Movie Review: Curse of the Faceless Man (1958)
Synopsis: An excavation of Pompeii unearths a chest full of jewelry and a well-preserved but faceless Quintillus Aurelius, a Roman slave and gladiator who claimed to be the son of an Etruscan god. When people begin to die near the body, a team of scientists deduces Quintillus Aurelius is still somehow alive after 2,000 years. Soon after, the faceless creature takes an interest in artist Tina Enright, a descendant of the woman he fell in love with when he was still human.
Who's in it? The movie stars Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara, Gar Moore and Bob Bryant.
Review: I came across Curse of the Faceless Man on ScreenPix last night and decided to save it for this morning, mostly because the 67-minute runtime fit the limited amount of time I had before needing to leave for the office. Due in part to that shorter runtime, I had lowered expectations for this film, which seemed like it would be yet another rip-off of The Mummy. However, I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.
Just to be clear, I was mostly right about this movie borrowing its plot from the 1932 Boris Karloff classic. While technically not an Egyptian mummy, Quintillus Aurelius (Bryant) was thousands of years old, undead and chasing after a woman who resembled the woman he loved in life. Oh, and he was even found in an Egyptian temple. That said, there was still a lot to be liked.
One thing in particular I was a fan of was the faster pace. Too many classic horror films (and many modern ones) drag things out and save the action for the very end. That wasn't the case with this film. The "faceless man" started his killing spree almost from the beginning and even during his down times, it was unclear when he would suddenly come back to life and kill again.
In addition to that, Quintillus Aurelius' exposure to various Egyptian chemicals and the heat from a volcanic eruption made his outer layer seemingly indestructible, raising questions about how he could be stopped up until the very end of the movie. This left the fate of Tina Enright (Edwards) in doubt until the very end as well. Would she survive the movie, or would she lose her life, leaving her fiancé Paul (Anderson) free to get back together with his former love, Maria (Mara) in the end?
My only real complaint about the movie was it was a bit vague on how Quintillus Aurelius remained alive. At first, it sounded like it was going to be the result of some sort of curse but later in the movie they tried to assign a scientific explanation involving radiation in the soil and, later, from X-rays. It was also unclear why the creature would suddenly stop moving and remain dormant for a few hours. I am assuming it had something to do with the radiation theory, though I don't remember that ever being completely confirmed. While not a big deal, some sort of explanation would have been nice.
Final Opinion: It might be a familiar plot, but the movie manages to do a lot in a little amount of time and ended up being a fun film to watch as a result.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1958:
Movie Review: It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)
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