Horror Theater Video eyes without a face film review

Georges Franju’s classic film, which was unscrupulously re-titled THE HORROR CHAMBER OF DR. FAUSTUS in America and double-billed with THE MANSTER, has been resurrected as the classy, original, art-house horror film it initially set out to be.

The story begins with a lone woman driving her car on a dark and desolate road. She appears bothered by something, and a set of headlights in the background suggest, perhaps, someone is after her. However, we soon learn this woman’s anxiety comes from an inner guilt – a hidden deception. In the back seat of her car, a mysterious figure slumps back against the cushion, most likely dead from unnatural causes. Our suspicions are confirmed when the woman stops and drags the corpse to a murky body of water and dumps it out as if it were a bag of garbage.

Soon after, we meet Dr. Genessier, a competent man painted with overwhelming sadness and an early hint of determination by actor Pierre Brasseur. Apparently, his daughter Edna has been missing for quite some time, and he is finally called by the police to identify the body of someone that could be her. From the moment he verifies the disfigured corpse is Edna, we know something’s amiss with this man. True, his depression is easy to detect, but he seems driven by more than just that – something far more sinister, in fact, revealed through an unusual coldness he demonstrates to another grieving father, also called to the scene for identification purposes. “Why is it I should comfort you?” he says coldly to the other more emotional man. “At least you still have hope.”

Of course, it’s not long before we discover Edna is still alive, the possessor of a disfigured face and our doctor’s reason for the grotesque experiments he conducts in his laboratory with the help of the guilt-ridden woman from the opening scene. Even though EYES WITHOUT A FACE appears to be a mad scientist film through-and-through on paper, it benefits from steering clear of that sub-genre’s conventions, relying more heavily on the guilt and love that drive the doctor to perform his vile actions on unsuspecting women. And it’s Edna, a tormented soul with a heart of gold, who gives the film its only dose – and a much-needed one at that – of upright morality. She will also be her father’s undoing, proving that a deformed face doesn’t mean a lack of virtue…and a deformed heart can be the most destructive thing of all, regardless of intent.

And that brings me to a facet of this film I greatly appreciate. It has no desire to keep secrets from its viewers, leading us where it wants us to go, while making us appreciate the inner depth of its characters. Uncommon for a genre of such shallow artistic standards. The film’s sophistication is why it was so ludicrous to dub it with an exploitative name and release it as part of a double feature with one of the schlockiest B-horror films ever made. It’s an achievement – and, made in 1959, one of the first to do so, that spreads a strong artistic vision through a genre thought void of those possibilities. And as I said before, the gross-out facelift scene that caused the film so many problems with censors is still effective today…every slice of it.

My Rating:

REVIEWED BY Aric