Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

BA_Harrison Ferris wheel obsessed engineer Vance Pierson (Barry Sullivan) moves with his wife and daughter to Spain to work on a hydroelectric dam. While house-hunting, Vance meets sexy blonde Laura Blanco (Martha Hyer) as she is about to torch her run-down property for the insurance money. Instead, Vance buys the place, and subsequently starts a steamy affair with the woman. When Vance's conscience eventually kicks in and he decides to end his relationship with Laura, she flips out and sets fire to Vance's home—with his wife and child still inside. Vance rushes to their rescue, but he is too late to save them, and suffers severe burns in the process. When Laura pays him a visit in hospital, the disfigured engineer swears to hunt down Laura and her daughter, no matter where they run to.Part Fatal Attraction style thriller, part twisted revenge horror, Pyro… The Thing Without a Face is nowhere near as cheesy as the title suggests. In fact, it is a surprisingly dark tale, dealing as it does with infidelity, betrayal, madness, murder, and even a hint of incest for good measure (Laura's comment that her daughter's father was her own father is quite the shocker). Vance, covered from head to foot in bandages, telling Laura to 'take her family and hide' is effectively chilling, as is watching him as he makes good on his word. I only wish that the ending had been as bold: rather than sparing Laura's daughter, I'd love to have seen Vance throw himself off the ferris wheel with the little girl in his arms. That would have made for an unforgettable and more fitting downbeat finale.

Richard Chatten Made in Spain just before 'Blood and Black Lace' but remarkably little known today considering the amount of attention perennially lavished upon Italian gialli. I've been keen to see this film for over forty years, but ironically just found it on YouTube at the very moment when the London papers are full of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in North Kensington last month and a revolting spate of gratuitous acid attacks by thieves in East London less than ten days ago.Like Takashi Miike's 'Audition' (1999) this film is - if you'll pardon the description - a slow burner that has almost hit the halfway mark before the key plot development that most viewers will already have known about in advance finally kicks in; especially when the film has a title like 'Pyro'.Aided by a literate script and good performances, the early scenes are actually working extremely well purely as an engrossing marital drama in its own right. (It also casually throws in occasional bombshells such as the paternity of Hyer's young daughter which make you wonder what else was in the original script or didn't make the final cut.) But anticipating what is coming inevitably makes it feel like watching an episode of 'Casualty', steeling yourself for what in this context you know is coming.Sullivan is excellent both before and after the life-changing injuries he suffers. While later lying low the way Sullivan carries himself, his subtly immobile face and obvious wig disturbingly suggests the wreckage concealed beneath his disguise; although as usual what we eventually see when he pulls his mask off - although pretty well done - doesn't come close to the horror promised us earlier by the doctor describing his burns. Hyer is excellent too, her handsome blonde-maned good looks - enhanced by leather gear provided by Mitzou of Madrid - seeming in this context almost indecent.

MartinHafer When I saw that this film appeared to be a Spanish horror movie, I had very, very low expectations--as Spanish horror of the 60s and 70s typically is very high on the "cheese factor". However, it turned out that this really wasn't a horror film AND it was a pretty good film regardless where it was made. My only real complaint about all this is that in this era, practically all the foreign films were dubbed into English before coming here. While I must admit that the dubbing was excellent (far better than usual), my being an annoying purist makes me always want to see a captioned film. Plus, as the film starred American actor Barry Sullivan (and he used English throughout), then I guess they had no choice. It was a very common practice in Spain and Italy to get American actors and then dub them or the rest of the cast. Such luminaries as Burt Lancaster, Broderick Crawford, and Richard Basehart made such films.The plot of the film is a lot like the later FATAL ATTRACTION, as a husband has an affair with an unstable woman and later the unstable woman attacks the man's family. In this case, the lady decides that if the man's family is dead, then he will return to her and they can marry! So, she sets the family home on fire when he is gone, though he returns prematurely and is also burned badly in the fire--so much for the plan. While the family is killed, the husband swears vengeance on her and soon afterwords disappears from the hospital.For quite some time, the police vainly look but there is no trace of the man. However, several extended family members of the arsonist mistress are killed in fires and the police are convinced that she will be next---though she, too, has disappeared out of fear for her life.Now as I said above, the film turned out to be very good, though there were two things working against it. First, the doctors described Sullivan's burns as being so severe he didn't look human. However, later when you see him he looks pretty normal and like his old self (aside from his hands) yet when the police and an old friend see him, they don't even recognize him! So apparently, his friend was an idiot. Second, while I liked the film a lot, the second half was a tad disappointing as it went on too long. The time from the fire to the conclusion was a bit too much and would have benefited from being a tad shorter. Still, the ending was very good and it was a good film overall. It must have, to a degree, influenced the makers of FATAL ATTRACTION--they are THAT similar.

Kelt Smith Low budget, odd little movie has some chills, and good performances by MARTHA HYER and BARRY SULLIVAN. Laura Blanco (HYER) is a divorcee with a young daughter who has a fling with family man Vince Pierson (SULLIVAN). When his wife finds out, Vince tries to break off from Laura. She, however, has other ideas and believes that if Vince's wife & daughter are out of the way, she'll have him all to herself. Seeing Vince leave his house with wife & daughter still inside upstairs, Laura slips in and splashes gasoline around and sets the house ablaze. She even goes so far as to cut the water off, and attach a container of gasoline to the plumbing. Vince comes back and runs into the burning house to save his family. I can't say anymore without giving away the ending, but the rest is a pretty good thriller. HYER is very good as pure evil Laura. SULLIVAN also does well as Vince. In some ways this movie might remind you of FATAL ATTRACTION 20 years earlier. A stern warning to married men seeking greener pastures. This was one of AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL pictures, low on production dollars, and yet with its creepy plot, still a worthwhile thriller!!!