While combing the ruins of Pompeii, a group of scientists uncover evidence that the long-ago eruption of Vesuvius was brought about by an Etruscan curse, pronounced by a gladiator who was denied marriage to the daughter of a senator. Turned to stone by exposure to embalming fluid, the gladiator is placed in suspended animation for 2000 years. Revived in the 20th century, the gladiator-now a faceless, granite-like creature-intends to claim the sweetheart (Elaine Edwards) of one of the scientists (Richard Anderson), convinced that the girl is the reincarnation of his lost love. An uninspired rehash of The Mummy (1932), Curse of the Faceless Man was originally released on a double bill with the superior It! The Terror From Beyond Space; both films were scripted by science fiction author Jerome Bixby and directed by Edward L. Cahn.