Writer-director
John Grissmer’s career was something of a blip on the cinematic radar, having
only ever directed two features which remain in the annals of cult
obscurity. While most only know his 1987
VHS era slasher flick Blood Rage, ten
years prior the filmmaker joined forces with the great cinematographer Edward
Lachman to deliver this deep fried piece of Southern Gothic whose title Scalpel can be somewhat misleading.
When
you see the poster of a bloody scalpel next to a woman’s bandaged face, we’re
inclined to think this will be a kind of sleazy Eyes Without a Face. In
actuality its a mistaken identity thriller with touches of My Fair Lady and The
Changeling (of all movies) about a crazed doctor who hatches a wild plan to
seize a fortune irrespective of however many bodies will need to fall to attain
it.
Starring
Robert Lansing as plastic surgeon Dr. Phillip Reynolds, Scalpel presents the deranged doctor with a dilemma: his daughter
Heather (Judith Chapman) has run away after her boyfriend perishes under mysterious
circumstances, taking with her any and all opportunities to get a piece of her
impending inheritance. That is until one
night on the drive home from work, he runs into a disfigured and battered
showgirl whose facial structure is eerily similar to that of his daughter.
Thus
begins the master plan to reshape the woman’s face to be like Heather’s with
the imposter trained to sport her mannerisms and personality. Though the newly reformed stand in for
Heather seems to hit it off well with preexisting friends and family, blending
in seamlessly, things become complicated as suspicions about the woman and the
mercurial nature of her “disappearance” grow.
Marketed
as a slasher when it’s really much closer to something like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,
showcasing the region and eccentric traditional local customs such as a funeral
which plays like a Jazz party, Scalpel couldn’t
be more removed from the advertising campaign if it tried. Playing a bit like a travelogue, the film is
mostly notable for Edward Lachman’s scenic and warm cinematography of the
Southern Georgia countryside and small-town American neighborhoods.
In
an unusual technical move, Arrow Video provided both the original theatrical
version of the film as well as a new regraded color scheme overseen by Lachman
which stays truer to his vision for the film.
Having gone on to shoot Erin Brockovich
and The Virgin Suicides, the film’s
shift from naturalistic native colors to Lachman’s preference for deep shadows,
yellow/greenish hues and oversaturation of colors will remind some of Lars Von
Trier’s big screen debut The Element of
Crime. The image is so different
from how it was originally exhibited some may find it hard to digest but having
watched it I can’t imagine Scalpel looking
any other way.
Performances
from the two leads are strong with Robert Lansing making the plastic surgeon
into a lecherous, murderous and scheming madman. The heavy lifting of course is carried by
Judith Chapman as “Heather”, playing both roles with subtle characterizations
differentiating the doppelganger from the real person. It’s a tricky role to play and director
Grissmer and Lachman utilize a number of techniques to present two women played
by the same one onscreen.
Mostly
though, in the years since it’s release and disappearance from the public eye
until now, Scalpel is Ed Lachmann’s
movie which is more interested in the feeling and flavor of Southern Georgia
than it is in the labyrinthine plot machinations. In a way the film originated as a B-thriller
of sorts before time and a cinematographic genius decided to revisit it as a
snapshot of a particular area of Georgia with all of its wild eccentricities in
full view. Just go in knowing this isn’t
really a horror slasher as it is a thriller highlighting a region of the Deep South
often overlooked by the movies.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki