Faceless (Les Predateurs de la Nuit, 1988)

US Severin 2022 Blu-ray edition, Region all


 



For this late Jess Franco film he had a decent budget and fine actors, as Helmut Berger, Stephane Audran and the great Anton Diffring
and Faceless is a surprisingly great and slick looking Mad Doctor horror with a very fine/nasty face skingraft special effect that could well
be the best effect in any Franco film. The great Stephane Audran plays a minor role as the poor Mrs. Sherman, a patient at the exclusive
Clinique Des Mimosas, and her fear in the death scene was greatly acted and sad too. Evil Lahaie disposes her with a syringe in the eye,
and Brigitte Lahaie is great too as always (what a fascinating face she has) and she's good in the role as the ice-cold assistant of Death).

"Faceless" is a face transplant surgery horror and a re-make of such horror movies a Georges Franju's 1959 "Les yeux sans visage" and
his own 1961 "The Awful Dr. Orloff (Gritos en la Noche)" and it was shot in Paris and with english sound.

Above: The 2004 US Shriek Show DVD edition

Doctor Frank Flamand (Helmut Berger) and his assistant and lover Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie) runs an exclusive health and surgery
clinic that's situated in the Paris suburbs with mainly rich old women as clients. But under the slick surface, the elegant clinic as
well as Dr. Flamand, lures pure evil. The doctor and Nathalie use the blood of abducted women as an ingredience in the beauty
treatments. When Dr. Frank's younger sister Ingrid's (Christiane Jean) face is destroyed by acid the bad duo starts abducting
women for face skin graft transplants, and beautiful Nathalie lures the victims to the Clinic (just as Alida Valli did in "Les yeux sans
visage"). Coked-up fashion model Barbara (Caroline Munro) is one of the victims locked into a padded cell at the Clinic.

But only One surgeon in the whole world could maybe succeed with such a face transplantation surgery, an old Nazi surgeon
who worked under Joseph Mengele in WW2, Doctor Karl Moser (Anton Diffring). Professor Orloff (Howard Vernon, who else?)
(with his wife played by Lina Romay in a cameo role) recommend Dr. Frank to find Orloff's hiding place where he hides as a
wanted war criminal and invite him to Paris to do the operation. Anton Diffring gives a truly great performance as Karl Moser.

The nasty death of poor Mrs. Sherman upset me, she was so afraid, due to the great acting of Stephane Audran. An important
actress in French Films, the wife of Claude Chabrol and his main actress in many of his films.
Helmut Berger is also good in his typical role of an elegant slick but degenerate evil rich guy aristocrat (and he sadly complains
of being typecasted in much of his actor roles in the interview).

Severin presents the film in 1.66:1 ratio with english or french mono audio with english subtitles, region all.
Extras: Audio commentary with director Jess Franco and actress and wife Lina Romay (in french with english subtitles),
The Female Predator - Interview with Brigitte Lahaie (16 minutes in french with subs), Facial Recognition - Interview with Kim
Newman: Plastic surgery in horror movies (20 minutes), Parisien Encounters - Face to Face with Caroline Munro (26 minutes),
Predators of the Night - Interview with Stephen Thrower (26 minutes, 2022), EPK interviews with Helmut Berger, Chris Mitchum
and Telly Savalas (8 minutes), Archival interview with Jesús Franco (18 minutes in french with subs), Archival interview with
Chris Mitchum (14 minutes), Selected scene commentary by Chris Mitchum (27 minutes), Therese II: The Mission - Parody short
film with Brigitte Lahaie (3 minutes), French and English trailer

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The Old 2004 US Shriek Show DVD in anamorphic widescreen and english audio had as extras:
Interview with Jesús Franco (20 minutes in french with subs), Interview with Caroline Munro (30 minutes) and an Interview
with Chris Mitchum (the son of Robert Mitchum) 31 minutes, the audio commentary in french with subs with Jesús Franco
and Lina Romay, the selected scene commentary with Chris Mitchum (his scenes), a booklet or leaflet and a trailer