There’s always something nice about coming to review an old black and white sci fi film from the 50s. Always a source of inventive outlandish monsters… rather than just throwing CGI made sharks at people… yeah I’m not a fan of the modern made for TV movies and their fixation on demonizing an endangered species due to their lack of creativity.

Fiend without a Face is a British made black and white sci fi horror movie, though to allow for there to be Americans in the movie, they claim the film is set in Canada…. thus causing some very stupid “Canadian” accents. If you have ever wondered why I don’t see any problem with casting people from countries to help sales in that country…. well it’s because we were doing that for Americans for decades. No matter how dumb it is or how bad that actor was compared to everyone else.

So anyway we are in “Canada ” when an officer at a Radar base is suddenly killed. Soon more unexplained deaths occur as we see the people killed by some invisible force that strangles them. The only way we know is from it interacting with things and the strange noises it makes. Now an invisible monster may seem cheap but I assure you it pays off later.

Our lead is Major Jeff Cummings who is investigating the deaths but has to deal with the distrustful and superstitious natives…. and their “Canadian” accents. Anyway eventually they manage to do an autopsy and find the brain and spinal cords of the victims are missing. A few scenes of distrustful offish “Canadians” and Jeff starts to zero in on one Professor R. E. Walgate. It is later revealed near the end that while doing an experiment he inadvertently created a mental entity and that has been what is attacking people.

The film’s last moments are definitely the highpoint where it turns from a bit meh to genuinely good, as the creatures become visible with their striking designs and quite gory effects when they die. It definitely leaves an impression when you see them and they lay siege to the heroes.

As you can tell from my reaction it’s not the invisible monsters element that I had issues with, that bit they do ok and when they become visible there is an adequate disturbing design to them. No, it’s the pretending they are in Canada and doing no actual work with accents resulting in Rural English stereotypes being portrayed as Canadians that’s where I have issues. Fortunately that doesn’t distract from those final moments of the film where the special effects and monsters really come to the fore. You just need to get through a bunch of “Canadian” accents first to get there.

Rating: 🎥🎥🎥