FACE OF TERROR (1962)
aka La cara del terror
Article 2955 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-10-2009
Posting Date: 9-16-2009
Directed by Isidoro M. Ferry and William J. Hole Jr
Featuring Lisa Gaye, Fernando Rey, Virgilio Teixeira
Country: Spain

A scientist tests a new method of plastic surgery on a horribly scarred young woman. However, he is unaware that the woman is an escapee from a mental institute…

In some ways, I really admire this movie. It has one of the greatest Spanish actors in the role of the mad scientist (Fernando Rey), and the character is given more rounding and fullness than it might have gotten otherwise. This greater attention to character includes the woman escapee as well; once she’s had the operation, she just doesn’t go out and begin killing people, but sets out initially to live a normal life. Still, despite these touches, the story is utterly humdrum and predictable, and at least one scene is extremely bad; really, if you were in the midst of blackmailing an escapee from a mental institute, would you force open a pair of elevator doors to stare down the open shaft with the escapee right behind you? The dubbing is merely passable for the most part (it sounds like everyone is in an echo chamber), though the dubbing for Rey is quite good; I wonder if he dubbed himself here.