EYEBALL (1975) Blu-ray Review

Eyeball (1975) d. Umberto Lenzi (Italy/Spain) (100 min)

A group of American tourists seeing the sight of Barcelona are targeted by a red-gloved killer with a penchant for slashing and dashing and tarrying only long enough to puncture the victim’s left eye as a calling card. With a literal busload of suspects and a cranky veteran cop (retiring in a week) on the case, this is an admirably energetic and playful entry in the giallo sweepstakes, one of the last entries of the Italian heyday and Lenzi’s final effort in the subgenre.

While not terribly bloody or scary or artfully directed (outside of Barcelona’s natural charms, since the film doubles as a travelogue – why let a string of murders get in the way of your vacation?), Eyeball does manage to keep things lively and suspenseful since Lenzi makes pretty much everyone look suspicious at some point. (Everyone being issued an identical red plastic poncho when a rainstorm hits is an especially nice touch, and perhaps a nod to Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now which had been released to great success two years prior.)

From Mirta Miller’s (Count Dracula’s Great Love, Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf) sexy photographer to George Rigaud’s (Horror Express, All the Colors of the Dark) seemingly benevolent man of the cloth to exotic model Ines Pellegrini (the same year she appeared as “The Slave Girl” in Pasolini’s Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom) to Hammer and Italian horror mainstay John Richardson (One Million Years B.C., The Vengeance of She, Black Sunday, Torso) as a businessman having an affair with his secretary (Martine Brochard) who suspects his estranged wife (Marta May) is behind it all, this wonderfully diverse and animated cast of potential psychos is slowly trimmed down with plenty of ocular trauma greasing the wheels.

While Lenzi (who co-wrote the script with Felix Tusell) is often thought of primarily as the creator of such debauched class-icks as Cannibal Ferox and Nightmare City, it’s worth remembering that, like most of the Italian maestros, he worked in a number of genres throughout the 1960s and ’70s ranging from spaghetti westerns (Pistol for a Hundred Coffins) to comedies (Love and Chatter) to action (The Tough Ones) to gut-punching thrillers (Almost Human). In the giallo category, he logged several classier affairs with Carroll Baker (Knife of Ice, A Quiet Place to Kill, So Sweet… So Perverse), as well as the deliciously titled Spasmo. Eyeball is probably the most overtly bonkers of the bunch, and it’s fun to watch him cutting loose without going full-tilt shameless as he did with the dawn of the 1980s.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Brand New 2018 2K Transfer and Restoration with Extensive Colour Correction exclusive to this Release.
English and Italian Soundtracks with newly translated English subtitles for the Italian track.
Audio Commentary by the Gialli loving Podcast, The Hysteria Continues
ALL EYES ON LENZI: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE ITALIAN EXPLOITATION TITAN - Brand new feature length documentary (83 minutes) detailing the work and legacy of Rome's most prolific grindhouse nightmare-maker. Features never-before-seen interview footage with Umberto Lenzi himself and comments from critics John Martin,Manlio Gomarasca and Rachael Nisbet, academic Mikel Koven, actors Danilo Mattei and Giovanni Lombardo Radice and director and writer Scooter McCrae!!
Eyeballs on Martin Brochard: 2018 Interview with Actress Martine Brochard
Eyeball Locations Featurette
Trailers

Eyeball is available now on Blu-ray from 88 Films and can be ordered HERE:

https://88-films.myshopify.com/products/eyeball-the-italian-collection-45-blu-ray

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