La cara del terror

While "Face of Terror" ("La Cara del Terror") looks like a crappy Spanish horror movie on the surface, it's really very well made and the dubbing is pretty amazing. And, it's well worth seeing.

When the story begins, Dr. Taylor (Fernando Rey) approaches the board of directors at the hospital, asking permission to try out a radical new type of plastic surgery...using actual plastic and using it to rebuild the faces of badly disfigured people. Oddly, the board rejects his proposal so he decides to continue his work on his own. Soon, a badly disfigured woman arrives....telling Taylor she knew about his work and begging him to help her. Naturally, he's filled with compassion and performs surgery on her and incorporates his new secret formula.

What the nice doctor doesn't realize, however, is that Norma (Lisa Gaye) is actually an escaped and dangerous mental patient from the hospital. And, after completing the surgery and having outstanding results (she's now very beautiful), he learns the truth and insists she return to the hospital. However, she's afraid and conks him on the head....making her escape. Soon Norma has found a job and appears to be trying to create a normal life for herself. But being beautiful offers its own obstacles and soon she's being sexually harassed and ends up killing the pig. But this isn't her last killing.

I really liked this film for quite a few reasons. First, although it was originally a Spanish language movie, it was very seamlessly converted to English. Most Spanish horror films of the era were horribly dubbed. But in this one, scenes with Taylor and Norma were re-shot with the actors speaking English and doing their own dubbing. As for the other characters, they also were dubbed very well and it wasn't the usual clumsy and distracting dubbing. Second, although Norma has some mental health issues, you CAN understand and even justify a couple of her killings...it's NOT a case of a maniac just killing folks. I also liked the ending. All in all, a surprisingly good and enjoyable film that defies so many of the expected stereotypes and cliches.

Decent terror movie about a disfigured woman named Norma : Lisa Gaye , she come across a scientific investigating amazing effects of a serum , trying to synthesize the perfect skin . Then Norma is cured by doctor Charles Taylor : Fernando Rey , who develops a serum on skin of limited effects . But Norma results to be an escaped patient of a mental institution . Along the way she finds a job at a hotel and meets a playboy : Virgilio Teixeira who falls for her , and subsequently they get married . Meanwhile , two Police Inspectors : Emilio Rodriguez , Jose Martin, are investigating grisly events . But then things go wrong . Woman's flesh..Killer's soul ! Female, Yes But ..is she woman...or inhuman, Blood-Mad Beast ?

A creepy and eerie terror movie of the sixties with thrills , chills , intrigue, tension , twists and killings. The story is not massively strong , but it is not bad either , here director strings a few or different threads together and that along with intrigue as well as suspense throughout tends to ensure the film is always interesting and thrilling . Stars Lisa Gaye , Debra Paget's sister , as the nutty patient who escapes from a mental facility and she goes bersek . Fernando Rey gives a good acting , as usual, as a doctor who creates a serum able to repair scar tissue and attempts to cure a deformed woman . They are well accompanied by a motley plethora of familiar Spanish faces , such as : Conchita Cuetos a veteran actress who goes on playing , Virgilio Teixeira as her playboy lover , Gerard Tichy as a doctor , Sergio Mendizabal , Carlos Casaravilla, Ana Maria Custodio, and Emlio Rodríguez, Pepe Martin as Police detectives.

The film follows the wake of the classic "Eyes without face" 1960 the masterpiece directed by George Franju . This issue about doctors undergoing surgical operations to change faces of disfigured women was an ordinary theme in European cinema , especially by Jesús Franco or Jess Frank and his Orloff saga including : "Gritos en la noche" or The awful Dr Orloff 1962 , "El secreto del Dr Orloff" 1964 , "Orloff's Invisible Monster" 1970, "El enigma del Ataud" 1969, "El siniestro Dr Orloff" 1984 and "Faceless" 1987 or Los Depredadores de La Noche . And even Pedro Almodovar himself dealt with this plot about doctors undergoing bloody surgical operations as "La Piel Que Habito" 2011 with Antonio Banderas , Elena Anaya .

