Os Olhos Azuis da Boneca Quebrada

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.

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...

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!

Spanish Giallo in Italian style with Naschy as ex-convict and accused as psycho-killer and rapist . It's packed with fetishism killings on blue-eye women , claustrophobic sets , mysterious suspects , and rare characters . This thrilling film deals with Gilles (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina , here as Iberian sex-symbol) who seeks job and Claude (Diana Lorys) a beautiful woman with orthopedic hand offers him employment as handyman . Claude lives along with her two sisters , Nicole(Eva Leon) a gorgeous nymphomaniac and Ivette ( Maria Perschy) who is wheel-bound, . Gilles's arrival originates a terrible drama among them . The best friend of the family is the doctor (Eduardo Calvo) who cares of Ivette along with a nurse named Michelle (Ines Morales) . After that , on the Angers (France) county occurs various deaths who belong to blue-eyes and blonde hair girls , furthermore their eyes are pulled off. The gendarme named Pierre (Antonio Pica) to investigate the case of the killing series that have been committed by an ominous murderer and discovers Gillian actually is Alain Dupre a dangerous criminal , imprisoned for rape . The psycho-killer murders his victims cruelly by means of slashing , knife and axing . There are several suspicious , who's the killer ? .

This is a Spanish Gialli in low budget about 8.000 Euros and filmed in Navarra and Torrelodones (Madrid) . It contains suspense , tension , whodunit , plot twists and lots of blood and guts with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a Naif style. The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story in which a killer series undergoes a criminal spree by means of slitting , decapitation and other brutal executions . Typical Spanish touches as the pig slaughter , the tractor and ordinary Spanish Bar , in spite of French setting is completely shot in Spain . This tale about a suspicious ex-con and a malevolent murderous begins well and grows more and more until the exciting and twisted finale in which we figure out the nasty guilty . There is another double version that packs nudism in charge of Eva Leon, Diana Lorys and other women , as there are gratuitous nudism and top-less . Lots of blood and gore and throat slitting in several images that impacted the viewers for that time . The film follows the Dario Argento wake from his early period when he made Gialli-classics as as ¨Four flies on grey velvet , The cat with nine tails and The bird with the crystal plumage ¨ . Nice cinematography in correct remastering by Francisco Sanchez and shot on location Pamplona and the mansion of Naschy's parents. Ample support cast , usual of Eurotrah as Maria Perschy ,Antonio Pica and Luis Ciges ,Eduardo Calvo , both of whom habitual of Jacinto Molina films . Anti-climatic and unappropiated musical score by Juan Carlos Calderon . The late Naschy was a good professional , writing, filmmaking and acting about hundred titles , mainly in terror genre. ¨House of doom or House of psychotic women¨ is written by Molina along with 21 screenplays as ¨Mark of Wolfman¨, ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Vengeance of the mummy¨, ¨Licantropo¨, among them . He directed 13 films as ¨The Cantabros¨, ¨Return of Wolfman¨, ¨The Beast and the magic sword¨ and many others. This slasher motion picture is professionally directed by Carlos Aured , a slick craftsman who directed all kind of genres, especially Erotic and Terror for Paul Naschy as ¨Horror rises from tomb¨¨¨Vengeance of the mummy¨ and , ¨Return of Walpurgis¨ . The picture will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and Giallo buffs .