Faceless (1987)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writer:

René Chateau (writer)

Release Date:

22 June 1988 (France)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Come Face To Face With Evil

Plot:

A model named Barbara Hallen has disappeared and her father gets private detective Sam Morgan to go to Paris to find his daughter...

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Surgery | Plastic Surgery | Remake | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Helmut Berger	...	Dr. Frank Flamand
Brigitte Lahaie	...	Nathalie
Telly Savalas	...	Terry Hallen
Christopher Mitchum	...	Sam Morgan (as Chris Mitchum)
Stéphane Audran	...	Mme Sherman / Mrs. Sherman
Caroline Munro	...	Barbara Hallen
Christiane Jean	...	Ingrid Flamand
Anton Diffring	...	Dr. Karl Heinz Moser
Tilda Thamar	...	Mme François / Mrs. Francois
Howard Vernon	...	Dr. Orloff
Florence Guérin	...	Herself / Florence Guérin
Gérard Zalcberg	...	Gordon
Henri Poirier	...	Commissaire Legris / Insp. Legros
Laure Sabardin	...	La réceptionniste / The receptionist
Amelie Chevalier	...	Mélissa (as Amélie Chevalier)

Also Known As:

Les prédateurs de la nuit (France)
Los depredadores de la noche (Spain)

Runtime:

98 min | Spain:90 min

Country:

Spain | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia) (edited for re-rating) | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:R | Canada:(Banned) (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | France:-12

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

ATC 3000

Movie Connections:

Features Le déclic (1985)

Soundtrack:

Mais Que Bonita

Big-budget Franco with an all-star cast of B-celebrities

FACELESS (Jesus Franco - France/Spain 1988).

As usual with a Jess Franco film, the background stories from cast and crew are much more interesting than the film itself, which is pretty crappy. But, relatively speaking, it's one of his better films, with an interesting cast consisting of Helmut Berger, Telly Savalas, Chris Mitchum and legendary French porn queen Brigitte Lahaie. Franco had a relatively large budget to spend for this film, around one and a half million francs ($250,000). It all looks very glossy, very eighties, including the soundtrack with the strangely hypnotic song 'Destination nowhere.'

The film itself is good for quite a few laughs; Chris Mitchum's encounter with the muscled bodyguard "Dudu" or "Doodoo". The inexplicable presence of a drag queen in Helmut Berger's clinic, a joke Franco spontaneously made up on the set, even Helmut Berger looked a little disturbed after entering the room (Franco probably didn't tell him who or what was in the room). An electric doll (the stand-in for a body) that runs wild due to some electric failure, with its teeth clappering up and down like wild. Why fix it? Just keep it in the movie. No one will notice. Sure...

The extras are always the most interesting part of Franco-DVD's. Chris Mitchum is a likable and intelligent guy, who tells some amusing anecdotes about the start of his movie career. He also reveals that - due to some misunderstanding - he was in an outrageously expensive hotel suite in Paris, that cost more than $30,000 in total during the whole shoot, more than one-tenth of the total budget. The interview with Jess Franco is strange and he stays clear of saying anything specific about his work, which is a smart thing. He does manage to discuss the work of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Frederico Fellini and Helmut Berger, all within five minutes! The teaming of these names in one interview in such a short time must be a first.

A somewhat atypical entry in Franco's oeuvre with a (relatively speaking) coherent plot, less hanky-panky than usual, but some shocks and gore, and plenty of (unintended) laughs.

Camera Obscura --- 5/10