Eyeball (1975)
"Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro" (original title)

Killer in red cape and hood is killing off tourists on a tour bus by gouging out thier eyeballs.

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Umberto Lenzi (screenplay), Umberto Lenzi (story),

Stars:

Martine Brochard, John Richardson, Ines Pellegrini

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Martine Brochard	...	Paulette Stone
John Richardson	...	Mark Burton
Ines Pellegrini	...	Naiba Campbell
Andrés Mejuto	...	Inspector Tudela
Mirta Miller	...	Lisa Sanders
Daniele Vargas	...	Robby Alvarado
George Rigaud	...	Rev. Bronson
Silvia Solar	...	Gail Alvarado
Raf Baldassarre	...	Martinez - the tour guide
José María Blanco	...	Inspector Lara
Marta May	...	Alma Burton
John Bartha	...	Mr. Hamilton
Olga Pehar	...	Mrs. Randall
Verónica Miriel	...	Jenny Hamilton
Olga Montes

Storyline

Killer in red cape and hood is killing off tourists on a tour bus by gouging out thier eyeballs.

---

Plot Keywords:

tourist | red | killer | bus | eyeball | 

---

Taglines:

A blinding vision of horror.

---

Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian Spanish

Release Date:

9 June 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eyeball

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 11,090,923 (Spain) (3 March 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

National Cinematografica, Pioneer, Estela Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Paulette Stone: I was like you... before this friend of mine ripped out my eye playing doctor with me... leaving an empty socket.

---

Connections

Featured in Celluloid Bloodbath: More Prevues from Hell (2012)

User Reviews

EYEBALL (Umberto Lenzi, 1975) **1/2

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.