Review: The Evil Eye

Leticia Roman arrives in Rome from the US and in addition to being mugged and her elderly Aunt passing away on Roman’s arrival, she also witnesses a brutal murder of a woman. However, when she tells a policeman, the body seems to have vanished and the police take her for a crazy person. She decides to investigate the matter herself, with nice guy doctor John Saxon the only person even willing to humour her suspicions. Valentina Cortese plays a friend of the dead Aunt who happens to live nearby the site of the murder.

 

Slow-moving, but solid Mario Bava (“Black Sunday”, “Black Sabbath”, “Kill, Baby…Kill”, “Hatchet for the Honeymoon”) film from 1963, that nonetheless could’ve been even better than it is. In addition to the slow pace (the first act should’ve been pared down a bit), the narration is completely unnecessary and unwanted. It also only turns up after 30 minutes randomly. Weird. Visually, though? This thing’s a masterpiece, stunningly shot in B&W by the director/cinematographer. The use of shadow here is extremely unsettling at times, ditto the use of sound. Lead actress Leticia Roman is genuinely good and her character immensely appealing, which for me is really important. American import John Saxon provides solid support, as well.

 

The central idea of the film is fascinating, and although I should’ve picked the culprit from a mile away, I didn’t. You might find an easier time of it, so I’m not sure I’d add that as a plus of the film so much as a lapse of concentration on my part. Nonetheless the story is engaging throughout, though that slow pace does hurt it. Genre-wise I think this is a mixture of giallo and a Hitchcockian murder-mystery. I have little doubt that Bava’s giallo descendant Dario Argento likes this film. The plotting is very Argento in particular.

 

There’s a lot to like here from Bava – cinematography, performances, central premise. However, a slow first half stops this mystery/horror from being more strongly recommended. Still worth a look, especially for Bava fans. The screenplay had six hands on it, including the director as well as Sergio Corbucci (“Django”), Ennio De Concini (“Salon Kitty”), Eliana De Sabata, Mino Guerrini (“Date for a Murder”), and Francesco Prosperi (writer-director of “Kill Me, My Love!” with Farley Granger).

 

Rating: B-

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more