1960 saw two seminal/groundbreaking horror pics. One everyone knows: Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO. One everyone should know: Georges Franju’s LES YEUX SANS VISAGE, the original Body Horror movie.* Unlike anything in the horror canon (though I’d wager both Franju and cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan saw Carl Dreyer’s VAMPYR/’32 in its now lost first-generation print), the story* is a classic (science going too far) and simple (if at first you don’t succeed . . .). But in execution: poetic, dreamlike, it’s more ballet than tragic folk ballad. A surgeon’s beautiful daughter has lost her face in a near tragic accident. Alive, but hideous, he’s determined to find the perfect match for a complete face graft. Too bad he must kill an abducted girl to first treat the skin so the graft will not be rejected. On the other hand, a murdered 'donator' can be identified as the body of his ‘late’ daughter. With a grief-stricken fiancé to move the plot, and a loyal operating aide (Alida Valli with a corpse in the back of one of those Citroëns with the horsepower of a lawnmower) to assist the doctor. Only a failed outcome could lead to detection . . . and the need for another face to lift off and graft on. These scenes had people fainting at the time. And while we’ve gone far beyond them in gory reality on film, the graceful terror and pulse-free forward momentum retain most of its uniquely effective horror.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/LINK: *Some of the influences close enough to suggest a possible plagiarism suit (see THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF/’62), but most less direct. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-awful-dr-orlof-1962.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Adapted from their novel by Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac of DIABOLIQUE/’55 and VERTIGO/’58 fame.
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