Occhi senza volto

'Madness' aka 'Eyes Without a Face' is a baffling and poorly executed Italian giallo slasher flick directed by Bruno Mattei that lacks any style, originality or even ambition. The production design is bland and cheap, the visuals are uninspired, the acting ranges from awful to hysterically over the top and the movie's pacing was a slog to get through and lacks any sort of entertainment value whatsoever. There's a reason why the giallo genre was pretty much dead by this point with painfully trashy efforts like this.

The Plot centres around a comic book artist named Giovanna Dei (Monica Carpanese) where a masked killer is copying the look and killing style of her character Doctor Dark by murdering young women, and then starts targeting Giovanna herself.

It took me quite a few attempts to actually sit down and watch this as it was almost unwatchable due to its poor picture quality and dreadful English dubbing. Despite having a surprisingly interesting opening scene, it quickly goes down hill from there on out. The plot could have been interesting, but the lazy direction and incoherent structure lets everything down and even the twists and turns couldn't save it as the movie was simply too boring and sloppily made to keep me engaged.

The acting performances were sub-par all around with Monica Carpanese giving one of the most baffling and unconvincing performances I've ever seen, and the rest of the cast didn't fair any better either as there wasn't a single memorable character in this entire film.

Overall 'Madness' fails on just about every level imaginable and not entertainingly bad enough to be a trashy guilty pleasure cheese. This is definitely one of the worst giallo flicks I've seen so far.

One thing that I find very irritating in movies: when a character is supposed to be a professional artist (in this case a comic book artist), but their drawings look like they've been done by a child (and a not very talented one at that). I mean, how difficult is it to find someone who can draw decent comic illustrations and who is desperate for a bit of exposure?

That little niggle aside, Bruno Mattei's Madness (AKA Eyes Without a Face) is a fairly effective little giallo - one might be forgiven for not realising that this was by the same director as Rats: Nights of Terror (1984) and Night Killer (1990). The film sees a masked murderer at work, their modus operandi identical to that of Dr. Dark, the serial killer character created by artist (and I use that word loosely) Giovanna Dei (Monica Carpanese): victims are killed with a double-bladed stiletto knife, and have their eyeballs removed, the bloody organs left as a gift for Giovanna.

Eyeball trauma is a staple of Italian horror, and Madness doesn't add much new to the giallo genre, but the film is fun, pacy, and reasonably engrossing throughout; the identity of the killer isn't impossible to work out, but there's always the possibility that you might have guessed wrong. Gore is limited to a few gruesome empty eye sockets and the extracted orbs, and Carpanese supplies the requisite nudity during a brief but enthusiastic sex scene.

Madness is neither Mattei's finest hour (I have a soft spot for Zombie Creeping Flesh and The Jail: The Women's Hell), nor is it his worst (The Other Hell has my vote), but it is definitely amongst the director's better work. I say ignore the director's iffy reputation and give it a go.

Bruno Mattei's grisly, Gorgonzola-garlanded, gloriously goofy Giallo 'Madness' aka 'Occhi Senza Volto' remains a hysterically hinkey, luridly eye-ball harvesting, frequently hilarious, 90s B-Slasher disasterpiece! Larded with mesmerisingly awful acting, deliciously asinine dialogue, 'Madness' is a must-see romp, unless you happen to be one of Doctor Death's brutally brain-spiked, orb-less victims,natch! Misguided B-Movie maverick, Mattei's absurdly entertaining thriller is a ceaselessly delightful trip into bad movie nirvana! The gruesomely ripe performances are either catatonic or, Bette Davis's worst nightmare! Endearingly inept, compellingly cheesy, this gleefully gormless Giallo delivers an abnormally high quotient of trashy entertainment. The infamous, yet enormously beloved Italian schlock supremo, Bruno Mattei has a truly enviable C. V of magnificently mad, crudely plagiarised, generously blood-basted, cheaply made chunk blowers, and, happily, 'Madness' is right up there with the very worst of 'em! What a sunnier world it would be if ALL splatter films were this much fun to watch!

Bruno Mattei is a director famous for making his own versions of popular films; so you would certainly be forgiven for thinking that Eyes Without a Face is a remake of the Georges Franju classic of the same title; and probably quite shocked to learn that it isn't! You're likely to be even more shocked to find out that this is actually a good film! The Giallo genre was most popular in the early seventies; although Mattei didn't start making films in the mid seventies, and by then the likes of exploitation, zombie films and cannibals had taken over as the most popular Italian export. However, the fact that the Giallo had been and gone by 1994 didn't stop Mattei from making one anyway. The plot focuses on a serial killer who is murdering people by way of plucking their eyes out; a modus operandi obviously inspired by a comic book known as 'Doctor Dark'. A few girls get killed and it would appear that the creator of the comic book, a beautiful young woman named Giovanna Dei, will be the killer's next victim when the disembodied eyes start turning up at her place...

Despite being made in 1994; this is every bit the classic styled Giallo, from the confusing plot to thin characters and brutal murder scenes. The film starts with a well worked scene at a go-cart race and the first half moves quite quickly and Mattei manages to keep up the suspense, which is definitely to the film's credit. However, the middle part of the film begins to get a bit tepid; but luckily things are recovered by the end. The film stars Monica Seller, in one of only three film appearances, and it's a shame she didn't work more often because she's very cute. Any violence involving the eyes is usually not for the feint hearted; and that is certainly the case here as while the murder scenes aren't particularly brutal; they are grisly enough and are sure to please. The film features plenty of red herrings; but the ending does come as a surprise and it's really well worked too. Mattei revs the sleaze factor up high and the film ends well. A good Bruno Mattei film is a rare thing; and therefore this film should be cherished. Be sure to give it a look if you can find a copy!

Ok italian Giallo with a story more interesting than usual. The budget shortcomings are evident in the setting and the poorly made FX, but the twist ending Is surprisingly effective.