Scalpel (1977) User Reviews

Surprisingly Excellent.

[meddlecore · 7/10 · 16 November 2020]

First, there was Vertigo...then, there was Eyes Without A Face...and now, there is Scalpel...

A plastic surgeon has become estranged from his daughter, after murdering his wife, and his daughter's long time boyfriend.

By his own admission, he does the devil's work...changing the ugly, maimed, and deformed, into the beautiful.

Though, clearly...he indulges in more gruesome aspects of the job.

The motives behind his actions are to secure his father's fortune.

As he knows his father had written him out of his will and left everything to his daughter.

Thus, he needs to keep her close, so that he could cash in on the inheritance he feels is rightfully his. . But this only acts to push her away.

So, having lost his daughter, when his father dies, he must come up with a new plan.

Which comes to fruition when he finds a battered stripper hobbling down the street.

Her face has been destroyed...so he recreates it in the likeness of his daughter.

Planning to use the woman, as his daughter's doppelganger, in order to trick his father's estate into handing over the money.

Little did he suspect, though, that his daughter would discover his plot...and return to try and foil it.

In a twist of fate, the two women start to work together, figuring he would resort to try and eliminate one of them.

Leaving them with only one option.

To fashion a scheme of their own...and turn the tables on him...

When you sell your soul to the devil...there's always a price to pay...and the time to pay it always comes before you think it will.

Just ask the not-so-good doctor...he's living proof.

Because he's now trapped in one hell of a bad trip...from which he'll never escape.

As the two women become the beneficiaries of everything he so desired to possess.

Such being the cost of playing games with the devil, on his terms.

Judith Chapman does an excellent job in both roles as Heather (his daughter) and Jane (the stripper).

And despite it's budget, VHS-quality format...the film is actually much better than one would suspect.

With a storyline that takes inspiration from, the aforementioned films, and then combining that with the plot from De Palma's Sisters.

Though all with an air of originality.

The whole thing was shot in Atlanta and Covington, Georgia...incorporating lots of beautiful scenery, and some great locations.

Exceeding all expectations I had going in.

It's definitely worth a watch.

7 out of 10.

"He thought I was some sort of Frankenstein"

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 15 July 2010]

"Scalpel" aka "False Face" is a soberly sturdy little southern Gothic dramatic thriller that might not have the pulsating thrills sprinkled throughout but the solid performances (Robert Lansing perfectly portrays one really twisted character underneath the solemnly overconfident façade) and a laconic narrative pulls you through by throwing up some offbeat occurrences (possible incest) and tension-grabbing surprises. It's humid soap opera stuff with many complications surfacing, as the harboured dementia (Lansing's laugh shows glimpses of it) lurking beneath goes onto tear a gaping hole in the trust, as lust enters the mind.

Plastic surgeon Dr. Phillip Reynolds learns at the will reading of his deceased father-in-law that his daughter (who has been missing for some time now and his violent tendencies might just have something to do with that) has inherited the family fortune of 5 million dollars. This makes Reynolds and his brother-in-law Bradley (who only received the pooch) angry and annoyed. Later that night while driving the pair come across a badly beaten go-go dancer that won't give out any personal details, so Reynolds secretly offers the girl the chance of inheriting some of his daughter's fortune if she agrees to allow him to reconstruct her face - just like his daughter and act like her. She accepts, and the scheme is in motion. Everything is going according to plan, that's until the real daughter appears on the scene.

Quite an interestingly chameleon-like and slow-grinding psychological drama, as it does bestow some powerfully suggestive images. Leading the way would be the father-daughter affection, especially the warped nature when he transforms the go-go dancer into his daughter. There it begins a creepy attraction --- was it always there --- did it serve for the death of his wife and his daughter's boyfriend? Though things really do get compelling when his real daughter shows up, as some instances will have you guessing to how it will actually progress. The true beauty or the cheap imitation. The performances are spot on; Margaret Chapman is simply wonderful playing two roles by bringing the right shades and mannerisms to her two very different characters, despite the appearances. Arlen Dean Snyder provides a lively turn as Bradley, where his suspicion gets the better of him. Writer / director John (the man behind the 1987 twin slasher "Blood Rage") Grissmer does a workmanlike job, rather accomplished but never truly exciting and a bit murky. However the dry air works in its favour, where the exhaustively moody music score blends well with the dramas and southern setting.

A genuinely well-devised and clinical curio.

