauty of one particular woman. Some of the most brilliant films with such a theme are Georges Franju's masterpiece "Les Yeux Sans Visage" ("Eyes Without a Face", 1960), Giorgio Ferroni's "Il Mulino Delle Donne Di Pietro" ("Mill of the Stone Women", 1960), or Franco's own "Gritos En La Noche" ("The Awful Dr. Orloff", 1962). With "Faceless", Franco brings this popular Horror-theme back, with less atmosphere, but with tons of more sleaze and demented gore. According to this site, the film is a remake of Franju's film, but it has just as many resemblances to "The Awful Dr. Orloff" (which, then again, was very clearly inspired by "Les Yeux Sans Visage").I have been a Jess Franco fan for many years now, especially of his earlier films, and my expectations for this one were quite high, simply because it has been recommended to me by fellow Franco-fans on several occasions as the best of his newer films. It must be said that Franco's impressive repertoire of 180+ films includes masterpieces and stinkers alike, and while "Faceless" definitely ranges in the better half of his output, I cannot deny that I was a tiny bit disappointed. As explained earlier, I am a big fan of Gothic Horror from the 60s, and Franco's films about the theme, "The Awful Dr. Orloff" and the sequel "Miss Muerte" ("The Diabolical Dr. Z", 1966) are doubtlessly the best ones he ever made. "Faceless" is a welcome return to this great premise, but while I reckon the difference in styles between the early 60s and the late 80s, I would have loved the film to be a little more atmospheric and in the style of these old films, in short: a little more 'Gothic'. That being said, "Faceless" is definitely a film that Franco-fans should not miss out on.Helmut Berger plays the ruthless prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Flanard who, after his sister has been deformed by a disaffected former patient, has no scruples whatsoever in his dedication to restore her beauty... The cast includes several cult-actors including Helmut Berger, Telly Salavas, Franco-regular Howard Vernon (once again as a man called Dr. Orloff), Anton Diffring, who plays a demented Nazi-scientist, Christopher Mitchum (Robert's son), Caroline Munro and Pornstar/Exploitation actress Brigitte Lahaie, who plays the Doctor's mistress and ruthless assistant. The most spectacular aspect about "Faceless" is probably its ultra-demented nature and the truly gruesome gore-effects. Several scenes, such as the 'face-removal' sequence are sometimes hard to digest, even for trained Exploitation/Gore fans. Sadly, the film hasn't got the great style and atmosphere of Franco's early 'Mad Scientist' films, which were moody, creepy and accompanied by gloomy, Franco-typical scores. This film's score is its most annoying aspect, the same (TRULY terrible) 80s song is re-played over and over again. While I don't share the enthusiasm that fellow Franco fans seem to have about "Faceless", I will be the last one to deny that it is more than worth watching. Especially the gore-enthusiasts out there should have a blast. Recommended to Jess Franco fans.
chrisbridges71 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.