A worker at an archaeological site at the base of Mount Vesuvius uncovers the stone-encased body of a man. While the body is transported to the local museum, the truck carrying it crashes. Police Inspector Renaldi (Jan Arvan) discovers that the driver was murdered by a blow to the head.
Museum curator Carlo Fiorillo (Luis Van Rooten) calls in Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson) to inspect the stone body, which is undamaged in the crash. Blood is found on the stone figure’s hands. It turns out to be the blood of the truck driver. The explanation sounds too crazy to be true. Certainly, the stone figure didn’t kill the driver. Mallon tries to rationalize the evidence as a mere coincidence. That night, his fiancée (Elaine Edwards) tells him of a dream she had the night before about a faceless man who kills a truck driver and on his way to find her. Mallon may be forced to believe the unthinkable: the stone man is somehow alive.
Curse of the Faceless Man is quite obviously a low-budget, B-movie that was commonly churned out in the 1950s as drive-in fodder. It exhibits many of the clichés of 1950s creature features: wooden performances, cheap looking sets, and women who do little more than scream and faint.
Edward L. Cahn doesn’t do the Jerome Bixby’s screenplay many favors with his by-the-numbers direction. But the score, by Gerald Fried, provides some genuinely creepy moments, especially when the stone man is found. The stone man suit, which was created by Charles Gemora, famous for his gorilla suits in the 1930s and 40s, is unsettling to look at more often than not.
Curse of the Faceless Man never elevates itself above curio status to anyone other than fans of classic 50s horror, but one could certainly do worse if looking for something to play in the background of a Halloween party.
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
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