A 1970s Horror Hidden Treasure

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 18 April 2018]

A murderous surgeon (Robert Lansing) concocts a twisted scheme to win his missing daughter's inheritance money: by transforming a Jane Doe (Judith Chapman) into her double.

Although he was a constantly working actor, Lansing is probably best remembered as the authoritarian Brig. Gen. Frank Savage in "12 O'clock High" (1964), the television drama series about World War II bomber pilots. Genre fans may know him from "4D Man" (1959), "Empire of the Ants" (1977) or "The Nest" (1988). "Scalpel" is an early role for Judith Chapman who went on to star in a wide variety of soap operas.

The film has been called a "Hitchcock wannabe", which is fair. But really, it is as good as some of Hitchcock's work. Maybe not his best films, but better than average.

Robert Lansing Saves The Day!

[wilburscott · 6/10 · 6 May 2006]

The master of the icy stare that could freeze your blood, dumpy actor Robert Lansing made a lot of movies watchable, including "The 4-D Man" and many others. Such is the case with SCALPEL, a slice of southern sleaze from Georgia. When he's not busy chewing the scenery, casually talking about plastic surgery, or yelling "Go get her, GOD DAMN IT!" to a hired killer, he is just rolling in the part of Dr. Reynolds, your friendly neighborhood psychotic plastic surgeon. The rest of the fortunately small cast seems uninterested in what's going on, mainly there to collect a paycheck to buy some more of those gaudy 1970's outfits, although Arlen Dean Snyder is good in his role as the suspicious Uncle Bradley. Without Lansing, this film would have probably been long forgotten. We still need the DVD though! Get this thing a widescreen transfer!

A kind of Southern Gothic giallo

[lazarillo · 1 May 2010]

Robert Lansing plays a crazed, arrogant plastic surgeon whose young adult daughter has run away (after he lets her mother drown and brutally murders her boyfriend). When his wealthy father-in-law dies and leaves his entire estate to the missing girl, he hits on the idea of using plastic surgery to re-make the face of a disfigured go-go dancer (Margaret Chapman) into the spitting image of his runaway daughter. Complications arise, however, when he is unable to sexually resist his new "daughter", and when his real daughter suddenly returns. . .

This is pretty interesting movie, kind of Southern Gothic giallo thriller. By the standards of American thrillers, it's patently absurd, but this kind of perverse absurdity always worked well in the Italian-made giallo genre, so if you're a fan of those type of films, you'll probably enjoy this low-budget, Southern-fried American version. Lansing is good as the mad plastic surgeon. (He's very good at laughing evilly). Although she was mainly a TV actress, Margaret Chapman does well in a dual role, creating two identical but very different characters (and she had to do so without the benefit of split-screen or expensive special effects). She's also pretty appealing (kind of a red-haired version of Jessica Harper of "Phantom of Paradise" and "Suspiria" fame).

What I found most amazing about this was that it was originally rated PG back in the 1970's! Besides the quasi-incest (or actual incest?) angle, Chapman's character is first introduced as a topless go-go dancer who is getting her face smashed into a bloody mess against a wall by a burly male bouncer (a scene obviously perfectly appropriate for children in the 1970's). This has got to rank up there with "Blood and Lace" as the most violent and perverse movie ever to garner a permissive PG rating. I personally wouldn't recommend showing it to your children, but it is a pretty entertaining movie.

Interesting Premise...

[ecatalan98 · 6/10 · 28 January 2022]

I've been wanting to watch "Scalpel" since the early 80s when I saw a video review in a magazine. It was tough to get a copy but I finally did. Now some 40 years later I sat through this interesting thriller from the mid 70s.

"Scalpel" deals with Dr. Phillip Reynolds, a wealthy and talented plastic surgeon with a sketchy immediate past: his wife mysteriously drowned, her daughter's boyfriend also drowned and his daughter went missing for over a year. When his father in law dies, Dr. Reynolds is left out of his will entirely, leaving his grand daughter with a 5 million dollar inheritance. Since the grand daughter is missing, there's no way for anyone to access that amount.

As fate would have it, Dr. Reynolds crosses paths with a stripper whose face has been severely beaten to the point of disfigurement. It is here when a light bulb inside Dr. Reynolds head goes on and decides to reconstruct the face of the stripper to the very image of his missing daughter. This is the only way Dr. Reynolds can have a piece of his father in law's inheritance.

