Faceless (1987)

   
Directed by: Jesus Franco

Written by:
Rene Chateau, Jesus Franco, Michel Lebrun, Jean Mazarin & Pierre Ripert

Starring:

Helmut Berger .... Dr. Frank Flamand
Brigitte Lahaie .... Nathalie
Christopher Mitchum .... Sam Morgan
Telly Savalas .... Terry Hallen
Stephanie Audran .... Mrs. Sherman
Caroline Munro .... Barbara Hallen
Christianne Jean .... Ingrid Flamand
Anton Diffring .... Dr. Karl Heinz Moser
Gérard Zalcberg .... Gordon

Release Date: Direct-to-Video: September, 1987

 

 

 

Rating:

 

An American top model named Barbara Hallen (Caroline Munro) is kidnapped and considered missing as she is locked away in some sort of a plastic surgery centre in the area of Paris as an evil doctor named Frank Flamand (Helmut Berger) is trying to do an experiment after his top model named Ingrid Flamand (Christianne Jean) was scarred by acid and needs a new face replacement to make her look beautiful again as many of the clients there are eliminated one by one.
Barbara's multimillionaire shipowner father Terry (Telly Savalas) enlists private detective named Sam Morgan (Christopher Mitchum) to fly down to Paris and do some investigations on her disappearance as this leads to madness and mayhem as he tries to rescue Barbara before it's too late but runs into all sorts of scumbags at dance bars as well as drug dealers too.

 

There was a good close up shot on Ingrid Flamand screaming after acid was splashed in her face as there's great freaked out expressions
We spot a nice dark setting with Dr. Frank Flamand looking at his patients through a glass window of a door as it has a bit of an evil setting to it.
We have a mildly amusing brief discussions between Frank and Mme François when she discusses her situation on his work with her feeling younger which leaves an impression.
A well done moment with Mrs. Sherman and her coldness towards Frank during many sequences in the film at the hospital.
There was a real creepy moment with Gordon when he rapes Barbara Hallen in a quiet room which showed a great cheesy horror feel to it all.
There's nice shots on Nathalie coming towards Mrs. Sherman with a needle in her hand acting cold and evil.
There's a comedic moment with someone being thrown around by Sam Morgan and then a corny fighting sequence with him and another person but it doesn't seem to fit in the dark terrors of this film although it was funnily done.
There's a perfect dark shot on Gordon holding a chainsaw in his laboratory and then kissing a decapitated head as it gives you that sick feeling and it was very Texas Chainsaw Massacre like.
There's another nice scene when Gordon locks somebody in his metal closet and then brings out a power drill to do something deadly and this time it looked very Slumber Party Massacre like.
We spot nice shots on some dance clubs to top it all off.
Bottom line: What a piece of garbage this film is as the plot is very weak but some nice dark moment and fairly descent directions to it. It is disturbing during some moments throughout this story but the ending is such a disappointment and made on quite a low budget too. The audio dubbing was a little off too.

The acting is overdubbed due to strong accents probably since this was shot in Spain and France with mostly locals there.
Helmut Berger
(Dr. Frank Flamand) played a perfect evil doctor obsessed with his creation as he has a nice average aged look to him and comes across evil.
Brigitte Lahaie
(Nathalie) was another one who came across well portraying his evil wife and has a great wicked appeal to her.
Christopher Mitchum
(Sam Morgan) didn't do anything for me as an American trying to search for the missing girl.
Telly Savalas
(Terry Hallen) had good strengths to his character although he wasn't in the story alot but when he was he did his best.
Supporting actress Stephanie Audran (Mrs. Sherman) stands out greatly as a disturbed patient in a wheelchair and shows good energy.
Scream queen Caroline Munro (Barbara Hallen) is a little low on her energy however as the imprisoned one in the rehab which is a shame but shows nice shocking expressions as well as aggressive one's.
However in a scene she looked good when she acts on getting high on drugs in a car and also has nice shocking reactions when she is mugged and having a needle put in her arm. Seemed to have a good lustful voice in the quiet room by calling someone to come to her.
The one who stands out the most is G
érard Zalcberg (Gordon) as a retarded crazed employee at the centre giving his part an Igor type of feel.

A lady is lying in a quiet room naked
There are some brief breast shots on some women dancing at a bar.

A woman's face is scarred
A woman's arms are cut off
A head is sawed off

The music sounded quite nice with the film by Romano Musumarra as it seems to fit in in while he also did the songtracks too giving it that nice 80's type of pop flavor to it.