Review of Faceless (2014) by Deadly V — 15 Jul 2010

I think every horror fan out there needs a nice dose of French Horror Sleazy Eurotrash and just about nobody can do that as well as Jess (Jesus) Franco can do it. In Faceless (or Les Predatuers de la Nuit as it's more commonly known) has the demented Dr.

Flamand (Helmut Berger) working tirelessly alongside his beautiful yet deadly assistant Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie) to find a way to restore the face of his disfigured sister. Their constant stream of kidnapping beautiful women, keeping them locked up in hidden dungeons, and viciously butchering them takes an interesting crossroads when they kidnap the daughter (Caroline Williams) of a rich businessman (Terry Salvas) who sends his top PI (Chris Mitchum) to Paris to try and find her.

There's also the inclusion of a sadistic Nazi doctor (Anton Diffring) who is the doctor's last hope of using fresh flesh to restore his sister's beauty. Plenty of gore and nudity run about this film's slightly overlong running time.

Also, there's a bevy of comedy throughout, both unintentional and intentional...with the intentional still coming off a bit awkward. The movie is "shot in English" but it may as well be a badly-dubbed foreign flick with it's laughable dialog and acting, even though it sports a substantially notable cast of genre icons in it.

Definitely a recommendation for hardcore horror enthusiasts only, but if you take this film seriously, you'll be sorely disappointed. Yes, this is a remake of the superior Eyes Without a Face, which makes this film a horrid mess and slap-in-the-face to the original, but if you tune out that fact and pretend you're just watching a bad rip-off, then you'll enjoy it more.