Though the first half of the movie moves at a slow albeit creepy and interesting pace, after that the plot holes start to sink this otherwise worthy thriller. I am pretty much against remakes/reimagining of classic films, but here's one that could actually benefit from a more skilled director's touch. The film simply loses its plot towards the end with out-of-nowhere twists that are never explained nor addressed. Robert Lansing still gives a good performance as the psycho plastic surgeon and Judith Chapman is great as both, Jane Doe and Heather Reynolds.

Still worth a watch, if you can manage to get your hands on it. I'm unaware if this is on any streaming platform. 6 out of 10.

Hush Hush Sweet Heather.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 4 September 2022]

As the world turns for Jane (Judith Chapman), so will the days of her lives, keeping her young and rich and reckless. The veteran soap actress plays a dual role, first Heather, an heiress believed by her plastic surgeon (Robert Lansing) to have drowned, and a stripper he operated on in the hospital to look like his daughter. Lansing is a sociopathic nutcase, desperate to control the estate of a father he hated, and that means getting rid of his brother and frequent co-conspirator Arlen Dean Snyder. Lots of twists and turns, especially when the real Heather turns up and begins to conspire with her doppelganger.

I just love the shot of Heather supposedly drowning while Lansing pedals by on a boat and does everything but wave goodbye to her. Then after the funeral of snyder, there's a big chorus in a large cemetery of "When the saints go marching In" with everyone in colorful clothing as a big buffet is waiting for them. Chapman, the Tallulah Bankhead of soap operas, is fabulous in this, a part I could easily see a young Davis, Stanwyck or Crawford playing, although this is done on a very low budget. In spite of that, this melodrama (not really a horror film) is actually pretty good, and Lansing is a great antagonist. This keeps the audience guessing up until the end as to what's going to happen, and especially who of the three characters will have the last laugh.

Physician Heal Thyself.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 3 May 2010]

Robert Lansing is a reconstructive surgeon, and an adaptable one, plastic, as it turns out. He let his wife drown years ago, then, catching his college-student daughter, Heather, in some heavy petting, drowns her boyfriend. The daughter disappears, as who wouldn't, and nothing is heard of her for more than a year.

Then death, as it must to all men, comes to Heather's immensely wealthy grandfather, Lansing's father-in-law. Grand Dad hates Lansing and leaves all his money to Heather. All well and good except that Heather is nowhere to be found.

What's a psychopathic surgeon to do? Here's what Lansing does. He finds a nearly nude girl of about Heather's age lying on the street, her face bashed in. He rushes her to the hospital and when it develops that Jane Doe has no identification, no family, no background, the penny drops. He reconstructs her face so that she now looks exactly like Heather.

When Jane is discharged, her head still embandaged from occiput to mental process, he takes her home to his mansion and spends the next several months coaching her to take Heather's place and inherit the five million dollars, which they will then split between them.

He throws a big get-together for friends and relatives and introduces Jane as Heather, finally returned from her year and a half in the wilderness, and just in time to claim the inheritance, while insisting that half the money be put into her Daddy's account.

Then complications ensue, or, shall we say, sequela follow. First off, an uncle grows suspicious when he finds out that the faux Heather is not the piano prodigy she once was. During the argument with Lansing, he has a heart attack and drops to the floor, where Lansing is calmly compelled to watch him die, while Lansing himself is making wisecracks and pounding out "Chopsticks" on the piano keys.

Second, there is the problem that Jane now looks and acts just like Heather, and both of them look and act like Judith Chapman, the actress playing both roles. That wouldn't be a problem if Judith Chapman looked like an aardvark but she looks like Judith Chapman. Chapman has a pixyish beauty. Let us treat her face, so to speak. Her eyes are set far apart and she has small but sensual lips that look made for a bong pipe. Her features, in fact, remind one of those old-fashioned plastic dolls that have huge eyes with big black lashes on the upper lids, eyes that roll shut when the doll is set on its back. That, more or less, is what Lansing does to Jane, and it's at her suggestion too. When they're alone, he suggests they get out of the house and have some fun tomorrow. She lifts her gaze meaningfully to his and says, "Philip, why can't we have some fun . . . right now?" He cradles her face with his nimble fingers and murmurs, "You look exactly like her." The similarity includes a skeletal frame that anthropologist's call "gracile", thin and full of grace, though flamboyantly feminine at the pelvic girdle. The air is redolent of incest.

