Olhos Mortais

Very troubled Inspector Giacomo Amaldi tries to find an elusive killer who enjoys chopping parts of his victims and replacing their limbs with a similar part from a Victorian doll.He investigates triple homicide with his partner.It seems that the killer may be taxidermist.Someone is stalking an attractive anthropology student Lucia Jimenez.It's up to Giacomo to protect her too.Very stylish,gloomy and bloody thriller made by Eros Puglielli.The script by Dario Argento regular Franco Ferrini is obviously influenced by David Fincher's "Se7en",but "Eyes of the Crystal" has a stylish look of giallo.The film is fast-paced and incredibly tense.The cinematography is splendid and there are some gruesome murder scenes.The climax is slightly disappointing,though.8 body parts out of 10.

Being Italian, I'm always happy when good products like this "Crystal Eyes" are baked.

The director Eros Puglielli takes his cue from classic Italian thriller films from the 70s such as Argento, Bava and Fulci and manages to orchestrate a dark, very violent and very fascinating film, with atmospheres that immerse you in a truly exhausting spiral of terror, in which involved from the beginning until the shocking final twist that reveals the identity of the killer.

Honorable mention for the excellent cast, starting with the very good Luigi Lo Casio up to the beautiful and talented Lucia Jimenez.

A thriller to be seen and enjoyed without a doubt.

If you thought good giallos were made only in 70s & 80s, watch this. Very stylish & well made movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The suspense built up reasonably through the film, keeping you guessing all the time in the best tradition of the Italian "giallo" genre. The characters are acted out quite well, especially that of tormented inspector Amaldi. The photography and special effects are also very good, giving the film an almost glossy and "arty" edge (especially during the flashback scenes and in Ajaccio's hallucinations) and arguably even the murder scenes have an aesthetic edge to them. The killing sequences are very crude and graphic and this element, along with the way the plot is structured, reminded me a lot of Dario Argento's style, the Italian horror master who, I am sure, inspired Puglielli in this production.

If I would rate the movie compared to other Italian movies I have seen, I would rate it higher, but compared with international horror, it is average. However, it is not the same type of average, as the acting is good, the plot a lot more complex than US movies and the feel is a good old fashioned slow tension increase. The production values are not so good though and I couldn't help wonder: if they dubbed the voices over anyway, and done it poorly, why not do it in English? :)

I compared it with Se7en more because it is an icon of movies about personally involved policemen trying to catch a megalomaniac psychopath, other than that it is not too similar. In fact, it is based on a book, which probably explains the depth of the plot. I thought that the darkness in the main character (that's the policeman :) ) was a very nice touch and the movie could have done better without him explaining why he was so driven with his work. Also, having every single character involved with the criminal was a bit of a stretch.

Bottom line: very decent horror movie, a bit slow sometimes, other times predictable, but nice enough. Probably with an English translation I would have liked it better still.