The Faceless Man is an Australian horror movie from James Di Martino, making his feature-length debut. It deals with a group of friends heading out for a getaway and running afoul of a violent gangster, a biker gang, finding lots of drugs, and being haunted by the titular creature.
If that sounds like a lot of things, well it is. Di Martino does not lack ambition and luckily, he has the acumen to back it up. The Faceless Man seamlessly jumps from one style (the dry, dark humor and violence of the gangster) to the other (the fear of cancer coming back) with relative ease. Each person (or group) represents a specific tone and when all the tones come crashing together it is chaos... in the best possible way.
Of course, if the cast were not up to the task, all the ambition in the world could not save Di Martino (nor could the 8-minute tracking shot that opens the film). Happily, the director lucked out here, as everyone is amazing. They all understand the strange combo that is this movie and deliver appropriately. This means that the horror is reacted to with real scares, the comedy gets big laughs, etc.
The true star of the film is the Faceless Man himself. The makeup effects on the creature are top-notch and on their own, would make one believe the budget was much higher than it was.
The Faceless Man is hard to pin, but it is very much worth your time.
If that sounds like a lot of things, well it is. Di Martino does not lack ambition and luckily, he has the acumen to back it up. The Faceless Man seamlessly jumps from one style (the dry, dark humor and violence of the gangster) to the other (the fear of cancer coming back) with relative ease. Each person (or group) represents a specific tone and when all the tones come crashing together it is chaos... in the best possible way.
Of course, if the cast were not up to the task, all the ambition in the world could not save Di Martino (nor could the 8-minute tracking shot that opens the film). Happily, the director lucked out here, as everyone is amazing. They all understand the strange combo that is this movie and deliver appropriately. This means that the horror is reacted to with real scares, the comedy gets big laughs, etc.
The true star of the film is the Faceless Man himself. The makeup effects on the creature are top-notch and on their own, would make one believe the budget was much higher than it was.
The Faceless Man is hard to pin, but it is very much worth your time.