Eyes Without a Face [re-release] 2003

In the picturesque countryside of France, just beyond the bustling City of Light, an unsettling event of darkness takes place as an enigmatic woman clandestinely disposes of a lifeless body in the river. This corpse is later identified by Dr. Génessier as his own daughter, Christiane, whose fate has been wrapped in mystery ever since a tragic accident left her face irreparably disfigured.

In truth, Christiane is imprisoned within the lavish confines of her father’s mansion, which is situated right next to his private clinic. The perimeter is heavily guarded by a pack of intimidating German Shepherds and other large dogs. Little do outsiders know, the body discarded in the river belongs to an unsuspecting young woman, whose facial tissue was stolen by Dr. Génessier for his twisted medical experiments.

Wearing a mask to obscure her disfigurement, Christiane secretly watches as her father’s latest victim, Edna Grüber, is brought into the clinic for a gruesome procedure. Dr. Génessier grafts Edna’s skin onto Christiane’s ruined face, leading to increasingly dire consequences.

Meanwhile, Christiane’s fiancé, Jacques Vernon, begins to suspect the sinister nature of Dr. Génessier’s operations. He confides in Inspector Parot, who has been investigating a series of mysterious disappearances of young women sharing similar appearances. Inspector Parot ingeniously ropes in Paulette Mérodon, a shoplifter recently apprehended, to check herself into the clinic under the guise of a patient.

As the plot thickens, Christiane’s mental health begins to unravel, fueled by her escalating guilt and profound sense of isolation. In a desperate bid for freedom, she liberates Paulette and takes brutal revenge against Louise, her father’s devoted accomplice. The animals that Dr. Génessier had cruelly subjected to his experiments, including the barking dogs and fluttering doves, are also set free, causing chaos to ensue.

In the aftermath, Dr. Génessier meets a brutal fate at the claws of one of the liberated German Shepherds, surrounded by the very creatures he had once exploited. As the turmoil settles, Christiane emerges from the woods with a dove perched gently in her hands, her mask finally removed to reveal a face that is both hauntingly familiar yet irrevocably changed by the horrors she has undergone.