Los ojos azules de la muñeca rota

While many of the Italian gialli have been co-produced with Spanish money, this movie is maybe the only real "pure" Spanish giallo - with Paul Naschy playing the most impressive role of his career. His character is a ex-convict who comes to a small town. He gets a job in a big house inhabited by three women who all seem to suffer from severe psychological problems (they are not psychotic, however, even though the American title "House of Psychotic Women" suggests so). Worst of all, a killer stalks the young women in the neighborhood and steals their eyeballs (eyeballs again... films like "The Headless Eyes" and "Gatti Rossi in un Labirinto di Vetro" come in mind).

No wonder that Naschy's character becomes soon a main suspect, even though the policemen of the small town don't know that he's an ex-convict. Naschy's portrayal of the hapless man is more tragic and sympathetic than all his portrayals of wolfman Waldemar Daninsky, the role he repeated playing throughout most of his acting career.

The movie is very low-budget but nevertheless quite thrilling, and the revealing of the killer's identity at the end is at least as surprising as in your typical eerie Italian giallo. Highly recommended to all those who love this kind of stuff and European horror cinema in general.

This is the most famous of the Spanish gialli, and not surprising the stout and hirsute one, Paul Naschy, was heavily involved in it. He plays a criminal who comes to a provincial Spanish town and finds work as a handyman for three sisters, one of whom is in a wheelchair and another of whom is a nymphomaniac. He begins to have dreams of murdering women. The three sisters also act suspiciously and seem to be harboring a dark secret about the tragic death of their parents. Then someone begins murdering blue-eyed girls (which there seems to be an abnormal amount of for rural Spain)and taking their eyes, thus the Spainish title which translates roughly to "Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll".

This movie drags a little frankly, but the ending is great. Naschy makes a very unusual choice regarding his character. The identity of the killer is pretty predictable--it's almost always the least likely character in these movies--but the movie has a great double-twist at the end. I don't want to say too much, but imagine the character who sums every thing up for the viewer at the end of movies like "Psycho" himself being a "Dr. Caligari" figure. And the motive of the killer is sublimely ridiculous. It was probably inspired by "Eyes Without a Face", but it more closely resembles the preposterous resolution of "The New York Ripper".

Unfortunately, I saw the American cut of this movie, "House of Psychotic Women" which strangely seems to have left in all of the very graphic violence, but cut out all the sex (I can't believe a Naschy movie directed by sleazemeister Carlos Aured and featuring a nymphomaniac would have NO gratuitous nudity and sex in it). Usually, unedited cuts of Naschy movies aren't any better, just longer, but "House" (the version I saw anyway) actually seems to be missing whole scenes. At one point, for instance, three female hitch-hikers in short-shorts show up at the town bar. One of them even bends way over the bar to give all the sleazebags in the bar (and all us sleazebags in the audience) a long look at her lower glutes. Delectable little involuntary eye donors, you would think. But then the three girls are never seen again in the movie. They were either meant to be brown-eyed, red-herring victims, or there's something missing in the American version. Who knows? This movie didn't leave enough of an impression on ME to look for the uncut European version, but if you have a choice in the matter you should probably go with that one.

This is an above average Spanish made giallo with odd characters and atmosphere. The plot begins when ex-convict Paul Naschy comes to a small town and finds work as the caretaker of a desolate house owned by three sisters. Soon after, the town is plagued by a series of killings, the victims of which are all girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. The mystery behind these murders then unwinds from there.

Los ojos azules de la muneca rota contains all the elements of a good giallo. It has strange characters, including Paul Naschy who experiences eerie flashbacks and the three sisters he works for, whom all suffer from some form of psychosis. This movie has some very suspenseful and brutal murder scenes as well, including a nasty killing with a small garden rake. The plot, too, is excellent and filled with countless twists. Just when it seems to not make any sense it suddenly does. This film also boasts a truly bizarre atmosphere that cannot really be described but stems partially from the fact that there are no typically normal characters anywhere in the film and, at times, things seem to be happening for no particular reason.

Overall, this is a fine giallo that has all the essential components of the genre and, with its strange atmosphere, manages to be slightly different.

More than anything, 1973's "The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" seems to pose the question "Can a film be called a giallo if it was not made in Italy?" Well, since this Spanish picture has every attribute of a classic giallo except the Italian soundtrack, let's just say the answer is yes, call it an "amarillo" and move on! This film was my first introduction to the huge oeuvre of the late Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy, an actor/writer/director/producer who in this film contented himself with merely being the lead man. Here he plays Gilles, a likable ex-con in northern France who signs on as handyman at the run-down estate of three very unusual and beautiful sisters: Claude, who is aloof and sports a burnt arm and prosthetic hand; Nicole, a redheaded nymphomaniac; and Ivette, an embittered, wheelchair-bound invalid. When a crazed psycho killer starts slaying women in the area and plucking out their baby blues, Gilles is automatically deemed suspect No. 1. But is he really the guilty party? Anyway, this amarillo, directed by Carlos Aured, provides giallo fans with all the requisite elements they have come to expect. It features any number of grisly and murderous set pieces (although the actual butchering of a pig may be the hardest thing to look at), stylish direction from Aured, some pleasing flashes of nudity courtesy of Eva Leon as the lusty Nicole, and an alternately sprightly and sinuous jazz score from Juan Carlos Calderon that should stick in your head for days. Typical for a giallo, red herrings abound, but the story ultimately manages to cohere very well and make perfect sense, unlike a lot of other gialli that I have seen. You may even be able to figure out the murderer in this one; as usual, the ending came as a complete surprise for me. And I must say that that ending is as pleasingly sick as any viewer could want. "Have a horrible time...and have fun," Naschy urges us during this film's introduction, and a fun time will certainly be had by all genre fans with this one. Oh...the DVD in question here, from the fine folks at Deimos, looks fantastic, is excellently subtitled and comes with some nice extras, too. Gracias, guys!

A drifter (Paul Naschy) gets a job as a caretaker at a huge, country estate occupied by three beautiful sisters. Indeed, this caretaker quickly sets out to "take care" of each one of them with that irresistible Naschy charm and manliness, leading to much nudity and odd moaning.

Oh no!

Far from being just another soft core movie, there's a black-gloved killer on the prowl attempting to ruin everyone's fun. In the local village -mostly populated by gorgeous women- suspicions run high as police try to figure out who's been killing the many blonde lasses who walk alone at night.

Could the world's luckiest caretaker be to blame?

BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL is a solid, twisty tale of murder, revenge, and nakedness. With multiple red herrings, oddball characters, and an unfocussed soundtrack, this is a wild classic!

Watch immediately...