"Through the Devil's Eyes" is a quick, cheap, giallo-esque thriller that pays homage to horror slashers of decades past. Taking place in a halfway house, the story concerns David, a mentally unhinged young man who sets out to solve the mystery behind a rash of brutal murders in the area. Now, TtDE's greatest strengths are its direction and acting. The actors play their parts very well, and the roles themselves are well written and realistic, if not entirely memorable. The direction, while nothing visually outstanding, keeps the story moving at a quick pace and manages to evoke the feel of a late 80's video thriller by virtue of it's beautifully grainy visuals. It even features a montage set to era-appropriate rock music! You can't beat that. The various references to other horror films and directors are quite amusing, and thankfully not shoved into your face. If there is one serious flaw in TtDE, it's the lack of any real gore or sleaze. DTV Horror titles from the late 80's were exploding with cheap, silly gore effects and over-the-top sleaze, and while this made them ridiculous, it also made them memorable. TtDE is very stately and dry, and seems to take itself a bit too seriously (aside from a hilarious sequence involving the second Mario Bros. game. The one with the transsexual dinosaur). Not that I'm expecting the film to go into Olaf Ittenbach territory, but it wouldn't have hurt to toss some bubble tape on a guys stomach and call it intestine. So, it's a competent film, but I wish it had been a little more...wild.
