Dr. Carlo Fiorillo: One more of these killings and they will hold me criminally responsible.
Dr. Emanuel: The fools! Here we are so close to solving the
mystery of life and death, and they worry about their
precious laws.
When I first got cable, I was immersed in all the channels to realize what kind of schlock both TBS and TNT would play in the wee hours of the morning. This is where my love for B-Cinema began: with a late night TNT airing of "Atom Age Vampire," "Neanderthal Man," and this film we are reviewing today. This was quite cool...now only are these films hard to come by and buy, but it was just too simple NOT to tape these little obscure gems. Sadly, a year and a half later, I realize how fortunate I was. Schlock, even on esteemed TNT, is almost a rarity. This was the case when I planned on getting a better copy of this film, only to realize that it had been preempted out of existence thinks to the NBA.
Lousy overpaid sloths.
Anyway, the plot to "Curse of the Faceless Man."
While trying to discover more of the remains of Pompeii, archeologists find a gladiator encased in rock. Apparently, when the volcano hit, the gladiator was protecting his now-dust lady fair. Sad story. Anyway, the lava man is taken back to a museum where he starts crushing in skulls. A janitor witnesses this but is laughed at...how the hell can a man encased in volcanic rock move? In fact, HOW is that possible? Is the rock malleable? If so, why can't the scientists crack it open? Oh, no matter.....it sounds cool.
Anyway, the lava man mistakes the leading actress for his lady fair, and reacts the very thing he was going to do to save her....walk out into the ocean. Of course, the American (and therefore Hero of this story) scientist, played by Richard Anderson in an early role, decides to stop the lava man from doing so. He fails. But, it doesn't matter, because as soon as the lava man gets waist keep in the water, he starts to dissolve (????) and the leading actress is saved. And the Faceless Man no longer exists. The (sad) End.
And that's the meat of it. When this movie doesn't push the plot along every fifteen minutes, there is just tedious boredom that I can't even recount. There's a lot of supposed suspense, but it doesn't gel. So, all and all, this movie was probably created with the strict purpose of being a second half of a double feature. Richard Anderson, however, is one of the best actors in the film. He would later become the second Oscar Goldman in "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman," as well as being the title character in "The Night Strangler," the second Kolchak TV movie. Oddly enough, Darren McGavin was the first Oscar Goldman. Think about that the next time you watch "Strangler."
Wonder what Steve and Jaime would do then......
RATING: Good idea, but not drawn out enough. Most of the film's hour and a half running time is just boredom, except for the ending. One and a Half Stars out of Four.