Faceless — Faceless(UHD/ Blu-Ray)

From the late 1980s, Faceless stands as one of the formally approachable, straight, no-nonsense examples of euro horror from Jess Franco- the highly prolific Spanish director, who often severs up a quirky-to-disturbing, at times experimental take on genre filmmaking. The film also stands as his most overtly and at times sadistically gory effort- which very much nods towards the likes of Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento- with the whole thing sunk deeply into later 80’s glamour, sleaze and camp. Here from Severin, the key label reissuing Franco’s back catalogue is a very much deserved double HD/Blu-Ray release of the film, featuring a commentary track from Jess Franco & Lina Romay, and a great selection of other features.

Faceless is a French/ Spanish production from the year 1988. And its stand’s as one of Franco’s (relatively) large-budgeted films- with a cast taking in the likes of more known/ formal acting talent Telly Savalas, Anton Diffring, and Christopher Mitchum. As well as notable cult actors like Caroline Munro, Brigitte Lahaie, and Helmut Berger. By this point in the 1980s Jess had slowed down very much from his prolific film production of the early 80s- as was one of two films released in 1988- the other was Countdown to Esmeralda Bay, which was seemingly a campy action film.
 
After the glittering street lights shots of Paris & euro pop tune lined credits. We see plastic surgeon Dr. Flamand( Helmut Berger), his sister Ingrid(Christiane Jean), and his assistant Nathalie( Brigitte Lahaie) making their way through a nighttime carpark. They are stopped by a disgruntled former client of the doc, whose plastic surgery hadn’t gone as expected- she throws acid at the doctor, but it misses & Ingrid gets a face full.
 
The Doctor has his own exclusive hospital in the countryside nearby Paris. Most of his patients seem happy with his work, though there are a fair few eccentric characters recuperating in the faculty. Though there is one busybody thorn in his side Mme Sherman (Stéphane Audran), who constantly berates/bothers the physician.  
 
Away from the plush bedrooms & reception of the upmarket hospital, lies a hidden ward where women are kept either bonded or naked in padded rooms. These patients are looked after by the decidedly creepy & grunting henchman Gordon(Gérard Zalcberg) who has shaved eyebrows, and greased back long receding hair. The Dr & Ingrid are gathering the women from the glitzy nightclubs of Paris, so they can undertake a  face transplant on the raw 'n' red-faced Ingrid.
 
One of the key women they kidnap is Barbara Hallen( Caroline Munro) a well-known model, who is wearing a priceless bracelet when the pair snatch her from a fashion shoot. After she has been missing for a few days her US-based rich brother Terry(Telly Savalas), calls up his Vietnam vet buddy now no-nonsense private investigator Sam(Christopher Mitchum) to head to Paris to track down his sister.
 
As the film unfolds we get a blend of softcore sleaze, gore, and high-80 camp ‘n’ glamour. On the gore/ effects side of the film this really is Franco’s most brutal & well-executed effects-edged film. We have arms lopped off, a nasty close-up syringe in the eye attack, shears through the neck killer, a head chainsawed off,  drilling through the head attack, and a couple of very gruelling face cut ‘n’ removal scenes.
 
Faceless certainly is a more formal/ approachable Franco film- sitting alongside the likes of Bloody Moon, though this is more disturbing/ straight than that film. We do get subtle Franco touches here & there throughout the film, like very the brief appearances of Franco regulars like Howard Vernon, and Lina Romay. It’s an entertaining Euro horror film, edged with some well-realized gore & sleaze aplenty- and it’s certainly very worthy of your time, though it is rather atypical of Franco’s output. So while it’s a good enough inroad to the director's work, you may not necessarily appreciate his other output, if you get a real kick out of this.
 

Moving on to this release-  which features two discs. Firstly there is an ultra HD disc, which takes in just the film & commentary track with Franco & Romay. Then the region free Blu Ray- this takes in the film again, and the commentary, as well as a great selection of new & archive extras. Firstly let's talk about the new 4k print of the film- this is largely very bold & bright in both its 80’s colouring, with of course moments of spurting & dripping red gore. Moving onto the extras- and on the new side of things we get an excellent selection of things. The Female Predator (16.07) is an on-camera interview with actress Brigitte Lahaie, which is in French with English subtitles. Facial Recognition (20.27) which finds genre expert/ author Kim Newman, first giving a potted history of plastic surgery film, before moving on to discuss the film to hand, as well as giving his feelings about Franco as a filmmaker. This is as always with Newman content, very worth a play. Parisian Encounters (25.55) on-screen interview with actress Caroline Munro. There is Predators Of The Night (26.08) which finds Franco expert/author Stephen Thrower discussing the film. He begins by giving context about where Franco’s career was in the mid-to-late ’80s, basically making hardcore- though fair-budgeted action film Dark Mission(1986) was his step back into more mainstream genre fare, which lead to Faceless coming about. He talks about the film in general- pointing out its camp feel, great quotable lines, and the shifting in tone from a sardonic send-up of 80’s sallowness/ vanity to darker waters with the introduction of nazi doctor Moser(Anton Diffring) later on in the film.  And once again an excellent, informative, and highly well-observed look at the film from Mr Thrower.  
 
Moving onto the archive side of things, and we have the commentary track from Jess Franco & Lina Romay- this is in French with subtitles. I’m not sure if this has ever been released before- but it is well worth a play, if like myself you’re a Franco nut.  Franco is the main voice here, though Romay drops in from time to time, as does the interviewer asking questions. We find out the film had a six-week shoot in Paris in the winter months. We get a lot of talk about the film's producer René Chateau- how he was full of doubt about the production, and how it was working with a larger crew- which Franco had not been accustomed to for many years. He talks about how he detested the film when he finished it, though has grown to sort of like it over the years. He discusses the film's actors, and how he & Chateau selected the cast. We find out that the script had the input of around twenty people, including Franco himself. Later on, the interviewer asks Franco about the disco/ club scenes, and he talks about how his love of this type of footage/ scenes grew from an early period in his life when he was a jazz musician. He talks about filming in Paris, and how busy it was. Plus a lot more- as the track goes on it does become a little more sporadic- but there is still worth, so well worth playing to the end. Otherwise, we get eight minutes of general onset interviews, an interview with Franco( 18.15), an interview with actor Chris Mitchum(14.10), and around twenty-eight minutes of selected scene commentary from Mitchum.  There’s Therese II: The Mission  (3.31) a 1987 parody Short Starring Brigitte Lahaie, French Trailer, and English Trailer.
 
In conclusion, Faceless is a film that will appeal to both your run-of-the-mill Euro-horror fans, as well as the normal Franco fiend- which certainly can’t be said for all the director's output.  And this truly is a wonderful extras stacked release, featuring a classy looking 4k scan on both Ultra HD & Blu-Ray discs.