Watch Pyro... The Thing Without a Face For Free

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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.

A married man has a torrid affair with the previous owner of the house he has bought for his family. He tries to end the affair, but the woman will have none of that. She sets the house on fire killing his wife and child. Burned beyond recognition, the man vows revenge against his former lover.Overall, Pyro is a nice little horror/thriller. The plot, although predictable, is generally well paced and only gets bogged down by the love story on one or two brief occasions. It's the predictability that keeps me from rating Pyro much higher. There are a few chills to be had like the scene where the woman runs in fear down a deserted street at night, afraid that her disfigured lover is about the catch-up with her. The acting is a notch or two above what I have seen in other early Spanish horror films. Both Barry Sullivan and Martha Hyer give excellent performances in the lead roles. Hyer, in particular, is wonderful as the scheming, murderous ex-lover. Finally, the burn make-up is effectively creepy. It's the stuff of nightmares.A couple bits of trivia – first, apparently Pyro was the first horror/thriller movie to be filmed in Spain. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. I just thought it was interesting. Second, cult fans may be interested in catching Pyro to see a young, pre-Franco Soledad Miranda in a small role. She doesn't do much, but she has a presence about her that's unmistakable.

I watched this movie one Saturday night on Creature Features when I was about 10-years-old and it scared the hell out of me. I had to climb in bed and sleep with my mother for the rest of the night. I didn't scare easily, I had watched The Exorcist, The Omen and every other horror movie of that day, but this one did it to me. It was the shot where Barry Sullivan reveals his face and it is burned and scarred. It truly was a scary moment for me. I bought the DVD a few years ago and rewatched it. I was 35 and didn't have to go sleep with my mother, but it was still creepy. This is a pretty good movie to seek out. Even 25 years later it still had the ability to creep me out.

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!!!