Evil Eye

People around Peter Crane (Jorge, ¨George¨, Rivero) begin dying in mysterious circumstances . Peter starts having nightmares dealing with grisly killings . The police authorities have to face some really brutal murders. A hard-nosed police inspector (Anthony Steffen) and a deputy (Alvaro De Luna) start investigating the case , they have to find out if the wealthy playboy Peter Crane is involved in the bizarre crimes . He suffers from terrible nightmares that make him believe that he is responsible for these murders . As psychiatrist Dr. Stone (veteran Hollywood actor Richard Conte) and his helper Dr. Turner (Pilar Velazquez) place Paul in a hospital for a deep observation . As Crane maybe really possessed by malevolant dreams until a surprising and astonishing final . Along the way , Peter falls in love for the beautiful Dr. Sarah Turner .

This terrifying and chilling Italian/Spanish exploitation displays creepy images , disturbing frames , eerie scenes , nudism and horror . This is pretty entertaining fantastic stuff about a young playboy turns possessed from a strange cult , while seeks answers from his astonishing nightmares . This is the Spanish/Italian/Mexican answer to American horror hit , The Exorcist by William Friedkin . Atmospheric and oddball horror movie contains terrifying scenes when appears a weird magic circle with a lot of naked people , possession scenes and taking place cruel killings , terror , and confusion around Peter Crane and other people around him . The movie is running out of ideas a lot ; however , being still good enough to be fun . Although there are some lousily made scenes , including primitive special effects . It's a slight fun with so-so make-up , naive FX , adequate set decoration and functional art direction . The fable is sometimes silly and laughable , though a few effects and intriguing set pieces are professionally made . Some illogical parts in the story are more than compensated for the excitement provided by some bizarre images , though sometimes are a little bit cheesy . Main and support cast are acceptable . The Mexican Jorge Rivero plays the unsettling playboy trying to unravel the mystery suffering from the effects caused by his nightmares . Pilar Velazquez plays a gorgeous psychiatrist who helps him , along with veteran Richard Conte as a suspicious shrink . Being a Spain/Italy co-production here shows up a number of familiar faces as Spanish actors : Eduardo Fajardo, Terele Pavez , Alvaro de Luna , Lone Fleming , as Italian players : Spaghetti Western star Antony Steffen , Daniela Giordano , Luis La Torre and Luciano Pigozzi , nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre . All of them starred several exploitation films during the 60s, 70s and early 80s.

The Exorcist by William Friedkin spawned countless imitations , rip-offs , and clones all around the world ; in fact Malocchio (1975) its Spanish title is ¨Más allá del exorcismo¨, meaning "Beyond the Exorcism" in English , and it features no exorcism . And it pretended to be a spin-off to The Exorcist (1973) , a sub-genre who abounded in Italy and Spain in the Seventies , hoping in getting some successes from the original movie , such as : ¨House of exorcism¨ by Mario Bava , ¨L'anticristo¨ by Alberto de Martino , ¨Holocaust 2000¨ by Alberto de Martino , ¨La bimba di Satana¨ by Mario Bianchi , ¨Malabimba¨ by Andrea Bianchi ; and likewise in Spain with others knock-offs , there was made four at the same time , such as : ¨Devil play¨ by Jorge Darnell (74), ¨Demon Witch Child¨ or ¨La Endemoniada ¨ by Amando De Ossorio (74) , ¨The Spiritist¨(1975) and ¨Exorcismo¨ (1975) by Juan Bosch .

Malocchio(1975) packs an agreeable and groovy musical score by Stelvio Capriani by composing blending some smooth funky and lounge sounds . As well as atmospheric and functional cinematography by Vicente Minaya , being shot in Spain and Italy , RPA - Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio . This bewildering picture was middlingly directed by Mario Siciliano . He was an Italian professional who wrote , produced, directed various films in all kinds of genres . As he directed s the following ones : Wartime (Seven red berets , Overrun) ,Terror (Evil eye) , Adventure (Lions of St Petersburg , Wild geese attack) , Adult and Western (Alleluja and Sartana strike again ; Trinity and Sartana are coming) . Rating 4.5/10 . Inferior Giallo/Horror movie , containing some images being near unwatchable at times . This terrror movie is appointed exclusively for Eurotrash hardcore fans .

Peter Crane (Jorge Rivero, star of the later "Conquest") is a rich womanizing playboy who suffers from a string of vivid nightmares. Peter may or may not also be a murderer in this strange, off-beat, and wildly disjointed Grindhouse curiosity. While a tad hard to follow simply for the logic (or rather lack of), the movie is strangely compelling none the less and is probably best viewed as a product of a bygone era. It more than made up for the sheer tedium that I had experienced when I sat through the previous "Black Candles" skin-flick fiasco.

