EYES WITHOUT A FACE
Another tale of cinematic love and a well-spent, mis-spent youth. Midnight movie,
SURF Theater, '68 I think, maybe '69, double bill: Georges Franju's 'classic' austere and elegant horror masterpiece and a new film about which there's some buzz. It supposedly shows what earlier low-budget horror films only suggested and is called NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

The Surf was a great night out. The Pacific Ocean a few blocks away. Golden Gate Park a few blocks away. At a certain point the proverbial espresso machine in the lobby morphed into a full-fledged cafe next door. All the main ingredients: art, coffee, cigarettes, privacy, etc etc.

This was the first time I saw EYES. Instant love. Several years later I caught it(unaware) on Bob Wilkin's channel 40 late night creature feature as THE HORROR CHAMBER OF DR. FAUSTUS.

I have a tape compilation that I think of as my 'how to make a horror movie fan' tape. It starts with the anthology film DEAD OF NIGHT, proceeds to EYES and ends up with Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY/MASK OF THE DEMON. If after seeing these three a film fan is not also a horror film fan it ain't gonna happen. I envy people who haven't done or seen certain things because they have the experience ahead of them.

There are 'moments' in EYEs that are truly among the most exquisite in the rarified field of 'art' horror film.

And NIGHT was pretty good too. It was amazing how shocked the audience was in the late '60s at the 'gore' considering the evolution of that particular wing of horror film. I do like some 'gore' films, but in general I'll take Val Lewton's atmospherics anyday. Franju managed to combine both schools in a brilliant way. Major work.
http://www.jahsonic.com/GeorgesFranju.html