Scalpel

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 ...

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.

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.

"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.

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.