Coverdale
02-15-2004, 03:03 PM
Friday afternoon I left work early and went to Media Play looking for nothing in particular when I spied Jess Franco's 1988 film Faceless for 17.99. Here is my review...
First, this is a single disc set. I had heard about a 2 disc set coming out but I don't know if Shriek Show decided to scale back, or if the 2 disc set is around the corner, and I should have waited, but frankly this 1 disc has plenty of features on it.
Plot: Basically a Dr Orloff for the cocaine fueld '80s. Dr. Flamand (Helmet Berger), his sister, and his girlfriend/nurse are out on the town when some old woman shows up who didn't like the plastic surgery he did on her face. So she throws acid on him, but it hits his sister's face by mistake. Now she's all f-ed up and needs a new face. So the Dr comes across some photos of a really hot model, played by Caroline Munro. The blonde nurse lures this model out to her car with some high quality cocaine, and then kidnaps her.
The father of this model, a bald American rich guy (played by Telly Savalas, obviously slumming by most people's standards after his Kojak golden years), hires a detective to go and find her. This detective, played by Chris Mitchum, had apparently served with Telly in the 'Nam, although as Mitchum notes, this plot line never goes anywhere.
Meanwhile, Caroline Munro is held captive in the basement of the asylum, and a Morpho-like guy nearly rapes her. The Dr and Nurse go visit Howard Vernon and Lina Romay for about three minutes, to track down a fugitive Nazi who is the world's biggest expert on facial transplants.
The rest is fairly predictable, although the abrupt ending is ambiguous.
So how is the disc? The transfer is excellent and anamorphic, the audio is decent, and as far as the extras, Shriek Show has done a great job. First is the audio commentary by Jess Franco and Lina Romay, in French with English subtitles. Jess provides many details and has a fairly dry sense of humor, but why was Lina touted as a "star"? She is in it for literally two minutes. There is also an interview with Jess (good to see him do more of these; the Christopher Lee boxed set is chock full of them as well), an interview with Chris Mitchum, and the piece de resistance:
A 20+ interview with Caroline Munro. Let's just say that where I come from, she is what's known as a Cougar: a hot woman over 40! :sperm: She talks about her whole career, with a concentration on Faceless. There is also a photo gallery with what seems like a 100 photos of her. :sperm:
Bottom line: Not Jess' best film, but it has a linear plot and decent production. Good, classy transfer and good extras. Worth it for Caroline!
First, this is a single disc set. I had heard about a 2 disc set coming out but I don't know if Shriek Show decided to scale back, or if the 2 disc set is around the corner, and I should have waited, but frankly this 1 disc has plenty of features on it.
Plot: Basically a Dr Orloff for the cocaine fueld '80s. Dr. Flamand (Helmet Berger), his sister, and his girlfriend/nurse are out on the town when some old woman shows up who didn't like the plastic surgery he did on her face. So she throws acid on him, but it hits his sister's face by mistake. Now she's all f-ed up and needs a new face. So the Dr comes across some photos of a really hot model, played by Caroline Munro. The blonde nurse lures this model out to her car with some high quality cocaine, and then kidnaps her.
The father of this model, a bald American rich guy (played by Telly Savalas, obviously slumming by most people's standards after his Kojak golden years), hires a detective to go and find her. This detective, played by Chris Mitchum, had apparently served with Telly in the 'Nam, although as Mitchum notes, this plot line never goes anywhere.
Meanwhile, Caroline Munro is held captive in the basement of the asylum, and a Morpho-like guy nearly rapes her. The Dr and Nurse go visit Howard Vernon and Lina Romay for about three minutes, to track down a fugitive Nazi who is the world's biggest expert on facial transplants.
The rest is fairly predictable, although the abrupt ending is ambiguous.
So how is the disc? The transfer is excellent and anamorphic, the audio is decent, and as far as the extras, Shriek Show has done a great job. First is the audio commentary by Jess Franco and Lina Romay, in French with English subtitles. Jess provides many details and has a fairly dry sense of humor, but why was Lina touted as a "star"? She is in it for literally two minutes. There is also an interview with Jess (good to see him do more of these; the Christopher Lee boxed set is chock full of them as well), an interview with Chris Mitchum, and the piece de resistance:
A 20+ interview with Caroline Munro. Let's just say that where I come from, she is what's known as a Cougar: a hot woman over 40! :sperm: She talks about her whole career, with a concentration on Faceless. There is also a photo gallery with what seems like a 100 photos of her. :sperm:
Bottom line: Not Jess' best film, but it has a linear plot and decent production. Good, classy transfer and good extras. Worth it for Caroline!