FACELESS UHD / BLU-RAY REVIEW

Clearly inspired by Georges Franju’s masterpiece EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960), here we get another variation of the oft-filmed horror scenario, but this time comingled with ’80s gore, pathological perversions, a third-rate detective story, and plenty more besides. Based on a story co-written by French movie mogul René Château, and featuring an all-star cast, Jess Franco’s FACELESS (1988) is an ambitious and irresistibly crazed confection, which has finally made the leap to high definition thanks to those ever-reliable folks at Severin Films.

Dr. Flamand is a plastic surgeon (Helmut Berger) who runs an exclusive clinic on the outskirts of Paris. As he enjoys a night out in the city with his sister Ingrid (Christian Jean) and his assistant Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie), he is accosted by one of his former patients whose face was disfigured following one of his procedures. Vowing revenge, she throws acid at him, but the botched attempt leaves Ingrid badly scarred, so with the help of Nathalie and their depraved servant Gordon (Gerard Zalcberg), they abduct various women in the hopes of restoring Ingrid’s face with a next-to-impossible “face transplant.” But when they kidnap Barbara Hallen (Caroline Munro), an American model working in Paris, her father (Telly Savalas) becomes suspicious when he doesn’t hear from her, so he hires Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum), a private detective and ex-Army buddy, to try and track her down…

 

Anyone familiar with Franco’s lower-budgeted work throughout most of his career, will immediately be struck by the film’s polished veneer, which possesses a decidedly different tone compared to say, his highly individualistic Golden Films productions from the early-to-mid-eighties. Jess had not been privy to such financial splurges since his days working for Harry Alan Towers back in the ’60s, but this generous budget soon began causing problems for the veteran director as evidenced in Alain Petit’s book, Jess Franco ou le prospérités du bis. “Jess had a hard time holding on to his usual collaborators, who were indispensable in order to make a movie as close as possible to his own style”, wrote Petit. Petit also likened Jess to being “sole master of his ship” who was not used to overseeing “master ocean liners”, a set-up which Jess obviously disliked. But despite the stormy production difficulties, Franco still managed to demonstrate an astute use of a commercial genre, just like he did some 25 years previous when he helmed the similarly-themed THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF (1962). Much like any number of horror films from the period, FACELESS is also loaded with several practical gore effects,including decapitations, dismemberments, power-drill lobotomies, and of course, the requisite face transplants, one of which goes horribly wrong, but the film’s muted, far from convenient resolution (which is pure unadulterated Franco!) may have curtailed the film’s obvious commercial aspirations. 

 

Topped off by an impressive, all-star international cast led by Helmut Berger, whose rather softly-spoken demeanour hides a sinister benignity, it is Anton Diffring whose performance as an egotistical ex-Nazi plastic surgeon (“The donors’ fears and panic are the best stimulants!”) that is most memorable. In a sly nod to his earlier role in Sidney Hayers’ CIRCUS OF HORRORS (1960) as you guessed it, a plastic surgeon, Diffring commits himself with grim determination as the over-confident genius (“I’m sure your hands are still magical!” remarks Nathalie), and dominates the film whenever he’s onscreen and is rather unbefitting of his guest-star billing. Berger’s insatiably adulterous love interest comes in the beautiful shape of Euro-starlet Brigitte Lahaie, who also performs sincerely and exudes the quiet menace of a cold-blooded killer with perfection. Other than filling a vital catalytic function in the story, Caroline Munro’s character is mostly consigned to sitting in a padded cell while French screen veteran Stéphane Audran ‘sticks’ around long enough for a particularly gruesome bit of gory mayhem. Among other genuinely humourous touches, Franco-regular Howard Vernon shows up as the esteemed Dr. Orlof in a brief, but pivotal scene while Lina Romay also shows up in blink-and-you’ll-miss-her cameo as Orlof’s wife!

 

Despite its rather lofty pedigree, FACELESS was given spotty distribution in North America, first appearing on Canadian VHS courtesy of the long-defunct Malofilm, and heavily-edited in most English-speaking territories. Bypassing VHS altogether in the U.S., Franco’s ‘comeback’ film wasn’t officially released until 2004 when Shriek Show debuted the film on DVD. A fine-looking disc, this featured the uncut film with audio options in both English and French, but for some strange reason, the last line of the film was only spoken in French, which only helped validate Shriek Show’s poor QC issues at the time. However, it did include several fantastic extras including a wonderfully detailed feature-length French language audio commentary from Franco and Romay (subtitled in English), a ‘selected scenes’ audio commentary from Chris Mitchum, and video interviews with Franco, Mitchum and Munro, along with the usual photo gallery and theatrical trailer. 