The real Heather returns secretly to the house and tells Jane a few things. The plastic doll is brought upright and the eyeballs click open. Now things get REALLY complicated. Do Heather and Jane decide to play a prank on Lansing by changing places for a day? Does Lansing decide to knock off Jane? Or Heather? Or BOTH? Medical discretion forbids further plot revelations.

Lansing is the right guy for the role. The default setting for his features are a determined scowl and his voice is a resonant but mortally wounded baritone. So when, on rare occasions, he chuckles, you know it must mean something, though not necessarily that he finds the situation at all humorous.

This was written and directed by John Grissmer who, for whatever reasons, did not go on to bigger and better things as this production suggests he might have. The scenes in surgery are pretty convincing. The musical score alternates between a swooping mystery/love theme and snapping snare drums during chase scenes, nothing spectacular. The photography is flat and lacks dynamics. And Grissmer may be a better writer than a director. Hitchcock would have turned this into a teeth-grinder but his religious convictions would have prevented him from imagining such a taboo story, or, if not from imagining it, at least from expressing it.

Great Twisted Southern Soap!

[Carrigon · 10/10 · 22 November 1999]

This movie has a great plot. It's fast paced and fun. And it's full of surprises. There's lots of southern flavor here, even a funeral with a jazz band playing and lots of people actually dancing at it. This movie is a classic. It's best to see only the uncut version.

Not Without My False-Faced Daughter

[Coventry · 7/10 · 24 November 2011]

I am the proud owner of an original copy of "Scalpel" on VHS. I deliberately use the words 'proud owner' because, even though far from being a masterpiece or even a gem, this is nevertheless a uniquely bizarre, eccentric and obscure melodrama/psycho-thriller. The basic plot as described on the back of the VHS already sounds quite absurd, but the film gradually gets more bonkers with every new story twist and additional perverted undertone that gets introduced!

Robert Lansing is ideally cast, with his natural psychotic charisma, and terrifically performs his role as the totally preposterous plastic surgeon Philippe Reynolds who has more than just one mental issue. Even though he's already quite wealthy, like one of the characters aptly points out, he still wants to obtain his father-in-law's five million dollar inheritance at all costs. Slight problem, however, is that father-in-law hated his guts and left the entire fortune to Philippe's cute daughter Heather. Slightly bigger problem even; Heather vanished more than a year ago after she witnessed how daddy drowned her boyfriend in the pond. But when Dr. Reynolds rescues a strip-dancer from the streets, whose face has been reduced to goulash by a dissatisfied customer, he comes up with the brilliant idea to reconstruct her frontispiece to the exact image of his missing daughter and convince her to share the inheritance with him. Problems arise when Dr. Reynolds can't control his sexual desires toward his daughter/partner in crime, when other family members and friends become increasingly suspicious and – especially – when the real Heather suddenly returns home.

"False Face" has the unique ability to be very brilliant and incredibly stupid at the same time! The plot makes some of the craziest twists and turns imaginable. They are highly implausible, of course, but also very inventive and definitely unpredictable. There were a couple of moments when the complete opposite of what I expected happened and that is something you just have to appreciate! Furthermore there are a few downright absurd sequences in "False Face", like a genuine and never before seen funeral jazz party (yes, indeed) and a hilarious flashback sequence showing Dr. Reynolds' wife drowning whilst he cheerfully paddles by in a dumb-looking little boat. The supportive cast is filled with luscious and typically Southern-Georgia characters, like for example a drunken sexist uncle and sleazy barman. The exquisite Judith Chapman also gives a stellar performance in her double; which really mustn't have been easy since the Jane-character is cocky and playful, whereas the Heather-character is timid and insecure. "False Face" is a truly fun movie, solidly scripted and directed by John Grissmer who – strangely enough – only made two movies with an interlude of a decade. The other being "Blood Rage"; a rare 80's slasher which I certainly wouldn't mind seeing also.

more thriller than horror, fairly entertaining but not exceptionally so

[FieCrier · 5/10 · 15 April 2005]

An old man has died, cutting out his only son from his will, as well as his other relatives, leaving five million to his granddaughter Heather. Uncle Bradley, the only son, is understandably angry. So is Dr. Reynolds, the old man's son-in-law and father to Heather. Dr. Reynolds is a plastic surgeon with definite psychotic tendencies when it comes to his family. He evidently had killed his wife, making it look like an accidental drowning while swimming, and also killed his daughter's boyfriend, making it look like an accidental drowning as a result of drunkenness.

