Eyeball

Eyeball (1975)

Murder surrounds a group of tourists that are touring Madrid. It seems that everywhere they go death follows. Someone is killing beautiful young girls and stealing one of their eyes! But who could be doing such a thing? Is it the married man in love with his secretary and has followed her to Madrid? Perhaps it is the man’s unstable wife that was supposed to check into a clinic, but never did? Or could it be any of the other travelers who are from a small town where a similar murder took place? The police baffled as to the identity of the killer and their motive as the bodies keep piling up.

Directed by the great Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox) Eyeball is paced nicely and a blast to watch. The story manages to keep the killer’s identity a secret until the very end of the movie. Though to be honest when revealed I thought it was a bit of a stretch. Still for a Giallo the twist isn’t too far out there. One of the things that I liked best about the story is the unique setting of a group of tourists traveling around on their vacation with the killer following them around. This is a unique twist on an established formula that works way better than I expected it to. Another neat twist is the killer’s taking of the eyes, which leads to the crazy English title of the movie. The story is filled with some interesting characters, many of which are lovely looking ladies who become victims to the crazed killer. Some of these ladies frolic around for a bit in the nude, which gives the movie a bit of a sleazy feel that one expects from a European flick. The cast is mostly filled with attractive people who are there to look good and be dubbed over later on. They do look good and the dubbing is adequate. Honestly there isn’t much else to be said about the cast.

I was a bit surprised how tame many of the kills are. We do see plenty of blood and an occasional bloody knife blade, but that is about it. I was hoping for a gruesome kill here and there, or maybe even an eye extraction on screen. Still graphic violence isn’t really all that necessary for a good Giallo, which I think Eyeball is. As for the rest of the technical bits and pieces the camera work is excellent and does a wonderful job capturing the beautiful backgrounds (the characters are on vacation you know). As I’ve already said the dubbing is adequate, and the music is good as well. Though I swear that some of it might be repurposed from other movies because I swear I’ve heard it before. Even so it fits the scenes works nicely to set the mood.

I’ve found that most people either like Giallos or don’t. If you are one of those people that isn’t a fan of the genre then you aren’t going to like Eyeball. If on the other hand you dig a good Giallo as much as I do then you need to track down a copy of Eyeball. I recommend it.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer