Laikals
The greatest movie ever made..!
Contentar
Best movie of this year hands down!
Married Baby
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Cassandra
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
acidburn-10
I'm a big fan of Giallo movies, they're fun and totally over the top and yes incredibly trashy, and always feels like their in another world where logic and sense are totally abandoned in something that feels otherworldly , but that's okay as they're a lot of fun with an intriguing plot and mystery attached.While 'Eyeball' is definitely a Giallo through and through, filled with all the typical troupes such as killer POV, gloved hand killer, overuse of primary colours (Red in this case), inept police force, oddly pacific kills, bad dubbing and a final bait and switch or the killers identity. Despite having these troupes, 'Eyeball' does nothing to enhance them or in fact add any sort of flair to the proceedings.Despite an interesting storyline where a group of American tourists travel to Barcelona on a tour bus, and almost immediately start getting picked off one by one at every stop by a hooded figure wearing a red mac and plucking out their left eye. Now that does sound interesting and this could have been a hell of a lot of fun, but it isn't its just plain flat and completely devoid of any suspense and worst of all the kills are completely tame. There just seems to be a lack of communication between the cast and the crew as each character lifelessly plough from one scene to the next without any understanding of the script or motivation.Even from a technical point everything just seems so lazy and unfocused; with the same theme music used in every scene (even when there's nothing happening) and the same ridiculous zoom in used in every shot. But despite the many, many faults everything does move at a brisk pace and the identity of the killer was a genuine surprise, even if it make no sense whatsoever and only the final scene holds any suspense whatsoever where the girl is all alone at the church and sees the murderer, after viewing an incriminating photograph of the killer's identity in broad daylight standing next to a bush holding a knife, which was hilarious and there are enough red herrings littered throughout to keep you guessing all the way to the end.So on the whole while 'Eyeball' isn't a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, it is quite fun in a so bad it's good kinda way, and while it's nowhere near one of the better Giallo movies from this period, I'd say at least give it a shot as it can be considered an early slasher movie.
tomgillespie2002
A tour bus carrying a handful of archetypal American tourists is making its way around Barcelona, hosted by an eccentric and sleazy tour guide. Mark Burton (John Richardson) has taken his mistress along with him who he is telling everyone is his secretary. Amongst the others in the group, there's a hip lesbian couple, a fun-seeking young daughter, a couple with a bit of an age difference, and a priest. They are all handed red raincoats to protect them from the torrential Spanish rain, when one of them is murdered by being repeatedly stabbed and having their eye removed. Burton suspects his ex-wife, who is apparently in Barcelona. Soon the tour group are being picked off by this mysterious, red-raincoat wearing psychopath.My experience with Italian giallo director Umberto Lenzi is only limited at current. The only other work I've seen of his is the rather bad Video Nasty, Cannibal Ferox (1981). From what I've read, his work seems to be up and down, as is the case with the majority of the prolific Italian horror directors of his era. Eyeball, surprisingly, is not bad. It is, of course, unoriginal, cheesy, unsurprising, and rips-off horror master Dario Argento something rotten. Lenzi also makes the strange decision to have the murders take place in broad daylight, in public view. But it's also quite fun, and has a premise that is enjoyably ridiculous and a climatic revelation that blows it out of the water.Giallos often don't make sense. Even some of the best works in the sub- genre, for example Argento's excellent Tenebrae (1982) is so mind- f*****g and far-fetched that it just makes the whole experience that much better. I wouldn't go that far in the case of Eyeball, but Lenzi's sheer audacity come the climax made me chuckle, and gave the film that all-important charm. The murder scenes are filmed rather badly with no effort made for set-piece or tension, but there's plenty of enjoyment to be had here. Lenzi clearly knows this as he even throws a bonus lesbian scene in the middle, seemingly just for the hell of it, and there's plenty of humour that comes from the mismatched band of characters. Nothing to give Argento and Fulci sleepless nights then, but for fans of giallo and Grindhouse, definitely worth a watch.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
MARIO GAUCI