Heather, however, isn't around to claim the inheritance. No one has seen her for a year.

Bradley and Dr. Reynolds almost run over a go-go-dancer with their car. She'd been ejected by a bouncer from a club in only her panties and high heels, and the bouncer had smashed her face into a wall several times for reasons unknown. The two men don't know where she came from, and take her to the hospital. Without telling Bradley, the Doctor rebuilds her face so she looks like his daughter, books a phony airline flight for her, then takes her home and teaches her how to impersonate Heather. They'll split the five million evenly. They begin a sexual relationship as well, making the Doc quite the pervert for being able to do that with his daughter's exact likeness!

Complicating things are the fact that the phony Heather can't play piano like the real one, Bradley grows suspicious, and the real Heather quietly shows up again.

Curiously, the other film directed by John Grissmer, Blood Rage, also deals with identical twins - though the characters are actual identical twins played by one actor, here they're identical by virtue of surgery and played by one actress. The fake twins are more or less act the same in False Face (which I saw on video as Scalpel), while in Blood Rage they're more pronouncedly different.

One of the chief problems with the movie for me was that it felt overlong. It was fairly engrossing, but at the same time nothing terribly special.

Scalpel

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 17 June 2021]

Interesting that imdb has this under the initial title and not the one it seems to be better known for (Scalpel). You'll still find it easily with the title it is marketed (by Arrow for example) and it is a point that gets talked about in the extras of that release too.

Talking about the Arrow release, it is amazing that the original DOP was not just available but went above and beyond to make sure anyone who wants to watch this gets the closest to what he had in mind back when they made the movie! Kudos to him and Arrow for allowing him that (also putting their own version on the disc for anyone to be able to compare and decide which to watch).

But enough about technicalities (although I would argue more than important for the enjoyment), the movie itself is also quite a find. There are always curiosities in the horror world. Movies you may not have heard about, that do deserve to be watched though. This is one of them. It may have notions of other movies (like Eyes without a Face, a classic itself), but that does not take anything away from the movie or the lead performances! Rabid which was released the same year took a similar theme to a different extreme. Both movies are more than fine.

So if you are into horror and like to be scared, I can recommend this highly .. especially when it looks so good as it does ...

Horror Southern Style

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 7/10 · 5 March 2018]

Even having grown up in the seventies and after spending far too many nights beneath the moon at the drive-in I wasn't familiar with the movie SCALPEL. One would think that it surely made its way to one drive-in or another. But such was not the case where I lived. So when I heard it was coming to disc from Arrow Video I was looking forward to it to say the least.

The story revolves around a family in the south, those stalwarts of times gone by who drink mint julips while relaxing on the front porch of some southern mansion. It opens with the death of the family patriarch and the reading of his will. Grandpa wasn't too fond of his family leaving only his dog to his son Bradley (Arlen Dean Snyder), nothing to his son-in-law Dr. Phillip Reynolds (Robert Lansing) and his entire wealth of $5 million to his granddaughter and Phillip's daughter Heather (Judith Chapman). The only problem is that Heather disappeared over a year prior and no one knows where she's at.

As Bradley and Phillip are returning home after celebrating the old man's death a unclothed woman with a battered face falls in front of their car. Being a brilliant plastic surgeon, they gather her into Phillip's car and rush her to his hospital. There he takes care of her making the decision after noticing the similarities she shares with his daughter to give her Heather's face. With no identification she goes only by Jane Doe and when she's ready to leave, Phillip takes her to his home to recuperate.

It is there that he shares his plan with her. With his daughter gone and no clue that she even still lives, he wants Jane to take her place. She will learn her speech patterns, who the various family members are and to become Heather. In return he agrees to give her half of the $5 million. What he fails to tell her is his homicidal ways having killed both Heather's mother and her boyfriend, the cause for her leaving.

All goes well and the money is transferred. But then an eerie twist takes place. Phillip begins to fall for Jane. It takes on a creepy vibe as the man falls in essence for a woman who looks exactly like his daughter. Sure, he knows it's not her, but still.

Things begin to unravel when Heather actually returns home. Heather accepts Jane's staying at the house and doesn't reveal anything to anyone. Joyous for her return Phillip makes plans for the three of them to live there in the house without being bothered. But Jane isn't quite sure of the situation. Before the final credits roll the twists and turns of the film will find a resolution for everyone concerned.

