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Eyeball
AKA The Secret Killer
AKA Gatti Rossi In Un Labirinto Di Vetro
Released: 1975
Starring: Martine Brochard, John Richardson, Ines Pellegrini, and Andrés
Mejuto
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Provided By
Shocking Videos
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A group of tourists travelling through Spain are the prey of a killer who
removes an eyeball from each victim as a token of the crime. Mark Burton
(played by John Richardson) and his secretary, Paulette (Martine Brochard),
who he is secretly having an affair with, are the only two who cannot
provide a substantial alibi. Mark fears that his wife, Alma, who has a
history of violent behavior, might be the culprit. His fears are confirmed
when he calls the mental facility where Alma was supposed to have
committed herself and discovers that she never showed up. As more people
begin to turn up dead (and missing an eyeball) the police put pressure on
the surviving members of the tour group to try and weed out the killer.
Umberto Lenzi (Spasmo, Almost Human) directs
Eyeball, a film with many, many varying titles. However, I
prefer the Italian because it translates to Red Cats In A Glass Maze.
It doesn’t make much sense but neither does the film. This is some
excellent camerawork from Spanish cinematographer Antonio Millán (zoom
much?) and another pitch perfect soundtrack from composer Bruno Nicolai (The
Antichrist, French Sex Murders). The film’s
style-over-substance visual mantra is established in the trippy spookhouse
credit sequence and never lets up throughout this trashy and thoroughly
superficial thriller. This abundance of style and beautiful Spanish
scenery distracts somewhat successfully from the lackluster script and
poor plotting. What Eyeball lacks in intelligence it makes
up for in bloodshed and sleaze (are all the male characters scumbags?).
Martine Brochard (The Nuns Of Saint Archangel) and John
Richardson (Torso)
head up the cast who perform quite well considering the material. Though
not the most proficient actress, the stunning Ines Pellegrini does a
decent job as the naïve Naiba. Repeat Giallo offender George Rigaud (whose
credits include The Case Of The Bloody Iris,
All The
Colors Of The Dark, A Lizard In Woman’s Skin,
etc.) is here as Reverend Bronson, yet another suspect. Mirta Miller (Vengeance
of the Zombies) is quite sexy (but not very convincing) as Lisa,
the lesbian photographer or photographer of lesbians. I really liked
Silvia Solar (Crimson, The Devil’s Kiss) as
Gail Alvarado, owner of the multi-toned hair and smoker of Astor
cigarettes. Unfortunately, that’s all I can remember of her character.
Nice script, Lenzi!
It just goes to show you what a talented director can do with a terrible
screenplay. Though I consider
Seven
Blood-Stained Orchids to be a much better example of
Lenzi’s work as well as the Giallo genre, Eyeball is still
quite entertaining. This one is loaded with tacky 70s Euro-style and
enough violence and female flesh to please any Giallo fan. The reveal is
either impossible to guess thanks to the pile of red herrings or painfully
easy from the beginning. Either way, the killer is as crazy as a loon and
wait ‘til you see what the deal is with the eyeball snatching. Red
Cats In A Glass Maze (I love that title!) is probably a poor
starting point for the uninitiated but rabid fans of the Yellow films
(like myself) will get a kick out of this one.
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Links:
Get this on DVD from
Shocking Videos.
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Quotes:
Lisa: “Naiba, is it you? I want to see you in the bedroom. It’s the only
place to make up.”
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More
Screenshots Here
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