Faceless (film)
Encyclopedia
Faceless is a 1988 French
slasher film
directed by Jesús Franco
. The film is about Dr. Flamand (Helmut Berger
) and his assistant Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie
) who lure unsuspecting victims to use their skin to perform plastic surgery
on the doctor's disfigured sister - a plot reminiscent of Franco's first film, Gritos en la noche
(1961). Hallen (Telly Savalas
), the New York businessman who hires private detective Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum) to find his missing fashion model daughter Barbara (Caroline Munro
). Other elements of the story include a Nazi doctor (Anton Diffring
) and a chainsaw/power tool tormentor are called in by Dr. Flamand.
), his assistant Nathalie (Brigite Lahaie) and Flammand's sister Ingrid (Christiane Jean). The night goes peaceful through a walk in Paris, until Flammand reaches the parking garage.
A former patient Mrs. Francoisis (Tilda Thamar
), steps out of the shadows with a scar on her face from a failed operation. She plans on revenge by pouring acid all over the doctors face, but it misses Flammand and gets full force at his sister Ingrid in the face, resulting in severe burns, Francoisis drives away, as we are now in present time.
We are now at a photo shoot in Paris. Barbara Hallen (Caroline Munro
) is taking photos with some other models. Nathalie walks in in disguise. She takes Barbara out to her car, where Barbara is drugged and brought back to Flammand's clinic. She is locked in a chamber in the basement, a heavily padded room, also in the furthest one down the hall. Nathalie goes in to check on a drugged girl, but the girl leaps up and starts choking Nathalie, Gordon (Gerard Zalcberg) who lives in the basement comes to the rescue and chops off the girls arms. While Flammand in upstairs, a patient Mrs. Sherman (Stephane Audran
) is rolling out of her room on her wheelchair. She claims to know more about whats going on in this clinic than Flammand does. Flammand gets very suspicious and puts Mrs. Sherman back in her room.
Meanwhile in New York city, Terry Hallen (Telly Savalas
) sit at his skyscraper office building. Terry is the father of kidnapped Barbara and is desperately awaiting reply from her, so he has hired a private detective Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum) to go to Paris to try to track her down and bring her home. Once Morgan is in Paris, Sam is brought down to the morgue by Brian Wallace (Daniel Grimm) of the police department in Paris, to a decapitated body, but Sam knows it is not Barbara because this woman does not have a mole on the stomach like Barbara.
Flammand & Nathalie go to see a surgeon Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon
) to try to perform a surgery. Flammand's plan includes to tear off one of his prisoners faces and paste it onto Ingrid, from which he has Barbara in mind. Orloff tells them to try to track down Nazi doctor Karl Heinz Moser (Anton Diffring
), because he has changed his name, moved countries, running from the law with all of his illegal surgeries. Even though they plan on using Barbara, they return to find Barbara cut across the face because of Gordon abusing her.
Morgan goes to see the photo director of the night Barbara was kidnapped. The photo director Maxence (Marcel Philippot) soon starts giving answers under intimidation from Morgan. But Maxence's security man Doudo (Tony Awak) starts to fight Morgan, Morgan kicks him in the genital area and escapes out of Maxence & Doudo.
Meanwhile, Flammand believes he has found a new woman to use for the operation, Melissa. After an orgy with Flammand, Nathalie, and Melissa, she is eventually drugged and locked in the closet.
Morgan phones Terry with no new info on Barbara, the only thing Maxence told him was that he was being a prostitute in Paris and that she left with a golden watch.
After Moser arrives for the surgery, the face of Melissa gets destroyed because Moser had not planned on her flesh being as flexible as it was, so Flammand & Nathalie need a quick replacement. So they go to a club, and find actress Florence Guerin
dancing in the middle of the dance floor with a circle around her, and they both nod in agreement. After Florence is tricked into going with Flammand and Nathalie back to the clinic, Flammand then drugs her, and hides her body. Morgan then receives the Barbara Hallen police records and also finds out that she used a credit card in a Paris suburb St. Cloud, so Morgan traces the credit card to Flammand's clinic. Barbara manages to escape the chamber by seducing Gordon, but then she runs out very quickly, locking Gordon in. But right as Morgan is about to walk out of Flammand's office, Barbara is dragged away by Nathalie. But when Nathalie returns, Morgan recognizes the golden watch being worn by Nathalie, so when Morgan returns to his motel room, he overlooks the pictures, sees the picture of the watch, and heads back for the clinic.
