Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Nice effects though.

From my favorite movies..

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

On a sight-seeing trip in Barcelona, an eclectic group of tourists finds themselves being stalked by a maniac looking for a particular member of the group who knows the secret about their past criminal life and must find a way to stop the rampage before they're all killed.This was quite the fun and overall enjoyable Giallo. One of the strongest efforts within this one is the fact that there's so much to really like here with the cheesy setting and location of the overall effort. The fact that this one plays with the idea of the tourist group on a trip through the city when they get caught up in the mystery of the killer striking against them sets this off on a solid note, and the scenes of the group on the streets enjoying the city or being chased thinking they've gotten the killer allows for a nice bit of cheese to be offered here. Once they get further along the investigation the engaging mystery takes over the fun cheese on display as the stalking scenes are quite good, from the opening murder in the streets of the town, a shocking ambush inside a carnival ride where the body is discovered upon arriving back at the station and the great stalking down at the farm featuring the killer tossing the body into the pig-pen. The later ambush on the unsuspecting victim in the bathroom waiting for her partner to come in and then later meeting the killer trying to escape makes for a nice scene, and with the follow-up attack on the witness in the hospital that gets interrupted allows for some solid work here chasing them through the room before making the nice escape that keep his identity a secret. Coupled with the fine nudity and one of the finer use of a tragic accident to spur the murders onward here as the motivation for the killings these here allow this one to have some rather fine positives to hold over the few minor negatives. Among the worst flaws here is the fact that the central investigation doesn't make much sense in the way it unfurls since it feels like the least successful investigation in one of the genres' efforts. There's never a great deal of uncovering clues to lead to the next one that brings about the killers' eventual identity, and when we are stuck with the police inspectors they don't do much of anything to investigate the clues left behind which are there for it does come off with a solid mystery at its heart involving why the tour group is specifically targeted. However, the investigation into the missing passenger and the photographic evidence left behind don't really play into the film all that much and it strikes as quite a weak overall investigation which is part and parcel of the genre. That also leaves the film to stumble at times with a slightly lower body count than would be expected for these kinds of films also coming into play in making the second half feel somewhat weaker than the first half as it opens strongly but seems to fizzle out once they know the killers' stalking them. While it's not enough to really lower this, they do knock it down slightly.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Nudity and Language.

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.

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.

Played with a straight face, Umberto Lenzi's Giallo EYEBALL is a hoot of a film. It actually takes the subject matter seriously which makes it all the more fun. It's terribly made and what's worse is the corny music theme that is played throughout. The film deals with a group of tourists who begin getting brutally knocked off by a garbage bag wearing killer. Oh, and the killer also has a fetish for cutting out people's eyeballs. Sound cool? Well, it's pretty damn funny but much of the film (when people aren't dyin') is pretty slow and makes it quite a chore to finish. If you're a lover of bad B-movies you might get a kick out of this, others will be appalled by the absolutely cheesy intro.