What's better in October than a classic horror? Eyes Without A Face, a French body-horror released in 1960, stands as a bastion of the genre. George Franju's second feature, based on the book by Jean Redon, gives us an “organ theft” story not limited by the Hays code, which enforced strict morality on Hollywood films at the time. While Hitchcock released Psycho the same year, he pushed those boundaries by showing a toilet, and its allusions to incest and violence only manifested with close examination. Eyes Without A Face uses clever effects and cutaways to create gore rarely seen even now and stands sixty-five years on, it's still influential and original.

Perhaps unusual for a film such as this, there isn't really a hero. Though strangely similar to Psycho, again, it shares framing and directorial choices that show us how much Hitchcock revered French cinema at the time. A long straight-on shot of a woman driving as she ponders her immoral actions being the most strikingly similar.

Eyes Without A Face is told from the point of view of Christiane (Édith Scob), a young woman whose face was gravely injured in a car accident where her father (Pierre Brasseur) was driving. She spends her days wafting about their large country home, wearing an eerie mask, and being wistful and sad about her new isolation. Her father, a surgeon riddled with guilt, encourages a previous patient, now his assistant (Alida Valli) to lure and kidnap isolated young women to their home so he can remove their faces and attempt to transplant them onto Christiane. The surgical scenes, despite being quite clear how they are done, remain impressive, as well as being shocking and unsettling.

Going beyond that though, Eyes Without A Face is a stark exploration of how love, grief, and guilt can corrupt the most moral. Both Christiane and her father swing between determined, cold focus and crippling guilt over their actions. The only person who seems to have little care for those they kidnap and murder is the assistant, Louise. An icy femme fatale who never questions and seems to almost encourage their ongoing mission despite an unclear motivation to do so.

Eyes Without A Face is both impressive and, at times, a bit vague and unresolved. More like a dark fairytale than anything concise or resolved, Christiane isn't waiting for a prince so much as for herself. However, once she embraces her own agency, all bets are off.

4K Ultra HD Limited Edition Special Features

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Newaudio commentary by film critic and writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Audio commentary by film critic Tim Lucas (2015)
Monsieur et Madame Curie (Georges Franju, 1953, 14 mins): a study of the life and work of the Curies, told through the words of Marie Curie
La Première nuit (Georges Franju, 1958, 20 mins): a young boy spends a night in the Métro
Les Fleurs maladives de Georges Franju (2009, 50 mins): an overview of Georges Franju's career
For Her Eyes Only: An interview with Edith Scob (2014, 17 mins)
First pressing only: Illustrated booklet featuring archive essays by Kate Ince, Isabel Stevens, Roberto Cueto Llera, Raymond Durgnat, Kevin Jackson and Michael Brooke

Eyes Without A Face is available on Blu-ray and 4K from BFI now