When the best films of 1987 poll kicked off ICM,the first thing which came to mind was to check the credits from the year, of who the old IMDb Horror board regs had called "Uncle" Jess Franco. Before he suddenly passed away this year, a family friend called Guy had told me that this was the last big budget (for him!) the auteur had made,and finding it matched the year,I looked at the faceless Uncle Jess.
View on the film:
The first time he had a decent budget since Jack the Ripper (1976),co-writer/(with Pierre Ripert/Jean Mazarin/ Michel Lebrun/ Dominique Eudes and producer Rene Chateau) directing auteur "Uncle" Jess Franco brings his Orloff creation back into the era of the Erotic Thriller,which Jess enters with a tasty heaping of stylised kitsch, (backed by the toe-tapping Disco crooning tunes sung by Vincenzo Thoma)brimming from the pounding bright reds and his own unique, scatter-shot whip-pans landing on the pristine, garish clothes, reflecting the vanity of those being forced under the knife for beauty.
Whilst toning down his trademark button-bashing zoom-ins to light moments of hot lesbian action, Uncle Jess puts the extra cash he got on screen in excellent practical special effects set-pieces, striking from a Lucio Fulci-style poke in the eye, to gore hounds delight of face removal operations brimming with red.
As detailed in Stephen Thrower's outstanding book Flowers of Perversion: The Delirious Cinema of Jess Franco- Volume 2, Jess had wanted to give Orloff (what would turn out to be the final appearance of the character) a bigger in the ending with a final twist, which was blocked by co-writer/producer Rene Chateau, and that leaves Orloff being given an added,subtle layer to his murky past,and a farewell threaded in a oddly bitter sweet vibe,when stepping out of the operation room for good. Surrounding the ghouls with a gaudy, eye-abusing backdrop, Jess goes down the corridor of women being locked in a (mental) prison, and with the co-writers attacks the amoral (a theme in Jess's work) vanity of the era with relish.
Dripping exchanges between Dr Flamand and his "patients" with ripe acid dialogue, the writers twist the stereotype of the "Mad Doctor/ Scientist" genre, first in Ingrid not being forced, but a willing partner for the killings to be committed in order to restore her beauty, "specialist" Dr. Moser being more concerned with his ego than the acts being committed. Holding the richly cynical atmosphere right to the end, the writers avoid a clean happy ending, instead holding investigator Morgan on a cryptic ledge.
Reuniting with Uncle Jess, sexy Brigitte Lahaie gives a icy cool turn as deadly vixen nurse Nathalie, whilst Caroline Munro and Stephane Audran (!) bring the screams as Barbara and Sherman. Joined by the welcome return of Howard Vernon's Orloff, and Helmut Berger's eyes of madness as Dr.Flamand, Anton Diffring gives a mesmerising turn in one of his last roles, drilling into the cold, deadly professional way Dr. Moser looks at the faceless.
View on the film:
The first time he had a decent budget since Jack the Ripper (1976),co-writer/(with Pierre Ripert/Jean Mazarin/ Michel Lebrun/ Dominique Eudes and producer Rene Chateau) directing auteur "Uncle" Jess Franco brings his Orloff creation back into the era of the Erotic Thriller,which Jess enters with a tasty heaping of stylised kitsch, (backed by the toe-tapping Disco crooning tunes sung by Vincenzo Thoma)brimming from the pounding bright reds and his own unique, scatter-shot whip-pans landing on the pristine, garish clothes, reflecting the vanity of those being forced under the knife for beauty.
Whilst toning down his trademark button-bashing zoom-ins to light moments of hot lesbian action, Uncle Jess puts the extra cash he got on screen in excellent practical special effects set-pieces, striking from a Lucio Fulci-style poke in the eye, to gore hounds delight of face removal operations brimming with red.
As detailed in Stephen Thrower's outstanding book Flowers of Perversion: The Delirious Cinema of Jess Franco- Volume 2, Jess had wanted to give Orloff (what would turn out to be the final appearance of the character) a bigger in the ending with a final twist, which was blocked by co-writer/producer Rene Chateau, and that leaves Orloff being given an added,subtle layer to his murky past,and a farewell threaded in a oddly bitter sweet vibe,when stepping out of the operation room for good. Surrounding the ghouls with a gaudy, eye-abusing backdrop, Jess goes down the corridor of women being locked in a (mental) prison, and with the co-writers attacks the amoral (a theme in Jess's work) vanity of the era with relish.
Dripping exchanges between Dr Flamand and his "patients" with ripe acid dialogue, the writers twist the stereotype of the "Mad Doctor/ Scientist" genre, first in Ingrid not being forced, but a willing partner for the killings to be committed in order to restore her beauty, "specialist" Dr. Moser being more concerned with his ego than the acts being committed. Holding the richly cynical atmosphere right to the end, the writers avoid a clean happy ending, instead holding investigator Morgan on a cryptic ledge.
Reuniting with Uncle Jess, sexy Brigitte Lahaie gives a icy cool turn as deadly vixen nurse Nathalie, whilst Caroline Munro and Stephane Audran (!) bring the screams as Barbara and Sherman. Joined by the welcome return of Howard Vernon's Orloff, and Helmut Berger's eyes of madness as Dr.Flamand, Anton Diffring gives a mesmerising turn in one of his last roles, drilling into the cold, deadly professional way Dr. Moser looks at the faceless.