Le mystère des yeux bleus

Since I have been a great fan of the late Spanish Horror/Exploitation legend Paul Naschy for many years now, and the Italian Giallo is (along with Gothic Horror) my favorite Horror/Suspense sub-genre, I have long been anticipating this film which is a Spanish Giallo starring Naschy. And I was not at all disappointed when I finally saw "Los Ojos Azules De La Muñeca Rota" aka. "Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll" (1973) recently, as this weird, sleazy and brutal little film truly delivers what we Naschy fans want to see. Directed by Carlos Aured, who, in the same year 1973, made two other, more widely known films starring (and co-written by) Naschy, "El Espanto Surge De La Tumba" ("Horror Rises From The Tomb") and "El Retorno De Walpurgis" ("Curse of the Devil"/"Return of the Werewolf"), "Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll" is a film that no Naschy fan should consider missing.

Naschy plays Gilles, an ex con, who gets employed as a handyman in a mansion owned by three very dissimilar sisters, Claude (Dina Lorys) who has a heavily scarred arm, the gorgeous nymphomaniac Nicole (Eva Léon), and the wheel-chair-bound Michelle (Inés Morales). Needless to say that he soon gets sexually involved with more than one of them. Around the same time, an unknown maniac is stalking the area, killing merely blonde teenage girls, and cutting out their blue eyes...

Though the plot may not always be logical (for ingeniously complex plotting, watch Italian Gialli from around the same time), it is wonderfully demented and the atmosphere is creepy from start to finish. The murders are gory and genuinely sadistic, and since this is a Naschy flick it is needless to say that there is sleaze and gratuitous female nudity (especially from the yummy Eva Léon). Naschy's charisma and unique screen-presence is great as always. Dina Lorys, Eva Léon and Inés Morales are great as the three sisters. Most of the films this great Spanish Horror icon was part of may not be masterpieces, but they are all entertaining, and have a certain inimitable charm that can only be found in Naschy films. Overall, this Spanish film may not be the prime example of brilliantly convoluted Giallo-plotting, but it is creepy, atmospheric, sleazy and incredibly entertaining stuff that none of my fellow Paul Naschy fans could possibly afford to miss! 7.5/10

Gilles (Paul Naschy) takes a job on a farm with three sisters, one (Eva León) of whom is trying very hard to get next to him. To complicate matters, a new nurse (Inés Morales) arrives to take care of one of the sisters, and she is very attractive.

Nicole (León) manages to bed him first, only to get locked in her room at night by her hateful older sister Claude (Diana Lorys) But, it isn't long before he Claude in bed.

Meanwhile, someone is killing women and stealing their eyes.

Suspicion falls on Gilles after it is found that he is an ex-con. But is he guilty? A fascinating Spanish giallo that will keep you guessing.

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.

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.