LA CARA DEL TERROR - José Buenagú - "Face Of Terror" (1962)

It's time for yet another Saturday Night Special, and tonight's feature is a good one, in fact, it should probably be considered a classic!

The original title released in 1962 was "La Cara Del Terror," but the English version released two years later in 1964 was "Face Of Terror!"

Write out of the box, there's something fishy going on around here!

Fernando Rey is Dr. Charles Taylor (Sure he is, you can tell by his accent) Fernando had freakin' 242 acting credits to his name before heading on to higher ground in 1994! How about "La Próxima Vez Que Vivamos," or "Si Te Hubieses Casado Conmigo" for starters, or one of my faves, Luis Buñuel's "That Obscure Object Of Desire?" Dr. Taylor was at the Institute of Mental Health to try and get them to let him use disfigured patients as guinea pigs for his new plastic surgery procedure, but he is turned down because he won't turn over all the financial rights to his experimentations!

One of the patients, Lisa Gaye as the horribly disfigured Norma was out wandering around and heard what the good Doctor was trying to do, so she hides in his car, and when they get back to his lab, she talks him into trying his new treatment on her or else she is going to end it forever! The Doctor doesn't know that she is also a bonifide nut job! Lisa Gaye was an American actress who was everywhere on TV in the 50's and 60's and her choice of movie roles literally rocked with "Rock Around The Clock," and "Shake, Rattle, & Rock!"

The Doc gets her fixed up real good, and then he gets a call, and finds out who she really is, so rather than go back to the psycho ward, she whacks him in the head so bad that he doesn't remember anything for weeks!

Norma grabs the money out of the Doctor's wallet and gets the Hell out of town on the next bus after she gets herself some new threads!

So everything's groovy, Norma's looking good, and she got the job, and the Doctor's not dead! No foul, no great harm!

It's right at this spot that this movie achieved classic status in my book matching that of "Frankenstein's Daughter," and "How To Make A Monster" in the musical number department!
The musical credits go to a rather obscure José Buenagú, and I have no clue who any of these musicians are, but this song is nothing less than prefect! Hit It Guys!!!

The crazy rich playboy that falls in love with Norma the first time he sees her is played by Virgilio Teixeira! Virgilio was Ali in "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad," and sin and bad are what he has on his mind here too!!

But everything's not perfect in Krazytown! Norma's face is breaking down, because the material used on her face was never fully tested, and the Doctor had determined that it dried too fast, so she has to constantly be putting this special formula on it!

The burnt out dim bulbs that call themselves cops can't even recognize the new girl in town even though they have a picture of Norma with them! They have their suspicions, but .....

The guy that gave Norma her new job at the Blue Cove Inn expected something in return, but this wasn't it! Unfortunately for Norma, he also broke the flask that contained the rest of her special facial fluid!

The cops are hot on her trail, so Norma accepts the playboy's marriage invitation, and to get out of town faster, she insists that they elope as quickly as possible!

The playboy finally gets a good look at his new blushing bride and is so repulsed, he jumps out of the car! Norma takes the bull by the horns, and runs over him!

The original reason that Norma was in the mental hospital is because she is a homicidal maniac! She's come back to visit the now recovering Doctor, because she wants more of that damn fluid!

The Doctor's girlfriend shows up just in time for a good old fashioned CAT-FIGHT!

Bam! Norma nails her one in the head with the big overhanging operation light!

Somehow after she takes a massive glass shard to the back, her face turns back to normal like she was a werewolf that had just been killed!

"La Cara Del Terror" is available from Sinister Cinema or Amazon for next to nothing! What are you waiting for?