In Barcelona Spain, a group of tourists visiting the city are aboard a shuttle that is taking them to their hotel. Along the way they are entertained by their tour guide, Martinez (Raf Baldassarre) who points out various attractions around the city, while ogling the young girls on the bus. At the hotel everyone is assigned to their various rooms.
Among the tourists is Paulette Stone (Martine Brochard). Paulette is the secretary of Mark Burton (John Richardson), a married man that she had been having an affair with. Mark shows up in Barcelona. Mark had been in Paris with his wife, Alma (Marta May), but after fighting for days she left to return to Burlington, Vermont. in America. Mark then joined the tour group. Mark wants to leave Alma to be with Paulette, however, Paulette is aware that Alma is battling psychological issues and refuses to continue a relationship with Mark until Alma’s mental state is better.
Not long after the group arrived in Barcelona, a local woman was stabbed to death. Her left eye was gouged out. Inspector Tudela (Andres Mejuto) is assigned to the case. The inspector is a few days from retiring from the police force, and has his replacement, Inspector Lara (Jose Maria Blanco) in tow. The two begin their investigation. Soon after that members of the tour group begin to be murdered. The victims are stabbed with their left eye gouged out. The inspectors begin to believe that the murderer may be one of the tourists.
As the murders continue Mark remembers an incident back in Burlington where a young girl was killed in the same manner. He had found Alma unconscious on the ground with a knife in her hand. He begins to wonder if Alma may not have returned home but instead followed him to Spain and is responsible for the murders. Inspector Tudela, on the other hand, begins looking at Mark himself as a possible suspect in the murders.
“Eyeball” AKA “Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro” was released in 1975 and was directed by Umberto Lenzi. It is an Italian Spanish horror slasher mystery and a giallo.
It is, at best, an average giallo. It has the usual red herrings, gore, and the standard gratuitous nudity but the story line is a bit plain. As with most gialli, the murders are done by a knife wielding perpetrator dressed in red. The film does have a twist at the end but since the movie itself is only average so is the ending. The script and acting are also pretty average and only highlighted by a gruesome murder here and there. Even though it’s not great, the movie is entertaining enough and worth a look.
My main complaint about the film is that information about the killer is only revealed at the end. It’s not that I tried to figure out who the killer actually was, (I don’t mind not knowing until the end), but it does seem a little sneaky to withhold crucial information just to keep others from deducing who it is. The ending isn’t just a twist but a secret that seems to have been tossed in to keep people stumped until the final reveal.
Olga Pehar, who played Mrs. Randall, was married to director Lenzi.