CERT: TBC / RELEASE DATE: TBC
The Big C. It touches all of us in some ways throughout life, but not a popular trope in genre cinema. Perhaps that’s precisely because it’s a subject too close to home for comfort, but there’s a surprising dearth of horror films about cancer. The banal impermanence of human existence is depressing enough without it getting into our horror films too.
Hoping to distract herself from her fear and trauma, recovering survivor Emily (Sophie Thurling) takes off with her friends to a remote house in the Australian countryside, for a weekend of rest, relaxation, and reckless excess. Orange Lodge’s angry crime boss and creepy hillbillies are one thing, but the nightmarish Faceless Man will bring Emily face to face(less) with her worst nightmare incarnate – the physical embodiment of death, and in serious need of a manicure.
Director James Di Martino hits the ground running with his debut feature; The Faceless Man is heavy in its themes and subject matter, but oozes wit and style. Somehow, this film about a cancer survivor facing (or not) her mortality head-on is not a miserable slog but a bright, vibrant work of punk excess. Its scares are as effective as its unexpected strain of black humour, embodied by the weird locals and a big dude named ‘Barry the C*nt’; a cross between A Nightmare on Elm Street and The League of Gentlemen. We could have done without the silly gangster subplot and the unnecessary Tarantino vibe it brings, but the balance between horror and comedy is otherwise well-judged.
The Faceless Man is a tremendous directorial debut, a lean, mean work of Ozploitation, bursting with energy and defiance.
