The Giallo Score : Eyeball

1975

Giallo Score

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us title: Eyeball

italian title: Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro

year: 1975

director: Umberto Lenzi

composer: Bruno Nicolai

full details: IMDB

overall score: 81

Recommedation: Entertaining
Nothing ground breaking here, but a fun time nonetheless.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

score analysis

By 1975 the Giallo's popularity was on a downward trajectory with only 10 films released in that year, of which the most notable is Argento's Deep Red (Profondo Rosso). In the same year Umberto Lenzi, who helped pioneer the genre in the late 60's, released his final Giallo - Eyeball, a trashy but effective thriller that follows a group a tourists in Barcelona.

Unlike the previous year's Spasmo which is slightly unique in its somewhat surrealistic approach to storytelling, Lenzi recycles just about every Giallo convention in Eyeball. Luckily, this doesn't detract from the film's entertainment value, especially if you favor the trashy and not-too-serious approach.

The film scored reasonably well considering the major omissions of black gloves and an Italian location. The police are involved from the start but Vermont native Mark Burton does enough sleuthing on his own to secure the Ameteur Detective points.

Finally, Bruno Nicolai never seems to disappoint and the main theme for Eyeball is definitely one of his best. Don't be surprised if you find yourself humming the theme to this Giallo long after the credits roll.

All in all, Eyeball is an entertaining guilty pleasure, but it also serves as an example of the genre in decline. While Argento continued to push the limits of the genre with Deep Red, Lenzi seems to have preferred the easy money.

score breakdown

Staples : 50/60

Italian Director 10 points

Hidden Identity 10 points

Ameteur Detective 5 points

Classic Period (1970 - 1975) 5 points

Motivation: Psychological Trauma/Revenge 10 points

Avoid Capture: Killed by Police or other character 5 points

Director > 1 5 points

Standards : 21/30

Body Count >= 3 4 points

Flashback Revelation 3 points

Morricone/Nicolai/Ortolani 3 points

Nude Scene >= 1 3 points

Suspects >= 3 4 points

Urban Location 4 points

Signatures : 13/10

Airplane 1 points

Attend Funeral 1 points

City Map 1 points

Foreigner 1 points

Gay/Lesbian 1 points

J&B 1 points

Odd Clue 1 points

Peeping Tom 1 points

Pseudoscience 1 points

Photography/Glamor/Modeling/Art 1 points

Priest 1 points

Prove Innocence 1 points

Spiral Stairs 1 points

Total Points : 81/100

trailer

Published: 2012-10-15