THE CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN (1958)
Written by Jerome Bixby Directed by Edward L. Cahn

The petrified corpse of a victim of Vesuvius is unearthed at an archeological dig in Pompeii. He turns out to be a sorcerer, Quintillus Aurelius (Bob Bryant), who isn’t quite dead. This haircut of THE MUMMY has all the expected elements: the archeological digger discovering what turns out to be a revivified corpse, the woman (Elaine Edwards) who is the reincarnated love of that corpse, the substance that brings the corpse back to life (in this case alchemical combined with radiation), the disbelief of the authorities. But with a fast-paced script from science fiction writer Jerome Bixby and even faster direction from Edward L. Cahn, FACELESS MAN becomes a swift, no-nonsense B picture with lots of fine moments set to a pulse-pounding score by Gerald Fried. Cahn can usually be counted on to move things along in an expeditious manner, but with a reasonably intelligent script, as he has here, he is capable of more than that, coming up with a minor gem. Cinematography by future “Outer Limits” lenser Kenneth Peach makes good use of light and shadow. The costume design of the title character was created by gorilla man Charles Gemora and worn by Bob Bryant, and is surprisingly effective; the lumbering, faceless figure is powerful and impressive. For once, the plaster statue used when the Faceless Man is inert looks exactly like the man in the costume (unlike, say, IT!). Elaine Edwards, as the artist who paints a portrait of Aurelius before she ever sees him, is very good, with Richard Anderson fine as the grumpy scientist hero. Time for someone to do a career reassessment of Edward L. Cahn! (Viewed on ThisTV, which has commercial interruptions every 15 minutes, just as you would have had when watching this on your local TV back in 1964.)

— Robert Deveau, The Doomed Farmer