The movie oozes charm and southern sophistication throughout even though the storyline revolves around murder most foul. Lansing who was a consummate actor and appeared on numerous TV series does a great job here, not making the character sympathetic but not painting him as a raving lunatic either. Chapman does a great job in both roles as Heather and Jane. Director only went on to do one other film, BLOOD RAGE, but cinematographer Edward Lachman, in what was his first time out as director of cinematography, went on to bigger things. Those include doing the same duties on films like SELENA, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, ERIN BROCKOVICH, CAROL and recently WONDERSTRUCK.

Rather than receive the shabby treatment reserved for movies like this provided during the days of VHS it is now being released by Arrow Video and that immediately means that it is an upgrade over any version previously offered. To begin with we're presented with a brand new 2k restoration of the film on blu-ray format. There is also the option of watching the film in the southern gothic style overtones in coloring created by Lachman or the straightforward standard color version. Extras include a brand new audio commentary track by film historian Richard Harland Smith, brand new crew interviews, the original trailer, a reversible sleeve featuring new artwork by The Wins of Evil and lastly for the first pressing only a collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Bill Ackerman.

The film might not be for everyone but for fans of those southern gothic novels, of thrillers and of horror movies you'll want to give this one a watch. In the end you might even enjoy it enough to have it grace the shelves of your collection. In either case it's worth giving a watch.

Controversial PG Style

[DavyDissonance · 4/10 · 30 August 2019]

Some doctors daughter leaves him after he kills her boyfriend so he decides to find some disfigured broad and performs surgery on her face to make her look like his daughter and copulate her beefy booty. Yes, I gave in to expectation. I thought, with a title like Scalpel, this was going to be a 70s bloody slasher movie but instead, it's a PG rated Mela-Psycho-Drama. Now I can appreciate a good PG rated film but Scalpel was a dull and crappy one at that. This film just drags on and on uselessly about this supposed psychopathic doctor and his unhealthy obsession with his daughter, I mean, who cares? It does have it's "twisted" moments like a couple of PG level bloody scenes and a wacky surgeon but it doesn't push any boundaries considering it's PG(!!!!) but that can be good news for those who like horror movies wimpy.

Great way to kill an afternoon

[joethecondor · 2 August 2003]

A murderous surgeon (Robert Lansing) concots a twisted scheme to win his missing daughters inheritance money, by transfroming a Jane Doe (Judith Chapman) into her double. Twists within twists make the rather convoluted plot entertaining. Lansing's character is a real creep, and Chapman who plays both the daughter and Jane is superb. Over all this movie is a fun little Hitchcock wannabe that amuses till the closing credits.

Captivating and sleazy

[drownsoda90 · 7/10 · 7 November 2021]

"Scalpel" follows a deranged plastic surgeon in the southern U. S. whose daughter has gone missing, preventing him from accessing an inheritance in her name. When he comes across a battered stripper in the city, he saves the woman, transforming her into the likeness of his daughter in the process.

This little-seen effort from "Blood Rage" director John Grissmer is a surprisingly captivating slice of Southern Gothic sleaze, with heavy influences ranging from Hitchcock's "Vertigo" to the French classic "Eyes Without a Face," with dashes of Italian gialli. Though it's nowhere in the same league as either of the two aforementioned films, "Scalpel" (originally titled "False Face") is still a nervy, twisting psychothriller that offers ample entertainment and commendable suspense despite its most absurd narrative gymnastics.

Stylish cinematography from Edward Lachman, as well as solid lead performances from Robert Lansing and Judith Chapman (the latter playing a dual role) help bolster this low-budget effort to rise above. The film's cynical finale is done a bit haphazardly, but it goes out on a note that will leave the audience smiling. All things considered, "Scalpel" is a commendable effort with enough creative flourishes to stand out from your typical low-rent '70s horror flick. 7/10.

False face

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 29 April 2024]

Released regionally as False Face in 1977 through United International Pictures (a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada; it started as Cinema International Corporation) and was made on a $400,000 budget in Atlanta and Covington, GA. Most of it is shot in Covington's antebellum Turner mansion, one of the few Southern mansions spared by General William Tecumseh Sherman during the Civil War.

In 1979, it was re-released by AVCO Embassy, cut to PG and called Scalpel.

Phillip Reynolds (Robert Lansing) is both a plastic surgeon and a sociopath. He's probably already killed his wife and when he watches his daughter Heather (Judith Chapman) make love to her boyfriend, he becomes so upset that he kills the boy and makes it all look like an accident. Heather runs away, which is inconvenient, as Phillip's dead wife's father gives his fortune to her instead of Phillip or Bradley (Arlen Dean Snyder), the old man's ne'er do well son.