One of the nurses who works at the clinic is completely unaware of Flammand's big plan and his basement, so she decides to sneak down into the basement, where she finds all of the girls locked up, in terror, she runs into Gordon's room, and hides in the cabinet, but Gordon comes down and sees her gown in the door crack and locks the cabinet, and drills right through the nurses head. At this moment Moser, Flammand and Nathalie are performing the surgery on Florence, they give her a shot in the neck, silencing her, and her face is successfully pulled off and is shown to Ingrid.
Morgan returns to the clinic and goes into Gordon's room. He sees blood leaked all over the cabinet doors but then is attacked by Gordon. After a fight, Morgan eventually pushes Gordon into a series of metal hooks on the wall, impaling him. Morgan finds keys on the wall, walks across the hall, and finds the girls, he soon comes to the furthest door and finds Barbara, he walks in to untie and save Barbara, but as he is unstrapping her, Nathalie finds them and locks the chamber door on them. Flammand, Moser and Brigitte wonder what to do with the two that are locked in there, so they build a brick wall over Barbara & Sam's chamber. Sam tries to get through the window on the door in terror, but by the time the wall is built up to the ceiling, Barbara & Sam find themselves on the floor, gasping for air, and the doctors all propose on how they got away with getting Ingrid's new face.
But through the course of this, Terry receives one last message from Sam, claiming Terry, I traced Barbara to this clinic in Paris. I'm going in tonight to look for her. If I don't leave a message in 12 hours, send in the marines, Merry Christmas. Terry soon becomes suspicious of the message, and in French, says to his office executive Jenny, get me on the first flight to Paris!
although it has been out of print and hard to find for many years now.
Two more of the songs used in the film by Thoma, Crystal Eyes & In The Heart of the City can be found on Romano Musumarra's soundtrack to Les Nouveaux Tricheurs which is an LP. The last two songs used in the film, both by Carol Welsman
were Just Imagination & Mais Que Bonita. Just Imagination had its own Maxi 45T single, and the song Mais Que Bonita can only be found on the Just Imagination LP albu,, which only printed 500 - 900 copies.
French Film
French Film is a 2008 British comedy film directed by Jackie Oudney and starring Anne-Marie Duff, Hugh Bonneville, Victoria Hamilton, Douglas Henshall and Eric Cantona. The film was shot in Spring 2007 at various locations around London including Waterloo station and the BFI Southbank.-Plot:Two...
slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
directed by Jesús Franco
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
. The film is about Dr. Flamand (Helmut Berger
Helmut Berger
Helmut Berger is an Austrian-born German film and television actor. He is most famous for his work with Luchino Visconti, particularly in his performance as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he received a special David di Donatello award.He appears primarily in European cinema, but...
) and his assistant Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie
Brigitte Lahaie
Brigitte Lahaie is a radio talk show host, actress and former pornographic actress from France. She began her career at age 15 with a minor role in Africa Erotica and performed in pornographic films from 1976 through 1980....
) who lure unsuspecting victims to use their skin to perform plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
on the doctor's disfigured sister - a plot reminiscent of Franco's first film, Gritos en la noche
Gritos en la noche
Gritos en la noche AKA The Awful Dr. Orloff was an early horror film of cult director Jesús Franco. It stars Howard Vernon as the mad Dr. Orloff who wants to repair his disfigured daughter's face with skin grafts from others...
(1961). Hallen (Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
), the New York businessman who hires private detective Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum) to find his missing fashion model daughter Barbara (Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...
). Other elements of the story include a Nazi doctor (Anton Diffring
Anton Diffring
Anton Diffring , born Alfred Pollack, was a German actor.-Biography:Diffring was born in Koblenz...
) and a chainsaw/power tool tormentor are called in by Dr. Flamand.
Plot
The film begins on a flashback. We see Dr. Frank Flammand (Helmut BergerHelmut Berger
Helmut Berger is an Austrian-born German film and television actor. He is most famous for his work with Luchino Visconti, particularly in his performance as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he received a special David di Donatello award.He appears primarily in European cinema, but...
), his assistant Nathalie (Brigite Lahaie) and Flammand's sister Ingrid (Christiane Jean). The night goes peaceful through a walk in Paris, until Flammand reaches the parking garage.