My Grade: B-

Region 1 DVD Extras: Trailers for "Pick Up", "Legend of Eight Samurai", "Don't Answer the Phone", "Prime Evil", & "Sister Street Fighter" (also the same DVD holds a second feature movie "Black Candles")

Although this movie is categorized by some as a giallo, it goes beyond having a plot that is merely delightfully absurd, like most films in the genre, to one that is almost completely non-sensical, including even several possibly supernatural nods to "The Exorcist". The plot involves a wealthy playboy and swinger who begins to have strange dreams where he murders people (one of whom actually calls him up at the beginning of the movie and tells him SHE had a dream that he was going to murder her!). When the same people actually end up dead, he begins to think he is going crazy or is being controlled by a satanic cult (or something), so he checks himself into a psychiatric clinic under the care of a doctor (Richard Conte) who bears more than a little resemblance to Dr. Caligari. But then he runs off with a pretty nurse to her isolated villa. . . There is all manner of other weirdness happening, including things moving by themselves a la a low-grade version of "The Exorcist". There's also a cop (Anthony Steffens) investigating, but he seems to be in a completely different movie. I don't want to spoil the ending (although it spoils itself pretty well), but it's both a cliché and a cop-out.

The lead actor (Jorge Rivero) is a good-looking guy, which ALMOST explains why every woman he meets immediately throws herself at him, even if they are married, they have just had a dream he murdered them, or he just checked into their clinic as a potentially homicidal schizophrenic. As typical for the genre there are a lot of pretty women on display including former Miss Italy Daniela Giordana, who's virtually unrecognizable (and spends all her screen time NOT quite getting naked), and Lone Fleming, a fixture in Amando Ossorio "Blind Dead" and Paul Naschy horror films.

I'm not really sure whether or not I'd recommend this. Oh well, I've reported, you decide.

The handsome Jorge Rivero ("Rio Lobo") is cast as a playboy named Peter Crane, who loses his grip on reality, often believing himself to be murdering people. Determined to get some help, he checks into a hospital where he's watched over by psychiatrist Dr. Stone (Richard Conte of "The Godfather"). Stones' associate Dr. Sarah Turner (the stunning Pilar Velazquez, "The Flower with Petals of Steel") falls in lust with him, and they run off to a cabin together, despite his predicament.

Co-writer / director Mario Siciliano ("Lions of St. Petersburg") doesn't concern himself very much with the story making *sense*, really. Where he succeeds the most is in creating a very lurid, and very *surreal* atmosphere, designed to have viewers thinking, "WTF?" on numerous occasions. One scene near the end is particularly indicative of this style, and that involves slimy butler Walter (Eduardo Fajardo, "Django") and a frog.

"Evil Eye" starts out as if it is going to be more of a horror film, with a decidedly creepy feel. But, by and large, it takes place in a "reality" that keeps shifting. An inspector on the case (Anthony Steffen, "Viva Sabata") is kind of off in his own movie, but he experiences some of the weirdness, too: like a moment involving a body buried under rubble.

Aided and abetted by a wonderful soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani ("A Bay of Blood"), Siciliano gets solid performances out of his cast, which includes other familiar faces such as Luciano Pigozzi a.k.a. Alan Collins ("Yor: The Hunter from the Future") and Daniela Giordano ("Violent Rome").

The film is loaded with sexy ladies, and bare female flesh, but never gets all that gory, making it fairly sleazy but never all that unpleasant. It's recommended to fans of Euro genre features who want something a little off the beaten path. The only real disappointment lies in that ending.

Seven out of 10.

Evil Eye is a very strange film. A very, very strange film. But it keeps the viewer watching to the end, if only to see how director Mario Siciliano can possibly bring it all together and make sense of the weirdness. In short: he doesn't even try, excusing the lack of logic throughout with a clichéd cyclical ending, finishing things as they began - with a nightmare interrupted by a telephone call.

After one of his wild, orgiastic parties, playboy Peter Crane (Mario Siciliano) is woken by a phone call from a beautiful French woman named Yvonne Chevrel (Lone Fleming), whose dead husband warned her that Cray would kill her. Despite the warning, Yvonne meets with Peter, and - surprise, surprise - is strangled by the lothario (but only after he has made out with her).

Unable to recall what happened, Peter visits his psychiatrist Dr. Stone (Richard Conte), but is unable to find the answer to his problem. He does, however, come away with a date with the doc's sexy assistant Sarah Turner (Pilar Velázquez), so the visit isn't a total waste of time.

Anyway, to cut a long and very confusing story short, Peter is unsure whether he is really a killer or if he's going mad. And he's not the only one: I defy anyone to come to a satisfactory conclusion, given the strangeness that occurs. The freaky nightmares continue, Peter gets mysterious phone calls from someone who says he saw what he did, inanimate objects come to life, a crane load of building blocks fall and crush a woman (whose body disappears), a cop keeps losing his hearing, and Crane's servant Walter (Eduardo Fajardo) coughs up a frog.

Still, as perplexing as the whole thing is, I can't say I was bored, which must count for something I suppose.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for Peter's bold double-denim outfit (bleached denim flares and matching jacket).