I was glad this film was in black & white. This is not just because it adds to the dark mood of the story, but because there is a surgery scene that in color would have been hard to stomach.

The film begins with Louise (Alida Valli, THE THIRD MAN), the assistant of brilliant surgeon Dr. Genessier (Pierre Brasseur, CHILDREN OF PARADISE), disposing of a body. Then Dr. Genessier IDs the corpse as the body of his daughter Christiane (Edith Scob, THE MAN ON THE TRAIN), who previously had her face torn off in an awful car accident. For the unaware, the film seems to be going one way for the entire first act, but then changes everything in an instant. If you want to have a completely virgin experience read no more and just watch the film. But for the curious or aware, I will go into a bit more of what this film has in store.

It turns out that the body was not that of Christiane, but the corpse of a random female the doctor and Louise kidnapped in a failed attempt to graft a new face on the doctor’s once beautiful daughter. Now that everyone believes she is dead, Christiane must live a sad, solitary life in her father’s massive mansion, where she mopes around in her eerily lifelike, but emotionless, mask, longing for her old love Jacques Vernon (Francois Guerin).

Dr. Genessier is a fascinating character. Obsessed with his daughter’s beauty, he is more upset with spoiling her than he is with guilt over causing the car accident that scarred her. The film becomes a battle between the evil doctor and his good daughter, who is as much a victim of her father as the woman he lures to his castle in the woods.

Director Georges Franju (HEAD AGAINST THE WALL) takes many of the mad scientist clichés and uses them to paint a new story with a more natural light. The film’s grand tale uses many of the same elements of other gothic horror stories like dark rainy nights, graveyards and secluded castles, but mixes them with a real scientific bent. Dr. Genessier scientific jargon adds a cold, emotionless clinical feel to the story. This tone mirrors the surgeon’s personality perfectly. The haunting white mask that Christiane wears embodies her sadness. Scob’s large, beautiful eyes peeking out from the eyeholes are an unforgettable image.

Franju adds in a cynical twist as the clueless cops try to figure out the plot, using an innocent girl as bait for the devious doctor. The ending poetically wraps up the story in an inevitable conclusion, but one that is vastly satisfying. What makes this film so remarkable is that its core tale is common and simple, but the way it is presented visually is like nothing that was seen before. What makes this horror film so creepy is that you can believe that it’s real.