The eighth and final Giallo in director Lenzi's prolific and versatile filmography is generally considered to be his least effort in this vein but, while I may not entirely agree with that assessment – the Spanish setting does give it an atypical look (especially as many of the murders occur out in the open and during daylight hours!) – but, unfortunately, the proceedings are very much run-of-the-mill. Incidentally, I was glad with the identity of the killer since I could not believe the hero, John Richardson (balding but saddled in the Italian print I watched – which actually reverts to English for a couple of brief instances – with a youthful voice!) preferred her character over his gorgeous wife (who, for the longest time, is thought to be the actual culprit due to a past crime she may or may not have been involved in)! The cast of characters, though most come from the same American town and are holidaying in Spain, is a mélange of different attitudes and ideals – a cigar-smoking bigwig with a precocious teen niece in tow (repeatedly ogled by the tour guide{!} and later attacked beside a pool at night: another girl is unsubtly killed inside the "House Of Horrors" of a Luna Park
though, why a bunch of mostly middle-aged tourists should choose it as an excursion in the first place is anybody's guess!), a Spaniard who has come with his less-than-enthused wife to the places he knew in his youth, a priest(!), a couple of lesbians (one a photographer and the other her black model), Richardson's secretary (with whom he not only carries on an affair but, bafflingly enough, tags along once the murders start).Interestingly, the killer (who mutilates each body by removing the female victim's left eye, hence the English title!) is seen sporting a red raincoat and gloves (as opposed to the characteristic black – perhaps a nod to the Venice-shot British chiller DON'T LOOK NOW {1973}? – and sort of explains the original title – RED CATS IN A GLASS LABYRINTH – since the fleeing killer is idiotically described as a red cat, even if the print I watched sported the banal alternate moniker of THE SECRET KILLER!!) but, since the tourists were all given one on account of the rain, it could be any one among them. However, the victims are seemingly haphazardly chosen (not merely the tourists but locals as well), so that the Police (an Inspector on his last assignment before retiring and his replacement, whom he patronizes somewhat) are at a loss as to what the motive can be. Soon Richardson's involvement in a similar crime in his hometown the previous year puts the finger of suspicion on him, especially as he always seems to be the first to reach the victim after each murder. When the lady photographer conveniently quarrels with her lover and goes back to the hotel alone to develop the latest roll of film, only to be murdered just as the black girl is entering to make her peace; in hospital due to the shock, the latter once again escapes with her life but, being now the proprietor of her deceased lover's stuff, she discovers the identity of the killer in one of the photos (hilariously revealed only towards the very end)! Richardson (by the way, he had starred in one of the best Gialli i.e. Sergio Martino's TORSO [1973}, which I had actually watched while in Hollywood!), who had been running around in circles trying to locate his wife, is eventually released from custody; the whole, then, climaxes in a monastery where the priest and a local girl are killed but the black girl cries out before the murderess can replace her own glass eye with the dead girl's! About to be attacked yet again, the black girl is saved first by the intervention of Richardson who tries to reason with his now completely deranged secretary and, eventually, the Police (who obviously prefer to shoot first and ask questions later). Mind you, even lesser vintage efforts of this type are bound to give a modicum of pleasure to genre buffs (which, I guess explains my average rating), but it does seem like the Giallo was definitely running out of steam by this time. Indeed, the lack of a R1 DVD for this one – or, for that matter, the recently-viewed THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE (1971) – could well be a tell-tale sign of the film's relative underperformance even within the established confines of its subgenre! For the record, Bruno Nicolai's jaunty musical accompaniment is a pleasant but unexceptional one.
timbliz
Let's face it, there is a finite number of giallos and I have yet to see one with a plausible story line (Anyone see "Watch Me When I Kill"?). Isn't that a prerequisite of the sub-genre, along with the gloved villain and the stylized killings? So why skip this one? Are you waiting for 'The Ultimate Giallo'? This one is alright. Maybe Lenzi has made some crap, especially his latter stuff (Black Demons, Hell's Gate,House Of Witchcraft), but a lot his work kicks ass(Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, Man from Deep River, Gang War in Milan, Almost Human, Syndicate Sadists, Rome Armed to the Teeth, Violent Naples, The Cynic, the Rat & the Fist, Eaten Alive, Nightmare City, Cannibal Ferox). This is not his best, but definitely not his worst. Most likely only giallo fans are going to watch this anyway, so if that is you, go ahead, you won't be disappointed.