The motion picture made in medium budget was competently made by the Spanish Isidro M. Ferry and American William Hole Jr . Spanish filmmaker Isidro Ferri was a craftsman who directed a few films , shorts , documentary , such as : Cruzada en el Mar , Escala en Hi-Fi and El Pisito. While the American William Hole Jr. was a producer/director who made some films such as : Hell Bound , Four Fast Guns , The Continental Twist and a lot of TV episodes from TV series : Peyton Place, 77 Sunset Strip, Colt 45 , Cheyenne , Bourbon Street , Hawaiian Eye , Sugarfeet , Boots and Saddles , among others.

Attempting to solve a medical conundrum, a doctor tests a special serum to restore a disfigured woman's beauty through a secret surgery only to later realize not only does the serum wear off but his victim is an escaped mental patient and forces him to try to stop her.

This one wasn't all that bad of a horror/thriller. Once this one gets going, among it's better qualities is the fact that there's a rather great deal of fun to be had with the effects of the surgery. Although slightly neutered, it comes off rather well in the context of the story and features some rather fun times throughout here with the different after-effects of the operation showing her treatment and recuperation along the way that delivers just enough to give us an idea something is off about the procedure and brings in some rather nice and welcomed elements in this section. From the worries about the liquid drying too quickly to the differences in body temperature causing an adverse reaction to the process, this section really drives home a rather grisly set-up to the later realization that she's deteriorating and coming undone while she continues on with her newfound freedom the lifestyle currently gives her. The ways in which she goes to keep that identity a secret from others, often resorting to shocking murders to cover up her crimes, this carries the later half along with the police investigation to find her after the escape using the different means of evidence to find her. This does enhance the pace leading into the finale in her confrontation in his laboratory from the varying threats and brawling to the surprise manner in which it concludes itself, which along with the grotesque look of the disfigurement makes for the film's positives. There's not a whole lot really wrong here, as the film's main flaw featured here is the change in storyline from the other efforts from that time-period does make this one stumble with it's pacing. Bringing onboard the plot line about her escape into the world at large and not keeping it focused on him killing for attempts to perfect the formula, there's not a whole lot of actual action to be found here for a large part of this one. This focus on the investigation instead doesn't give this one a ton of interesting things to do and simply following her on the run trying to stay out of the police's custody that never amounts to anything and really lets the film get dragged out far more than necessary. It never really keeps to a consistent pace and causes the film to feel far longer than it really should without having much going on around the main story, and while it does enhance the finale with the contrast against the other scenes, for the most part, it's not a big factor going on around here. Along with the quite shortsighted and abrupt ending that just stops the film suddenly, these here are really all that hold it back.

Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

Dr. Taylor (Rey) develops a revolutionary new process of restoring badly damaged human skin. His synthetic skin can quickly and painlessly eliminate scarring. Unfortunately, the Madrid Institute of Mental Health denies his request to start human testing of his procedure.

Soon after being rejected, he is approached by a desperate woman (Gaye) with appalling burn scars on the left half of her face from an accident involving an oil lamp. What Dr. Taylor doesn't know is that she is an escaped mental patient from the very institution that had just rejected his work. He agrees to attempt the procedure on her free of charge since she is to be the first human test subject. It turns out to be a resounding success.

Unfortunately, the patient flees the doctor when he discovers her true identity and wants to turn her in. During her escape, she incapacitates him with a blow to the head. Now on the run, she struggles to remain at large and even escape the Madrid area. The film follows her desperate plight to both remain free and prevent her new skin tissue from deteriorating.

"Face of Terror" (U.S. title) is rather well done in many respects. The cast is decent and the production values are fine. There are some genuinely chilling moments as our fleeing mental patient plots murder in order to get her way. Pacing is slow at times and the entire film is rather predictable, but it is still worth seeing if one is a dedicated fan of the genre.

Fernando Rey is a wheelchair-bound professor who has developed a formula that can heal scar tissue. When he alights upon the badly disfigured "Norma" (Lisa Gaye) he injects her with his serum with almost miraculous results, which he proceeds to display to his peers and friends. Unfortunately, the serum begins to wear off and "Norma" - who had only recently escaped from a mental institution determines to exact revenge on the doctor and his assistant "Alma". The acting and dialogue are competent, but the pace is shockingly slow - far too many development scenes and far too little actually happens to keep the attention until the last ten minutes when "Norma" goes on a bit of a murderous spree. Although the dubbing is not bad, and it looks like some of it has been re-shot in English; it still struggles to make much headway leaving more blemishes on the story than his serum could really ever hope to cure.