Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

BA_Harrison As the enigmatic title suggests, Blue Eyes Of The Broken Doll sees Spanish horror star Paul Naschy putting away his fangs and fur for a stab at the giallo genre. Directed by Carlos Aured (who had previously worked with Naschy on Return of the Werewolf and Horror Rises From The Tomb), the film has its stout star playing drifter Gilles, who finds work as a caretaker for three sisters, wheelchair bound Ivette (Maria Perschy), nympho Nicole (Eva León) and Claude (Diana Lorys), who has a disfigured arm; when women start to turn up dead, their eyes gouged out, suspicion falls on Gilles.For almost everything that Blue Eyes gets right, it also gets something wrong, making it a frustratingly mediocre murder mystery overall. The killer wears regulation black gloves and mask (tick), but their identity isn't too hard to guess (being the seemingly most unlikely suspect, as is often the case in these kind of films). The murders are accompanied by a creepy rendition of nursery rhyme Frère Jacques (tick), but the rest of the score is unsuitably jaunty. There are several nasty murders (tick), but the gore is cheap and unconvincing. And of the numerous sexy ladies (tick), only one of them gets her clothes off (sexy redhead León).Aured conducts matters with little sense of style (Argento, he is not!), and even throws in some unnecessary animal cruelty with the slaughter of a pig (a knife inserted into its jugular so that it can be bled to death). A silly ending sees the previously inept police chief (who happily gunned down Gilles despite no concrete evidence against him) suddenly acquiring Miss Marple levels of deduction and revealing the secret behind the murderer's psychosis.5/10.

accattone74 Although born from Italian pulp novels of the '30s, the giallo genre now seems to refer to cinema before referring to literature. And though Italians have the corner on giallo movies, French and Spanish filmmakers also took part in the craze during its heyday (1969-1982). It should come as no surprise that the two best Spanish gialli were written by and starred Paul Naschy, and directed by Klimovksy and Aured. The first in this pair of Freudian nightmares is Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll, directed by the latter. Instead of leaning on giallo plot descriptions to charm you into seeing this film (I'll save that for the next entry), I'd like to point out an entertaining facet of Naschy's oeuvre that is always overlooked, or at least only hinted at. More so than in any other Naschy film, Blue Eyes… shows you just how much Naschy loved his own body, or, shows you just how much he enjoyed sexually objectifying himself for the sake of his own movies. I can think of no other filmmaker, save for Woody Allen, who so reduces himself within his own work. With Allen the objectification is almost purely intellectual, maintaining that his superior intelligence, artistic talent, and neurotic charm should (and often does) result in his "getting the girl" by film's end. Naschy, however, takes every opportunity available to get naked (usually from the waist-up) in order to flex his superiority and his weakness at the same time. His superiority stems from his supporting cast finding his physique so irresistible; his weakness arises from the fact that he's almost always scarred, bruised, lacerated and beaten on or around his chest and torso, which allows many a woman to apply their apparently innate skills at wound dressing. It's fascinating to find a male filmmaker as comfortable as Naschy was with baring his body not for its own sake, but for the sake of all those who want to see it – one need only observe the angles at which Naschy shoots his nakedness once it hits the screen to know that it's all quite calculated. Perhaps due to the limitations forced upon him and other filmmakers by the censors of the time, Naschy took it upon himself to bear the brunt of a film's sensual/sexual quotient. Or maybe, Naschy was just an equal opportunity employer, who felt that there's no reason to lay the burden of sex-content solely on the female form. Either reason is fine by me, Señor Lobo! Aside from being a solidly entertaining and bloody thriller with a great plot and excellent acting across the board, Blue Eyes… provides an excellent introduction to the unique subject of Naschy's self-love.

Blaise_B A drifter takes a job as caretaker of an estate owned by three eccentric and beautiful sisters, all of whom are maimed either emotionally or physically by mysterious pasts. The guy, himself, has ominous flashbacks. Someone is going around murdering women to music that sounds like "I Dream of Jeannie," then cutting out their eyeballs. He/she--all you ever see of the killer is a pair of black gloves--wants their eyeballs. Is it the drifter, the doctor, the nurse, the cop, the sexpot, the invalid, or the bitter, maimed spinster? This Spanish film starring Paul Naschy is well filmed by the director of "Horror Rises From the Tomb." It knows how to build tension, use music, etc. Excellent use of old French kids' song. The ending is well worth sticking around for, unlike many Italian gialli that are stylish and thrilling, but anticlimactic. Some of the gore effects aren't so convincing and some of the plot points are laughably illogical, but these characteristics just add to the enjoyment. Watched it twice. Sexy, bloody fun.

Coventry Certain movies put you at ease and make you feel confident right from the first sequences. "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" opens with moody and enchanting yet remotely ominous musical tunes as Paul Naschy is drifting across a remote and desolate countryside. If you're into 70's and European-made exploitation movies, you know right away this is the ideal intro for a film like this. Naschy – the star and writer and director of numerous movies like this – plays an ex-convict arriving in a secluded house occupied by three eccentric and suspiciously behaving sisters. One is lustful and promptly shows a sexual interest in the new arrival, the second one is wheelchair bound and remains out of sight and the oldest sister (with an impressively mutilated arm) is the bossy and arrogant leader of the pack. With the arrival of yet another ravishing woman – a private nurse to look after the ill sister – Gilles is completely surrounded by lurid women that may not be as defenseless and innocent as they look. One of the more apt and enticing titles of this movie is "House of Psychotic Women"; which gives a slightly more accurate though sadly exaggerated indication of what to expect. Or at least what to expect during the first half! Parallel with the sexual escapades in the mansion, there's a sadistic killer on the loose in town, exclusively prowling for girls with blond hair and bright blue eyes that he/she cuts out and collects in a jar. The perverted killer sub plot, with its vile gore and misogynist violence, makes "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" also qualify as a bona fide Giallo next to being a sleazy early 70's Euro-sexploitation feature. It's not the greatest Giallo, since the relevance of the murders in connection with the events at the mansion remains too vague and develops quite late, but it does guarantee a suspenseful and blood-soaked third act. Like the case with so many movies in this genre, it's far more amusing if you don't even bother paying attention to the complete absence of logic and coherence. Enjoy the bloodshed, the fantastic score (courtesy of Juan Carlos Calderón), Naschy's testosterone-laden charisma, the sickening killings and – of course – the various offerings of gratuitous nudity!