 

Absent from the home video market for the better part of two decades, Severin’s UHD / Blu-ray combo features a brand new 4K transfer and looks absolutely phenomenal, and works wonders with both the film’s surprisingly vibrant palette and Maurice Fellous’ slick camerawork, rendering it quite literally picture-perfect. A long time coming, the film will surely never look better than it does here! As expected, he DTS-HD 2.0 audio options in both English and French are also free of any issues, allowing Romano Musumarra’s incessant theme song (“Destination nowhere…”) to come through as clear as ever! Optional English subtitles are also provided. 

 

Extras include the aforementioned audio commentary from Franco and Romay (once again subtitled in English), which, after all these years, still remains a must-listen for die-hard Francophiles or just casual viewers wanting to know more about this cinematic duo. French and English trailers conclude the extras on the UHD. The remainder of the extensive special features are included on the Blu-ray, and begin with The Female Predator (16m07s), an on-camera interview with Brigitte Lahaie produced by the folks at Le Chat qui Fume. In it, she discusses everything from producer René Château (who had a “desire to direct”), his falling out with Jean-Paul Belmondo, the rather remarkable cast he put together for FACELESS, the difficulties Franco had during the shoot (“I think that Jess Franco suffered a lot on this shoot!”), her thoughts on both Jean Rollin and Franco, and much more. In Facial Recognition (20m27s), author and film critic Kim Newman talks at great length about “Cinema’s Plastic Surgery Nightmares”, beginning with Lew Landers’ THE RAVEN (1935) to Franco’s FACELESS and everything in between including Franco’s earlier Dr. Orlof films. In Parisian Encounters (25m55s), Caroline Munro chats about her introduction to Franco, how she landed the role in FACELESS and why she decided to do it because it was “out there.” She also comments on her many co-stars and how “honoured” she felt to be working with many of them. Of course, being a Franco film, Murderous Passions and Flowers of Perversion author Stephen Thrower is interviewed in Predators of the Night (26m08s), which is another extremely thorough discussion about Jess’ working conditions throughout the ’80s and what led him to helming FACELESS, his many influences for the film, his dislike of working around special effects, and much more. 

 

Other, no less significant bonuses include a Faceless EPK (8m33s), which contains behind-the-scenes clips of Jess directing on-set and brief interviews with Mitchum, Savalas and Berger, as well as Therese II: The Mission (3m31s), a short film starring Brigitte Lahaie as a gun-wielding nun, which was originally included on every 35mm print of FACELESS as a “preliminary program.” Being the completists that they are, Severin Films also incorporate the Franco and Mitchum interviews, and the ‘selected scenes’ commentary from Shriek Show’s disc.  

 

Slickly constructed and featuring a wonderful cast, Jess Franco’s FACELESS is an irresistible and colourfully outrageous Euro horror, which is expertly handled by the folks at Severin Films with their flawless UHD / Blu-ray combo. As usual, their disc also includes reversible cover art and a wonderful slipcover, which fans of Brigitte Lahaie should appreciate. Order it direct from Severin Films. 

PLEASE NOTE: All screen grabs are taken directly from the Blu-ray and not the UHD. 

CONTRABAND BLU-RAY REVIEW

Translation of an Italian newspaper ad from August 1980: ‘Experience First-Hand All the Battles and the Violence of Italian Smuggling!’  

In spite of the usual hyperbole given above, nothing could possibly prepare audiences for Lucio Fulci’s CONTRABAND (1980), which turned out to be the bloodiest Italian crime movie of them all! Original Italo pressbooks inevitably compared CONTRABAND to William Friedkin’s THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) and that film’s prime villain, Marcel Bozzuffi, here plays “the gangster from Marseilles who unleashes a chain of violence.” While it clearly derives its inspiration from Friedkin’s groundbreaking picture, Fulci’s film is your standard tale of Camorra in-fighting and revenge, albeit liberally splattered with outrageous scenes of graphic violence that rival anything in his much-discussed/praised cannibal zombie films. Produced by Sandra Infascelli, this was her next big Italocrime production following Umberto Lenzi’s last great contribution to the genre, FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN (1979), but unlike the prolific Lenzi, CONTRABAND was Fulci’s only all-out crime film, which has finally made its worldwide Blu-ray debut thanks to the dedicated folks at Cauldron Films.

