Occhi dalle stelle

While out in the woods on a photo-shoot, a photographer accidentally captures pictures of aliens. He soon comes to the attention of secret government men who seem hell-bent on a cover-up.

The Italians were pretty adept at making entertaining movies in all genres of film. But if there is one thing I have learned it is that, aside from the early 80's post-apocalypse cycle, they weren't very good at sci-fi. The Eyes Behind the Stars is yet another example of this unfortunate observation. It's not as if this is a terrible movie – it has some good parts to it – but it really is a bit of an unfocused mess. The two threads of the story – the aliens and the paranoid thriller – aren't especially well integrated. It's like two completely different films merged together pretty ineffectively and awkwardly. There's probably a good basis for something reasonable to tell you the truth but they sure never put the ingredients together in a form that remains in the mind for very long that's for certain. Ironically, not long after viewing this movie you sort of cannot really remember it at all, as if you have been abducted by aliens, been probed and had your memory of the unfortunate incident completely erased. Most strange

I like movies about UFOs, which is why I recently decided to rewatch EYES BEHIND THE STARS after seeing it when I was a kid back in the late 1970s. And now I'm compelled to write a review about it because I'm afraid I'll start forgetting everything about it FAST. You see, even though EBTS ain't bad, it's VERY dull and nondescript. The story is sorta interesting but flat. The actors are good but their roles are boring and a little confusing. The FX are terribly amateurish but I can overlook something like that if the movie is compelling, which, unfortunately, this one ain't.

Also, there's very little violence and there's no nudity whatsoever, which makes this 1970s Italian sci-fi opus a TRUE oddity, because if there's one thing that distinguishes Italian genre movies made in the 1970s from genre movies of other countries made in the same decade, it's the astonishing amount of violence and sex to be found in them. Oddly enough, because of the almost complete lack of exploitive elements, EBTS stands out from the rest of the pact. I don't know if this can be seen as a compliment though. Personally, I can enjoy a movie without sex and violence but I think EBTS NEEDED more violence and some sex here and there to spice it up because it is so deadly dull and dry. And the special effects aren't that special.

The story itself is actually interesting. It's a combo of THE X-FILES and Antonioni's BLOWUP: a photographer accidentally captures aliens on film during a fashion shoot in the country. The aliens know they were captured on film and they proceed to kidnap the photographer and a model, subsequently destroying any evidence of their presence on earth. The problem starts when the model meets a man at the recently abducted photographer's apartment (this taking place just before she's to be abducted herself). The man takes some of the negatives and leaves, with the aliens having no knowledge of the missing negatives. The whole story is about this man wanting to know more about the aliens and a secret spy group who want to get a hold of the negatives. The majority of the movie centers around boring political intrigue, in the spy vs spy variety. The UFO element of the story is almost unimportant and could have easily been replaced by any cold war McGuffin. But as dull as EYES BEHIND THE STARS is, it does resemble THE X-FILES a LOT! I wonder if Chris Carter saw this movie. Anyway, the best thing in EBTS are the POV shots, which are creepy and effective. But the rest is almost completely forgettable, including the goofy looking aliens.

Even though I've been mostly negative about this film, I sorta cherish it nonetheless. I still remember the effective ad campaign which scared me when I saw it as a kid. And I own the video. The film could have been so much more if it had been done properly. Oh well...

