Review of Fiend Without a Face (1958) by Tim S — 24 Dec 2011

I walked into Fiend Without a Face somewhat cold. I halfway expected a plot involving evil brains of some sort, and I got exactly that. I'm not like most people in that I try not to read as much as I can about what a film is going to be about before I see it.

Walking in cold gives me the most honest reaction, without any preconceived notions or having my hopes dashed when it sounds great only to find it to turn out to be terrible. Well, this movie isn't terrible, but it's not great either.

However, I do find it fascinating that it's actually a British production, set in Canada with mostly American and Canadian actors, but all shot in England. I also find it intriguing that people were actually frightened by flying brains on mostly visible wires.

I'm not detracting from the film because effects like this weren't easy (the stop motion stuff was actually very good), but I wonder just how well that stood out to audiences in 1957? Its real shortcomings are in the face that it's laborously paced and contains far too much plot and not enough character.

It also spends most of its time spewing exposition. The one scene that was at least halfway effective is when Jeff is locked in a crypt... only to be released several hours later. It starts out rather creepy, but ultimately goes nowhere, and the explanation for why he was locked in the crypt in the first place is absurd.

So yeah, the movie certainly won't win you over with a fantastic script, plot or dynamite performances, but its ridiculousness and setting you should find intriguing enough to warrant seeing it.