Curse of the Faceless Man
Entry updated 3 March 2025. Tagged: Film.
US film (1958). Robert E Kent Productions. Directed by Edward L Cahn. Written by Jerome Bixby. Cast includes Richard Anderson, Bob Bryant, Elaine Edwards, Felix Locher, Adele Mara and Luis Van Rooten. 67 minutes. Black and white.
In Pompeii, amongst the ruins of a temple dedicated to Isis, Archaeologists discover a lava covered body from the time of the 79 CE eruption; examined by museum curator Dr. Carlo Fiorello (Van Rooten), he finds the covering crust to be strangely resilient, saying "I am not even sure that it is dead" to Scientist Dr. Paul Mallon (Anderson), "a specialist in tissue culture, the preservation of cells" whom he has asked for advice. A broach was found near the body, identified by Carlo as Etruscan – described as a mysterious people having "strange cults dealing with the supernatural" – with an inscription translated by colleague Dr. Emanuel (Locher) as cursing Pompeii to suffer "the fires of the Earth" and threatening "whatsoever stands between me and what is mine shall perish"; it is signed by "Quintillus Aurelius", who was "the son of Etruscan gods, I will live when the Roman is no more". Meanwhile, whilst being transported by truck, Quintillus's body (Bryant) briefly comes to life and kills the driver.
Artist Tina Enright (Edwards) tells fiancee Paul of her dream where she saw the body's discovery and the murder of the truck driver: it compelled her to paint (see Arts) a bound, faceless man who she swears is trying to get to her. Next evening, after Tina sneaks into the museum to sketch Quintillus, he comes to life: she screams and faints (and not for the last time – see Women in SF) as the Monster, pausing only to kill the night watchman, attaches the broach to her blouse and falls still once more. The following night Paul, Carlo and the latter's daughter, Dr Maria Fiorillo (Mara), visit the museum to return the broach: Carlos argues Quintillus may have some kind of "inner vision" like "bats [who] can see without eyes". Sure enough the body gets up, takes the medallion and lurches towards the door, with Paul's attempts to stop it failing. Quintillus slowly makes its way to where Tina sleeps, his entry somehow unnoticed by the police who have been placed on guard outside her building. He collapses at her feet.
Pondering how Quintillus is held in a Biological state between life and death interrupted by bouts of activity, Dr. Emanuel – who has been reading about alchemy's roots in Ancient Egypt – posits that a chemical reaction in the covering crust is responsible. He takes Tina to a nearby cove used by the Pompeiians, where she has visions of the eruption: later he subjects her to Hypnosis in which she recalls a previous life as a Roman aristocrat in Pompeii where an Etruscan gladiator and slave had fallen in love with her. The class difference meant their love was forbidden, so he was imprisoned and responded by placing a curse on her family (which, its implied, caused the eruption). Dr Emanuel has also found a photograph of a bust from the period that looks just like Tina (see Reincarnation). Meanwhile Paul and Carlo analyse the crust covering Quintillus's body: the chemicals, some unknown, include one believed to be "the vital ingredient in the lost art of Egyptian embalming", vats of which would doubtless have been stored in the Temple at the time of the eruption: Carlo suggests that if Quintillus had been there and became covered with embalming fluid, the heat of the volcano might have led to a chemical reaction that brought about his current condition. We later learn the shell "has become part of the body" with Carlo further theorizing the brain is "kept alive probably by the radioactivity in the ground which has preserved the cells and provided energy" (see Nuclear Energy): though it becoming dormant when removed from the ground it was revived when they X-Rayed the body.
Quintillus has been restrained in case he becomes active again; but Tina finishes her painting, showing him released from the bonds – then in a trance she goes to cut him free, and faints: he carries her off. It is 24 August; for Quintillus and in Tina's dreaming mind, it is that day in 79 CE and they are fleeing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Reaching the Bay of Naples, Quintillus carries her into the sea ... and dissolves. The floundering Tina is rescued by Paul.
The Curse of the Faceless Man's Monster, though looking reasonably good, is not particularly threatening (see Horror); given that Quintillus was a gladiator it seems a wasted opportunity to have him shuffle like a Zombie. Paul, ostensibly the film's lead, has very little to do; his main function seems to involve pointing out that Carlo and Dr Emanuel's theories make absolutely no scientific sense. At one point he suggests (a little hysterically) to former girlfriend Maria that she likely sees Tina's problems as a way to get him back, and she carefully explains this is emphatically not the case; though a nice twist on the romantic Cliché, this potential sub-plot's quick termination leaves the viewer puzzled as to why it was raised at all. Released as part of a double-bill with It! the Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and sharing the same director and writer, this dull work is very much the lesser of the two films. [SP]
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