Review of Eyes Without a Face (1960) by Brian C — 14 Oct 2015

A classic French horror film. It kind of relies on old cliches, while updating it for a modern audience (for the time). The mad scientist has been done since the beginning of horror films, but here the mad scientist acts relatively normal, and is just psychotic underneath the surface.

He goes about his daily routine and he never becomes a ranting lunatic (he kinda walks a fine line, but it never goes overboard). The look of Christiane (the girl without a face) is classic, iconic, and creepy.

She's not really the villain of this movie or a monster, but she deserves a place alongside Dracula, Frankenstein, the Bride, and the Invisible Man as an iconic horror character. The movie has a lot of subtext to it.

There's a theme of vanity and that to be normal is to look beautiful and perfect, but Christiane is the most normal of her small family despite being the one disfigured. The surgery scene is another great scene, and considering the year this was made it's impressive and bloody.

One of the great surgery scenes in film. There are plenty of great shots and the pacing is pretty good, though it drags a bit in the third act when they're like, "Well, I guess we need another girl's face to cut off!" The music is a not very fitting and actually sounds like the theme to Curb Your Enthusiasm.

It's unintentionally funny. Before re-watching this, I would have been quick to put Eyes Without a Face up there with the classics. Now, I'm a bit unsure. It's still very good for its time and one of the absolute best of the decade, but it doesn't quite reach the level of Psycho, Rosemary's Baby, or Night of the Living Dead.

Looking at this movie now, it's more on the level of Village of the Damned and Carnival of Souls. Very, very good 60s horror movies that are under appreciated. Still, Eyes Without a Face is another movie that shows a horror revolution that started in the early 60s, not the 70s.