 

When motoscafi blu (“blue speedboat”) bandits Luca (Fabio Testi) and his brother Mickey (Enrico Maisto) are almost apprehended by the pappagallo (local slang for “police boat”) while smuggling cigarettes into Naples, they’re convinced that a rival contrabander named Sciarrino (Ferdinando Murolo), has ratted them out. They plan on teaching Sciarrino a valuable lesson with the help of Luigi Perlante (Saverio Marconi), a hot-headed but powerful gangster. However, Mickey is gunned-down the following day by a hitman disguised as a cop and Luca soon realizes that Sciarrino wasn’t responsible for betraying them to the Guardia di Finanza after all. In actuality it was the work of François Jocois better known as “The Marseilleise” (Bozzuffi, natch’), a vicious Marseilles drug lord out to replace the prosperous cigarette trade with a far stronger addiction… heroin.

 

As discussed earlier, CONTRABAND is very similar in concept to any number of camorra pics that take place on the Neapolitan docks (i.e., the Alfonso Brescia / Mario Merola films such as THE NEW GODFATHERS [1979]), but the primary reason for the film’s continued popularity— especially among fans of Fulci’s horror films—is the excessive amount of gore spilled: heads are blown apart, bodies are messily riddled with bullets, et cetera. As one of the film’s innumerable hitmen, Italian character actor Nello Pazzafini winds up boiled alive in a bubbling sulphur pit (“Asshole deserved ta end up like this!”), while Testi goes on to skewer his brother’s killer with a 9-inch nail. When one character is shot in the Adam’s Apple, his wound gushes voluminous quantities of gore, which is comparable to anything seen in Fulci’s splatter classics ZOMBIE (1979) or his pièce de résistance, THE BEYOND (1981). Come to think of it, this is one of his splatter classics!

 

As the ruthless French connection, Bozzuffi is especially effective herein and actually tops his star-making turn in Friedkin’s influential film for general nastiness. When Ingrid (Ofelia Meyer), a member of the Frankfurt cartel, tries to sell him some heroin cut with baking soda (“You stupid cunt! …It’s half bicarbonate!”), Bozzuffi decides to torch her face with a Bunsen burner belonging to his hunchbacked chemist (Luciano Rossi, who filled a similar function in Ferdinando Baldi’s THE SICILIAN CONNECTION [1972]). In another highly exploitable scene, when Luca finds himself all on his own, his wife Adele (Ivana Monti) is brutally raped by one of the Marseilleise’s goons (the great Romano Puppo) as Luca helplessly listens on the phone. Like one of his gory, drawn-out horror set-pieces, the camera lingers on the vile act, which turns out to be one of the more unpleasant scenes in Fulci’s entire oeuvre. As Luisa, one of Perlante’s molls, transsexual actor Ajita Wilson bares her “tasty set o’ coconuts!” in a feverish strobe-light disco sequence, but also suffers further abuse at the hands of rival gangsters.

 

Efficiently handled by Fulci (who also briefly appears in front of the camera as a shotgun-wielding hitman) and his now famous accomplices including DP Sergio Salvati, editor Vincenzo Tomassi and composer Fabio Frizzi, CONTRABAND seems oddly out-of-place when compared to other poliziesco or mafia pics. The extreme gore and hyper-stylized photography imbue the entire film with a haunting, almost otherworldly feel, which is especially evident during the finale at a desolate seaside locale. Some of the slow-motion action scenes also add plenty of visual appeal and take the cinema stylings of Sam Peckinpah to almost ridiculous—but very welcome—levels, all of which is ably complimented by Frizzi’s bass-heavy rhythms and chugging percussion.

