#30 - Seconds (1966)

 

 
(dir. John Frankenheimer)

A middle-aged man hires a company to fake his death and give him a new life. He is given plastic surgery to look like a different (and younger) man, and is set up with a career as an artist. Now a "reborn", he is placed in a community with others who went through the same process, but begins to have regrets about his decision and finds himself trapped in a nightmarish situation.

This is really excellent! I'm not sure I'd call it a straight up horror film, more of a sci-fi psychological thriller, but the Kafkaesque* nightmarish bureaucracy of the company is creepy and the ending is chilling. Rock Hudson is really good in the lead role (the younger and more handsome post-surgery version, of course) and really sells the confusion and desperation his character is feeling.

A very cool movie that should be better known.

* that's twice this year!

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