A former patient Mrs. Francoisis (Tilda Thamar
Tilda Thamar
-Selected filmography:* Massacre in Lace * Maid in Paris * A Bomb for a Dictator * Friends and Neighbours * Faceless -External links:...
), steps out of the shadows with a scar on her face from a failed operation. She plans on revenge by pouring acid all over the doctors face, but it misses Flammand and gets full force at his sister Ingrid in the face, resulting in severe burns, Francoisis drives away, as we are now in present time.
We are now at a photo shoot in Paris. Barbara Hallen (Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...
) is taking photos with some other models. Nathalie walks in in disguise. She takes Barbara out to her car, where Barbara is drugged and brought back to Flammand's clinic. She is locked in a chamber in the basement, a heavily padded room, also in the furthest one down the hall. Nathalie goes in to check on a drugged girl, but the girl leaps up and starts choking Nathalie, Gordon (Gerard Zalcberg) who lives in the basement comes to the rescue and chops off the girls arms. While Flammand in upstairs, a patient Mrs. Sherman (Stephane Audran
Stéphane Audran
Stéphane Audran is a French film and television actress, known for her performances in Oscar winning movies such as Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie and Babette's Feast and in critically acclaimed films like The Big Red One and Violette Nozière .She married...
) is rolling out of her room on her wheelchair. She claims to know more about whats going on in this clinic than Flammand does. Flammand gets very suspicious and puts Mrs. Sherman back in her room.
Meanwhile in New York city, Terry Hallen (Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
) sit at his skyscraper office building. Terry is the father of kidnapped Barbara and is desperately awaiting reply from her, so he has hired a private detective Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum) to go to Paris to try to track her down and bring her home. Once Morgan is in Paris, Sam is brought down to the morgue by Brian Wallace (Daniel Grimm) of the police department in Paris, to a decapitated body, but Sam knows it is not Barbara because this woman does not have a mole on the stomach like Barbara.
Flammand & Nathalie go to see a surgeon Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon
Howard Vernon
Howard Vernon was a Swiss actor.Vernon was born Mario Lippert to a Swiss father and an American mother and was fluent in German, English, and French...
) to try to perform a surgery. Flammand's plan includes to tear off one of his prisoners faces and paste it onto Ingrid, from which he has Barbara in mind. Orloff tells them to try to track down Nazi doctor Karl Heinz Moser (Anton Diffring
Anton Diffring
Anton Diffring , born Alfred Pollack, was a German actor.-Biography:Diffring was born in Koblenz...
), because he has changed his name, moved countries, running from the law with all of his illegal surgeries. Even though they plan on using Barbara, they return to find Barbara cut across the face because of Gordon abusing her.
Morgan goes to see the photo director of the night Barbara was kidnapped. The photo director Maxence (Marcel Philippot) soon starts giving answers under intimidation from Morgan. But Maxence's security man Doudo (Tony Awak) starts to fight Morgan, Morgan kicks him in the genital area and escapes out of Maxence & Doudo.
Meanwhile, Flammand believes he has found a new woman to use for the operation, Melissa. After an orgy with Flammand, Nathalie, and Melissa, she is eventually drugged and locked in the closet.
Morgan phones Terry with no new info on Barbara, the only thing Maxence told him was that he was being a prostitute in Paris and that she left with a golden watch.
After Moser arrives for the surgery, the face of Melissa gets destroyed because Moser had not planned on her flesh being as flexible as it was, so Flammand & Nathalie need a quick replacement. So they go to a club, and find actress Florence Guerin
Florence Guérin
Florence Guérin , also known as Florence Nicolas, is a French actress. Born in Nice, France, she appeared in both film and television roles between 1980 and 2008.-Biography:...
dancing in the middle of the dance floor with a circle around her, and they both nod in agreement. After Florence is tricked into going with Flammand and Nathalie back to the clinic, Flammand then drugs her, and hides her body. Morgan then receives the Barbara Hallen police records and also finds out that she used a credit card in a Paris suburb St. Cloud, so Morgan traces the credit card to Flammand's clinic. Barbara manages to escape the chamber by seducing Gordon, but then she runs out very quickly, locking Gordon in. But right as Morgan is about to walk out of Flammand's office, Barbara is dragged away by Nathalie. But when Nathalie returns, Morgan recognizes the golden watch being worn by Nathalie, so when Morgan returns to his motel room, he overlooks the pictures, sees the picture of the watch, and heads back for the clinic.
