Film Recommendation: Eyes Without a Face (1962)

George Franju's Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage in the original French) is a horror film built on a solid foundation of melancholy and despair rather than shock-fest fright. At its heart, Eyes is the story of a father who becomes a monster to atone for an accident that left his daughter literally without a face. The tale is plenty dark, and its combination of imagery, pacing, and subtly building music creates a poetic, somber tone that haunts after the final, surreal scene.

Known among some circles for a key scene--a bit of film history where a woman's face is surgically removed with a scalpel, and yes the camera allows no escape during that seminal moment--the film as a whole delivers an unflinching sense of sorrow and regret.



(He later transplants the skin on his own daughter...ewww.)

I give it 8.5/10 surgical scalpels.

Eyes Without a Face at allmovie.com and imdb.com

Analysis: The Day the Earth Stood Still & Forbidden Planet

We are the scariest monsters.

Two science fiction movies from the 1950s act as a poignant reminder that people (and the technology we create) are the scariest monsters. The Cold War provided the backdrop for painting the portrait of the human monster. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) carried a disarmament message that I'm not sure the world's nuclear powers have taken heed even in 2008. People may "watch the skies" but the weapons mankind has constructed are far more frightening than a flying saucer. This film is a reminder that their is a gulf between being able to do something (e.g., create atomic bombs) and the wisdom recquired to use that ability.

MGM's Forbidden Planet (1956) made some very serious statements about the danger that lurks in humankind's subconscious mind. Produced at a time when the Soviets and Americans were developing technology at an alarming rate (especially weapons)--the parallels between Altair-4's history and Earth's present were quite vivid. The society on Altair-4 destroyed in a single day? I remember playground discussions about how nuclear weapons could, almost instantly, destroy all life on earth.

These two movies tried to show us that the real beast was lurking right here, on this planet, across the globe, across the street, and in our own minds. Have we, since the Cold War, become less monstrous and more human--less able to destroy each other and more likely to cooporate?