What does one do at this point?

Find an exotic dancer whose face has been beaten into nothingness, train her to be his daughter and collect the estate.

Everyone is convinced of the ruse except Bradley, who is killed while Jane - and Heather, who has returned - watches in horror. Of course, by this point, Phillip is dating his fake daughter, which is another level of strangeness that we expect from regional films. At this point, the women find one another and set upon making things right.

Directed and co-written (with Joseph Weintraub, who usually was an editor) by John Grissmer (who also directed Blood Rage and wrote The Bride, which is so worth watching), this is a slice of Southern Gothic by way of horror but yet made, as all regional greatness is, outside of the traditional system.

some stunning key scenes and some real shocks

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 27 November 2018]

So many times since I bought this Blu-ray, I've picked it up and then put it down again. A low budget film featuring facial surgery, maybe not. And then I watched it! Great film, full of surprises, not least of which is that the early exposition is dealt with so smoothly. From the brutal and explicit beginning, through the background story, the surgery and all, we are skilfully informed as the pictures fade into each other and we have arrived at the beginning of the tale that we expected to be the ending. Set in Georgia we get wonderful pictures of green and gold burial grounds and overgrown ruins. An atmosphere of creepy otherness develops alongside shades of incest. More a dramatic tale with tinges of the Italian gallo than a horror, this is nevertheless horrific and not without surprises. One particular surprise towards the end really caught me off guard and is followed quickly by the chase through the woods of a skimpy bikini clad women that almost as surprising as it is stunning. And then surprising again! It is a tragedy that director John Grissmer only made one other film and that almost a remake of this. Robert Lansing is effective as the leading man but Judith Chapman is an absolute revelation. Her career seems to have been more in TV and it is true that the interiors here sometimes look more like TV but Chapman is marvellous in a difficult role and always convincing. This is an underrated film that seems to offer little but does quite the opposite with great location shooting, some stunning key scenes and some real shocks.

Pretty twisted psychodrama.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 8/10 · 14 October 2010]

A psychopathic plastic surgeon transforms a young accident victim into the spitting image of his missing daughter,because he wants to inherit the family fortune which have been willed to his daughter.He who reconstructs the mutilated face of a go-go dancer into the likeness of his missing daughter"Scalpel" is a very taut and fascinating psychothriller with excellent central performances of Robert Lansing and Judith Chapman.The atmosphere is suitably sleazy and there is a bit of nasty violence including fairly graphic head bashing.Overall,if you are into twisted Southern psychodramas give this one a look.8 out of 10.

Probably better known as "Scalpel"

[Clayton · 9/10 · 8 October 1999]

This film is available on video as "Scalpel", and it's quite interesting. Lansing is a crazed plastic surgeon who makes a disfigured dancer look like his missing daughter to claim a $2 million dollar inheritance. However, things get complicated when the real daughter reappears. Some interesting plot twists and decent acting makes this mystery worth a look.

Judith Chapman looks great in a bikini!

[LibertadBGreen · 21 May 2000]

The topless stripper (Judith Chapman or a body double?) who gets her face bashed in at the start of the movie looks great topless from the shoulders down. Later, Judith Chapman gets chased through the woods in a hip-hugging red bikini. This is one of my favorite bikini scenes!

Well done

[dworldeater · 8/10 · 3 November 2019]

Scalpel is very dark melodrama with a southern Gothic ambiance and style. This is one mean and nasty little thriller, but is really well made and superbly performed by the actors. Robert Lansing is a plastic surgeon that makes a disfigured stripper look like his disappeared daughter to get an inheritance. Judith Chapman looks great and delivers a fine performance. Robert Lansing is fantastic as the very unscupulous and psychotic doctor. Scalpel delivers big on sleaze, violence and darkness with murder, nudity, incest and leading characters that have no morals and revel in depravity. This is one sick flick, that is actually really good and a deranged and seedy soap opera with graphic sex and violence with foreboding and bleak southern atmosphere. Very creepy and effective , haunting and gritty. Thumbs way up if you have similar dark tastes in cinema.

Great acting

[james1-494-826857 · 9/10 · 28 October 2019]

Robert Lansing acts his balls off this movie. I went through his movies and they're all TV movies pretty much would've like to see him in more motion pictures.