For some reason, in the late 70's and early 80's the local CBS affiliated station in New York kept playing this movie in it's late-night slot on Friday or Saturday nights for several years, usually at 2 a.m. or some such time. It's a fitting movie for that time slot since it's really hard to follow and quite odd (see the other reviews for specific story info). Anyway, after catching it numerous times in those days just before cable TV (And even after it hit but before they offered much all night programming), I kept catching this little oddity. After not seeing it for many years I decided to see if I could find it on DVD. Well, it is only available (from every search i've conducted anyway)in a pretty lousy grainy print on the budget label "Brentwood Video" as part of a 4-pack of movies (4 movies on 2 double sided discs)called "Alien Worlds" if anyone is interested. It's usually available for around $10-but even much less if you shop around. The other 3 movies on this set are readily available in numerous other collections of public domain movies, so no need to comment on them here. But I haven't seen "Eyes" available anywhere else. Though hardly a "restored" version in any way, this print runs exactly 92 minutes, so for once IMDb's stated running time of 90 minutes is not correct. Even with the 92 minute running time it's not unusual for a movie dubbed into English from another language to also have some of the running time trimmed. It seems to be a common budget-conscience practice to sometimes save money by not bothering to dub some scenes at all if they are not considered to be important to the story. Would a longer version make in any less confusing? Who really knows-unless you've seen it in it's native language... By the way, my attempts to watch this during the day don't work and I end up just turning it off. There's something about watching this in the middle of the night that just fits this movie..or maybe it's just from my earlier experiences, who know??

What was this film?? It begins with the great Italian star Sherry Buchanan doing a phoot shoot in the woods, then the photographer thinks he took a photo of something odd. Then he realizes he took a photo of a UFO, then he goes back to that locaton, gets chased by something (we only see their POV) then gets abducted, then the aliens kill a local old man, and blinds his dog! Then they capture Sherry, then we finally see the aliens, who look like a bunch of guys in sji mask and goggles, then it becomes a detective movie with martin Balsam (dubbed by someone else) and the lead and Natalie Delon trying to find out what happened, as the Goverment "Silencers" are out to stop them! The ending is a real mess, and you realize that in the end, you couldn't root for anyone,and no clear explaniation on what the aliens were dong here, and why were they in cahoots with the baddies! A big bore from Italian cinema, but maybe if it gets re-released on video again, it might find an audience. Not with me though.

First, this movie contains no excitement. None. Not an ounce. If you don't like watching B-movies, you don't need to see this. Even if you like B-movies, this one is difficult to sit through, but it has a few things going for it.

Second, it's hardly an ET rip-off. (Did the previous two commentators see the same movie? No way.)

Rather than ET, it more resembles the TV series called "UFO". Some of the characters even pronounce that abbreviation as a word, like "you-foe", which is how they always pronounced "UFO" on "UFO". Early on, the movie does a decent job of presenting a mildly creepy "the aliens are stalking us" mood, & in one or two places, characters speculate that aliens abduct humans to experiment on them. Both of those aspects reminded me of "UFO". Also, there are some scenes through an alien's eye-view. (Oh yeah, & during those scenes, one of the sound-effects is definitely from the Doctor Who story called "Robot".)

But the plot doesn't stay with the "aliens are stalking us" premise. It meanders all over the map of plots. It goes nearly everywhere a plot can go: creepiness, missing persons, journalistic story-hunting, police crime investigation, government conspiracy, international conspiracy, double-crossing double-agents, & even psychics. The plot changes so often & so thoroughly that I felt almost like I was watching different movies. I'd say this is the movie's biggest problem; it's like the writer didn't know what kind of movie he wanted to create.

There's a character who just HAS to be the inspiration for The X-Files' Cancer Man. Even the actor looks like the one who plays Cancer Man. When I saw that character, which is also about the time the plot turns to conspiracy theories, it made me suspect that this movie was some of the inspiration behind The X-Files. I'd almost bet on it. There are also some alien-abduction scenes & talk that resemble that same theme as it's expressed in The X-Files. (But if you are an X-Files fan, don't count on this movie to give you a supplementary X-Files fix. Your standards are probably way too high.)

A curiosity: The version I watched had an English dubbed sound-track. I believe the movie is Spanish (?), but every printed word I recall seeing was English. I thought that was mildly interesting.

The ending was unexpected, I'll grant. I'm not saying it was inspiring, insightful, or clever. I just didn't see it coming.

So, it's a bad movie, for sure, but there are some things about it that provide some food for thought or analysis if you're the kind of person who wants to look for it. (But it really is a pretty bad movie.)