EYEBALL
(gatti rossi in un labrinto di vetro; wide eyed in the dark)1974 Umberto Lenzi Italy/Spain
Starring: Martine Brochard, John Richardson, John Bartha, Ines Pellegrini
Umberto Lenzi is much better known for his action/war/crime films than his gialli, and the reason is that he's much better suited for action than mystery. Eyeball does fare slightly better than his other gialli from this era, but i am pretty forgiving when it comes to Lenzi, so others may think differently.
The confusing story deals with a group of vacationers getting knocked off one by one in Spain. Not only does the killer violently stab them repeatedly, he/she gouges out their left eye! The tourists don't seem to mind all that much the first few times this happens, and they go on with thier vacation like normal.
The great thing about this movie is that the actors really are on vacation. A bunch of Italians got a free trip to Spain and get to go around looking at all the tourist attractions. John Bartha (Cannibal Ferox, Challange To White Fang) seems to really be enjoying himself in his ugly floral shirt and straw hat, he has a big shit grin throughout the film.
The pacing is swift and there's a large body count, so you probably won't get bored, but the story is almost completely incoherent. If you're used to giallo logic you should be okay, but if not, your head might explode trying to figure it out.
Some of the stabbings are pretty graphic and shocking, including a nasty throat slitting, but the majority of the fx consist of throwing blood on a girls shirt. But, they do come much more often than most other gialli, with a body count of about 8 or 9 it ranks up there with Tenebre in the number of corpses.
The photography by Antonio Millan is pretty good, giving the film a 70's TV movie feel, which although probably unintentional, is effective. Bruno Nicholi's (Virgin Among The Living Dead, Day Of The Maniac) music is uncharacteristically bad, sounding somewhat like the theme to a bad soap opera, and it gets horribly repetitive after awhile.
With the variety of wacky characters, some bloody murders, and a few shockingly bizarre scenes towards the end, not to mention the ridiculous unmasking of the murderer, there's more than enough to keep you interested. Not a great film by any stretch, but fun and much better than the earlier Lenzi giallo Spasmo.
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