 

Originally released on U.S. home video by Mogul Communications in 1987 (“They want revenge… and the city is about to explode!”), this once collectible VHS tape was, for the most part uncut, but featured a hazy transfer, which did no favours for Salvati’s eloquently grey-and-blue drenched photography. The film eventually made its DVD debut in the U.S. in 2003 via Blue Underground (a non-anamorphic Dutch DVD was also released in 2001 courtesy of Italian Shock, but the less said about this edited DVD, the better), which was a vast improvement in terms of picture quality and also retained the proper 16x9 widescreen format. The film was subsequently released on DVD in several European countries including Germany and Denmark, however a UK DVD from Shameless also included an Italian language audio track with optional English subtitles. For the time, the jump to DVD was a considerable upgrade, but all of these releases can now be rendered obsolete with the arrival of Cauldron Films’ new Blu-ray. 

 

Licensed from the film’s Italian rights holder, Surf Film, S.r.l., CONTRABAND has been “restored from a 4K scan of the negative”, and looks absolutely magnificent. The 1080p resolution adds solid contrasts with plenty of shadowy detail and remarkable sharpness when compared to its SD counterparts. The image is, for the most part, still distinguished by Salvati’s cool grey-and-blue hue, but Cauldron’s new transfer also conveys an abundance of rich colours in several sequences (i.e., the disco club sequences), which also helps the many scenes of copious bloody violence really stand out. In a nice gesture, Cauldron has included both English and Italian audio options in LPCM 2.0 mono, which includes some slight differences in music cues, and while the Italian audio track sounds slightly more robust, the more familiar English variant also sounds perfectly fine, even if the English dubbing leaves a lot to be desired. Properly translated English subtitles are provided for the Italian audio (which again includes some minor differences) while English subtitles for the hearing impaired are included for the English version.

 

The extensive extras begin with a lively audio commentary with Cinema Arcana’s Bruce Holecheck, Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson, and author and film historian Troy Howarth all of whom have plenty to discuss about the film’s “atypical” nature and the film’s storied production history, which was partly financed by the local Camorra! They also talk about the overall “darker and somber” mood of the entire film, and how it plays out “very much like a horror film” with an “emphasis on sadism”, a point which is later expanded upon when discussing Fulci’s unfairly labelled “misogynist” tendencies. They also spend a lot of time talking about the many principal actors and their interesting careers including that “woman of mystery” Ajita Wilson and her brief but memorable time working in Italy. Of course, they discuss much, much more in what amounts to a thorough and very informative listen.

 

Further extras are provided by several revealing on-camera interviews conducted by Eugenio Ercolani, which begin with A Woman Under Fire (21m54s) wherein actress Ivana Monti discusses the early stages of her lengthy career, her move into film, and of course, the complicated and wonderful experience of working with Fulci. In From Stage to Slaughter (19m58s), theatre actor Saverio Marconi also recollects his time working in the Italian film industry in this career-spanning interview where he also chats about his “terrific rapport” with Fulci whom he recalls was “clever with a wicked sense of humour.” Sergio Salvati, one of Fulci’s most trusted DP’s is interviewed in Lucio and I (17m52s), wherein he fondly remembers their working relationship, the “tight-knit group of collaborators” Fulci assembled, and of course, he also discusses his rather gruff personality, which even bled into his private life. In The Real Lucio (13m24s), writer/director Giorgio Mariuzzo is very nostalgic about his experiences with Fulci, but he too, has nothing but positive things to say about the director and his working process, and freely admits he has an “aversion to horror.” A quartet of archival interviews featuring actors Fabrizio Jovine (5m34s) and Venantino Venantini (5m11s), Salvati (5m51s) and Fabio Frizzi (2m07s) are taken from the PAURA: LUCIO FULCI REMEMBERED VOL. 1 DVD and are a nice addition to an already over-stuffed package. Both the Italian and English language trailers, and a generous image gallery (4m22s) comprised of fotobuste, lobbycards, video artwork and other ephemera are also included. And if that weren’t enough, the first pressing includes the complete Fabio Frizzi score on a bonus CD (16 tracks, 33m23s), along with 5 mini-fotobusta/lobbycard reproductions, and a slick slipcover!

 

Enlivened by several stylish action sequences and gruesome gore, Lucio Fulci’s outrageous CONTRABAND amounts to a consistently engaging crossover of obvious appeal to both fans of Eurocrime or straight-ahead horror, and thanks to Cauldron Films, this key title in Fulci’s illustrious career finally gets the respect it deserves. Highly recommended! Order it from Cauldron Films with the Italian art cover or Graham Humphreys cover.