Eyes Behind the Stars

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

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.)

A man is doing a photo shoot with a model out in the middle of a field somewhere, and unknowingly he get's footage of alien craft, and aliens. Once he finds out what he's got he stashes the negatives. Sooner or later someone finds out about it,, a clandestine group within the World Government find out and they will stop and nothing to get the negatives back, because they feel if the information is released to the public at large, it will cause a worldwide panic. Meanwhile the photographer place is tossed and everyone is looking for the negatives, the model shows up later in the movie after being traumatized by the aliens although we do not see this part in the movie,, overall it wasn't bad the first half of the movie,, but the second half just turned me off. so that's why I'm going with a 4 rating.

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.

This film was not nearly as much of a chore as I expected it to be. There are a few seconds of brilliance in this somewhat idiotic hardcore UFO conspiracy paranoia-fest. Most of the acting is mediocre, but fairly typical for 1970s-style stuff replete with pregnant pauses. A photographer and a model witness some strange goings-on in the woods and soon fall victim to these same goings-on. Flying saucers are spotted, more people disappear - but is it the aliens or our own government's ultra-secret group of cover-up guys? Soon enough, a reporter and a "UFOlogist" (apparently modeled on the character of the writer-director) are drawn into this unraveling fiasco and become the target of the ultra-secret agents who are as menacing as they are improbable and witless. Then the fun really begins.

The movie, predictably, makes about as much sense as the average UFO conspiracy theory, but should be commended for taking itself so seriously. The camera work is OK for a low-budget film, the pacing is pretty good, the script is silly and absurd, and there are continuity issues which are fun to look out for. What are the few seconds of brilliance I mentioned? Honestly, I can't say much you without writing a spoiler. Suffice to say that the end of the film is, at least, worth fast-forwarding to if you can't take the middle.