Strong and Moving!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Since I have been a great fan of the late Spanish Horror/Exploitation legend Paul Naschy for many years now, and the Italian Giallo is (along with Gothic Horror) my favorite Horror/Suspense sub-genre, I have long been anticipating this film which is a Spanish Giallo starring Naschy. And I was not at all disappointed when I finally saw "Los Ojos Azules De La Muñeca Rota" aka. "Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll" (1973) recently, as this weird, sleazy and brutal little film truly delivers what we Naschy fans want to see. Directed by Carlos Aured, who, in the same year 1973, made two other, more widely known films starring (and co-written by) Naschy, "El Espanto Surge De La Tumba" ("Horror Rises From The Tomb") and "El Retorno De Walpurgis" ("Curse of the Devil"/"Return of the Werewolf"), "Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll" is a film that no Naschy fan should consider missing.Naschy plays Gilles, an ex con, who gets employed as a handyman in a mansion owned by three very dissimilar sisters, Claude (Dina Lorys) who has a heavily scarred arm, the gorgeous nymphomaniac Nicole (Eva Léon), and the wheel-chair-bound Michelle (Inés Morales). Needless to say that he soon gets sexually involved with more than one of them. Around the same time, an unknown maniac is stalking the area, killing merely blonde teenage girls, and cutting out their blue eyes...Though the plot may not always be logical (for ingeniously complex plotting, watch Italian Gialli from around the same time), it is wonderfully demented and the atmosphere is creepy from start to finish. The murders are gory and genuinely sadistic, and since this is a Naschy flick it is needless to say that there is sleaze and gratuitous female nudity (especially from the yummy Eva Léon). Naschy's charisma and unique screen-presence is great as always. Dina Lorys, Eva Léon and Inés Morales are great as the three sisters. Most of the films this great Spanish Horror icon was part of may not be masterpieces, but they are all entertaining, and have a certain inimitable charm that can only be found in Naschy films. Overall, this Spanish film may not be the prime example of brilliantly convoluted Giallo-plotting, but it is creepy, atmospheric, sleazy and incredibly entertaining stuff that none of my fellow Paul Naschy fans could possibly afford to miss! 7.5/10

Paul Naschy's horror-film career embellished his signature "Waldemar Daninsky" werewolf series with various entries in other subgenres: this, in fact, is a giallo. However, it is not among his better outings: he plays a drifter who finds employment at a house in which live three women (one is wheelchair-bound though her condition is actually psychosomatic, another has a maimed hand she hides in a prosthetic and the youngest a nymphomaniac). Naschy himself keeps a skeleton in his closet, having killed his faithless girlfriend (whom the title references). Of course, his ruggedness attracts – and causes much discord between – the ladies of the house; though he has no qualms about sleeping with the sexiest, he is actually drawn to the more mature second (played by Diana Lorys). Amid all of this, a serial killer is apparently offing girls who may or may not look like Naschy's former lover – which, having started with his arrival in town, naturally puts the finger of suspicion on him. Also involved are the crippled woman's blonde nurse (actually a last-minute replacement and who harbors secrets of her own), the woman's doctor (fixated on his dead daughter), not to mention the vengeance-seeking ex-handyman of the central household! So, we get a real menagerie of neurotics here (keeping one guessing as to the killer's identity) – resulting in several elements which are essential to this kind of film: a modicum of style, a convoluted (but not especially engrossing) plot, as well as discreet use of nudity and gore.

Gilles (Paul Naschy) is a convict on the run, he has bad dreams that he at one point strangled women to death, he is unsure as to whether or not they did or did not happen. Travelling through France he is hired as a handyman at a country house where three beautiful but very different sisters live. One is wheelchair bound, due to psychological issues and is constantly attended by the family doctor, another has a false arm and is afraid men will not like her, the third is a nymphomaniac who immediately sets her sights on Gilles. When women begin to get brutally murdered in the area, the local Gendarme naturally believe the suspicious new guy in town, Gilles, is a suspect.Decent Giallo, where the killer preys on women with blue eyes, gouging them out after killing them (Hence the title) In classic Giallo style, Aured succeeds in keeping the identity of the killer secret while throwing suspicion on everyone, while also keeping up a fair tempo of sexual goings on at the house. There's the usual misogynistic stuff you might expect, along with some daft plot set up's, like the blonde girl who decides to take a short cut through the cemetery while there's a killer on the loose, but if you can ignore these points, its not a bad film. There is a moment just before the final reveal of the killer, where we are left briefly with no legitimate suspects, to me this was the place to end the film, but that's just my personal taste for vague endings.

Certain movies put you at ease and make you feel confident right from the first sequences. "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" opens with moody and enchanting yet remotely ominous musical tunes as Paul Naschy is drifting across a remote and desolate countryside. If you're into 70's and European-made exploitation movies, you know right away this is the ideal intro for a film like this. Naschy – the star and writer and director of numerous movies like this – plays an ex-convict arriving in a secluded house occupied by three eccentric and suspiciously behaving sisters. One is lustful and promptly shows a sexual interest in the new arrival, the second one is wheelchair bound and remains out of sight and the oldest sister (with an impressively mutilated arm) is the bossy and arrogant leader of the pack. With the arrival of yet another ravishing woman – a private nurse to look after the ill sister – Gilles is completely surrounded by lurid women that may not be as defenseless and innocent as they look. One of the more apt and enticing titles of this movie is "House of Psychotic Women"; which gives a slightly more accurate though sadly exaggerated indication of what to expect. Or at least what to expect during the first half! Parallel with the sexual escapades in the mansion, there's a sadistic killer on the loose in town, exclusively prowling for girls with blond hair and bright blue eyes that he/she cuts out and collects in a jar. The perverted killer sub plot, with its vile gore and misogynist violence, makes "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" also qualify as a bona fide Giallo next to being a sleazy early 70's Euro-sexploitation feature. It's not the greatest Giallo, since the relevance of the murders in connection with the events at the mansion remains too vague and develops quite late, but it does guarantee a suspenseful and blood-soaked third act. Like the case with so many movies in this genre, it's far more amusing if you don't even bother paying attention to the complete absence of logic and coherence. Enjoy the bloodshed, the fantastic score (courtesy of Juan Carlos Calderón), Naschy's testosterone-laden charisma, the sickening killings and – of course – the various offerings of gratuitous nudity!