Death Has Blue Eyes is one of those eccentric 1970s oddities that feels like it sprang straight from the bottom shelf of a dusty VHS rental store. It's a film that tosses together a loose espionage plot, psychic powers, car chases, and erotic diversions, then wraps it all in a hazy, sun-bleached aesthetic that screams Eurocult. But for all its scattered charm and offbeat ambition, the film never quite finds its rhythm, instead stumbling through a muddled script and inconsistent tone.
Visually, the movie is bathed in that grainy Mediterranean glow that defines many Greek genre films of the era. The seaside locations and bright skies provide a deceptively breezy backdrop to what's actually a fairly grimy underworld of hitmen, psychic experiments, and covert surveillance. Director Nico Mastorakis has a clear love for international thrillers, but his execution is uneven. Action sequences veer between sluggish and slapstick, and the erotic elements are more awkward than sensual, feeling less like deliberate provocation and more like obligatory genre padding.
Jessica Dublin, as the mysterious Eastern European agent Geraldine, is perhaps the most memorable figure in the cast. She brings a cool detachment that borders on robotic, which suits her character but offers little emotional texture. Maria Aliferi, playing the clairvoyant girl, has a quiet intensity, though the script rarely gives her anything substantial to do beyond stare into the distance or get undressed. The central character, a fast-talking hustler type played by Chris Nomikos, anchors the film with a kind of greasy charm, but he's more of a cipher than a compelling protagonist.
The film's biggest issue is its identity crisis. Is it a sci-fi thriller? A softcore caper? A satire of spy flicks? At times it hints at each, but never fully commits to any. The pacing lurches from meandering conversations to sudden bursts of violence, while the musical score jumps between sleazy lounge and spaced-out synth with little cohesion.
Still, there's a certain curiosity factor to it all. For viewers with a taste for exploitation cinema, Death Has Blue Eyes offers a time capsule glimpse into a bygone era of anything-goes filmmaking. It never truly delivers on its potential, but there's enough weirdness and aesthetic appeal to justify a late-night watch with adjusted expectations.
