Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11377 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-05-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Special Features
Interview from the programme Georges Franju - Visionary

Synopsis
A surgeon feels responsible when his beautiful daughter is disfigured in a car crash. He tries to restore her features by kidnapping runaway girls, peeling off their faces and grafting them onto his daughter's. French dialogue with subtitles.

Customer Reviews

haunting, gruesome and beautiful
With so many unforgettable moments - from the opening scene (accompanied by highly disturbing carnival music) of vampish Louise driving in her 2CV to dump a body at the banks of the Seine; to the unflinching shots of `mad scientist' Dr Genessier's horrific surgical experiments, and the sublime scenes of Christiane gliding ethereally down the steps from the attic in which she is kept - this is a superior horror movie in every way.

Eyes Without a Face (or Les Yeux sans Visage, if you want to be a bit French) combines elements of the Gothic novel with a surrealist sensibility to create an absolutely unforgettable cinematic experience. Long after the cheap-shock tricks of many of today's horror franchises have been forgotten, the hauntingly beautiful scenes of Christiane's eyes gazing through her mask, and the inescapable and bloody surgical scene, will be remembered.

A classic in the genre.

"My Face or Yours?"
I was pretty darned intrigued when I heard about this movie. Everything about it seemed to appeal to the darker side of my nature - a French gothic horror movie with an incredibly disturbing, amoral premise. I read a few reviews that were unanimously favourable. Then I saw the haunting imagery on the DVD cover and thought, "I need to see that movie!"

So I've seen it, and sadly I'm not overly impressed. Granted, there are some genuinely unnerving scenes in this film. The excruciatingly long "face-removing" scene had me cringing and pulling pained expressions as if I was sipping a particularly potent vinegar. Elsewhere in the movie, we have a series of nightmarish still images that show the gradual deterioration of this young girl's transplanted face. And these images have most certainly stayed with me, creeping in to my fevered mind during periods of insomnia.

On the whole, though, I believe that this film has not stood the test of time. Much of the acting is a little too wooden, and the pacing in parts is almost painfully slow. Also, despite the disturbing content I previously mentioned, many of the scenes here are simply QUITE eerie rather than spine-chillingly spooky. Also, I must say that I found the film's ending very underwhelming and abrupt.

So...in my humble opinion..."Eyes Without a Face" is possibly one to rent rather than lay out hard cash for. A pretty good film, but not one to watch more than once.

Classic!!!!!!
If you said to me a year ago I would like a 1950's film I would have laughed this has so much going for it you want to see behind the mask !!!
I think the fact this is old and in black and white is whats so unerving
and the era before todays wonderous plastic surgery perfections. Like the previous reviewer said after some of todays poor horror films this is still known !!!!!