One of the nurses who works at the clinic is completely unaware of Flammand's big plan and his basement, so she decides to sneak down into the basement, where she finds all of the girls locked up, in terror, she runs into Gordon's room, and hides in the cabinet, but Gordon comes down and sees her gown in the door crack and locks the cabinet, and drills right through the nurses head. At this moment Moser, Flammand and Nathalie are performing the surgery on Florence, they give her a shot in the neck, silencing her, and her face is successfully pulled off and is shown to Ingrid.
Morgan returns to the clinic and goes into Gordon's room. He sees blood leaked all over the cabinet doors but then is attacked by Gordon. After a fight, Morgan eventually pushes Gordon into a series of metal hooks on the wall, impaling him. Morgan finds keys on the wall, walks across the hall, and finds the girls, he soon comes to the furthest door and finds Barbara, he walks in to untie and save Barbara, but as he is unstrapping her, Nathalie finds them and locks the chamber door on them. Flammand, Moser and Brigitte wonder what to do with the two that are locked in there, so they build a brick wall over Barbara & Sam's chamber. Sam tries to get through the window on the door in terror, but by the time the wall is built up to the ceiling, Barbara & Sam find themselves on the floor, gasping for air, and the doctors all propose on how they got away with getting Ingrid's new face.
But through the course of this, Terry receives one last message from Sam, claiming Terry, I traced Barbara to this clinic in Paris. I'm going in tonight to look for her. If I don't leave a message in 12 hours, send in the marines, Merry Christmas. Terry soon becomes suspicious of the message, and in French, says to his office executive Jenny, get me on the first flight to Paris!
Alternate Ending
The original ending of the film involved Sam successfully rescuing Barbara, and arresting Flammand, Nathalie, Moser, and Ingrid, with Terry going to Paris to pick them up, but Jess Franco wanted a slightly different touch to make it different, so while switching the ending around, this time it is mentioned that Terry Hallen is going to Paris to the clinic, but it is left open, if he gets there in time to save them or not.....Cast
- Helmut BergerHelmut BergerHelmut Berger is an Austrian-born German film and television actor. He is most famous for his work with Luchino Visconti, particularly in his performance as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he received a special David di Donatello award.He appears primarily in European cinema, but...
as Dr. Frank Flammand - Brigitte LahaieBrigitte LahaieBrigitte Lahaie is a radio talk show host, actress and former pornographic actress from France. She began her career at age 15 with a minor role in Africa Erotica and performed in pornographic films from 1976 through 1980....
as Nathalie - Chris Mitchum as Sam Morgan
- Telly SavalasTelly SavalasAristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
as Terry Hallen - Caroline MunroCaroline MunroCaroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...
as Barbara Hallen - Anton DiffringAnton DiffringAnton Diffring , born Alfred Pollack, was a German actor.-Biography:Diffring was born in Koblenz...
as Dr. Karl Heinz Moser - Howard VernonHoward VernonHoward Vernon was a Swiss actor.Vernon was born Mario Lippert to a Swiss father and an American mother and was fluent in German, English, and French...
as Dr. Orloff - Stephane AudranStéphane AudranStéphane Audran is a French film and television actress, known for her performances in Oscar winning movies such as Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie and Babette's Feast and in critically acclaimed films like The Big Red One and Violette Nozière .She married...
as Mrs. Sherman
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film was released on a Maxi single with the theme song, Faceless, by Vincenzo ThomaVincenzo Thoma
Vincenzo Thoma is a Canadian pop singer songwriter.- History :Vincenzo Thoma was born in Rome, Italy. Charmed by Montreal's multicultural character, he decided to make it his home...
although it has been out of print and hard to find for many years now.
Two more of the songs used in the film by Thoma, Crystal Eyes & In The Heart of the City can be found on Romano Musumarra's soundtrack to Les Nouveaux Tricheurs which is an LP. The last two songs used in the film, both by Carol Welsman
Carol Welsman
Carol Welsman is a Canadian jazz vocalist and pianist. She is the granddaughter of conductor/composer Frank Welsman and the sister of composer John Welsman. She has been nominated 5 times for the Juno Award....
were Just Imagination & Mais Que Bonita. Just Imagination had its own Maxi 45T single, and the song Mais Que Bonita can only be found on the Just Imagination LP albu,, which only printed 500 - 900 copies.