Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
ferbs54
The 1971 Italian/Spanish coproduction "Cold Eyes of Fear" is hardly a giallo (at least in the sense that I understand the term) and not even a horror movie; rather, it is a fairly tense hostage thriller with the bare minimum of nudity and bloodshed. In it, an ex-con named Arthur Welt (well named, as he sure is good at inflicting welts on others!), along with a Cockney goon named Quill, breaks into judge Fernando Rey's swank London mansion, holding the judge's solicitor nephew and his luscious Italian whore of the evening prisoners whilst they carry on their agenda. What ensues is an increasingly suspenseful and violent battle of wits and brawn between the four, leading to some surprises for the viewer as Welt's intentions become clear. In the role of Welt, Frank Wolff, who many may recall as the horny paterfamilias from the previous year's "Lickerish Quartet," is excellent, by turns urbane and a frothing madman. Julian Mateos as Quill is convincingly menacing, Giovanni Ralli as the feisty hooker is very fine, Gianni Garko as the young nephew is spot on, and Fernando Rey...well, he literally phones his role in. The picture has been terribly dubbed and features numerous scenes of unconvincing fisticuffs. The initial 20 minutes are pretty slow going, and will likely leave most viewers wondering just where this darn thing is going. Fortunately, the film does pick up nicely once the brutish Quill makes his initial appearance, and a discordant jazz score by the maestro, Ennio Morricone, helps us get over some of the duller patches. Director Enzo G. Castellari's work is pretty flashy here, and the film has been shot and edited for a fair amount of disorientation...including a few trippy fantasy sequences. In all, a reasonably gripping entertainment, and nicely presented on this Image DVD.
The_Void
Everything I'd read about this film prior to seeing it pointed to it being rubbish, but after reading the plot description; I figured that it might actually be OK. However, I was wrong. The plot sounds like Cold Eyes of Fear could be a gritty cross between the Giallo and the slew of 'house' films (e.g. House on the Edge of the Park, The Last House on the Beach) whereby criminal(s) take innocents hostage inside their home. It sort of is a cross between these genres; but it's so damned boring that any positives that may have come from this are instantly sucked away. The film takes place in London, which is unfortunate as it means that we're 'treated' to a load of phoney British accents. It really annoys me that some people actually think we talk like this! Anyway, the plot focuses on Peter; a young man who picks up an Italian hooker and takes her back to his place. However, they arrive to find a criminal in wait for them. Peter's father, a judge, then sends a copper to sort the situation; but the man who turns up is an impostor, hell-bent on revenge...The film actually gets off to a good start...but that then turns out to be a stage show, and that pretty much sums the entire film up. Other directors have proved many times that the Giallo can be wholly entertaining, despite the often rubbish plots; but Castellari shows here that they can be really boring too! It's a shame really, as the director has proved himself to me with a trio of great crime films (The Big Racket, Street Law and The Heroin Busters), as well as one of the best Jaws rip offs in the form of The Last Shark - but the man obviously can't handle Giallo. It's strange that a man with such a penchant for violent action would make a film so boring, and perhaps one of the reason why it is so boring is that a lot of the main 'action' focuses on talking, and Castellari is obviously better suited to shooting car chases and fist fights. The acting is as crap as you would expect, and this isn't helped at all by the awful dubbing. Not even Morricone's score is up to much. Overall, don't bother with this one - there are FAR better Giallo's out there!
Coventry
Dull and truly disappointing early 70's Italian film that can never seem to decide whether it wants to be a typical giallo or an ordinary crime thriller. The opening is very promising, showing a girl assaulted by a man with a knife whose face we do not see, but that quickly turns out to be a totally unrelated theater performance and that REALLY upset me! The actual story of "Cold Eyes of Fear" revolves on the pampered nephew of an eminent judge who is, together with a random prostitute he picked up earlier, held hostage by two criminals in his uncle's giant villa. One of the crooks is out for vengeance against the corrupt judge and the other merely hopes to find money in the house. What follows is a totally uninteresting and overly talkative showdown between the two parties without not even the slightest bit of action or excitement. There's some very stylish and creative giallo-camera-work to admire, but the sub genre's most appealing characteristics (nudity, graphic violence, absurd plot-twists…) are regretfully neglected. Everybody else around here seems to love the jazzy music but I personally found it very annoying and it totally doesn't fit the tone of the film. It's definitely one of Ennio Morricone's worst scores ever. During the pretentious yet hilarious opening sequences, London is portrayed like a swinging city, in the trend of Las Vegas, with colorful billboards, casinos and wild nightclubs. What the hell was that all about? Enzo G. Castellari's directing is rather uninspired and he's no competition for other contemporary Italian filmmakers like Dario Argento, Mario Bava or Sergio Martino. He did return in the 80's with one of my favorite "Jaws" rip-offs, namely "The Last Shark".
Bobfingr
Never been more bored. There are plenty of italian films of that time which have more content, action, excitement and better acting. First of all the italian versions are always better. Those international english speaking edition always miss something and never almost match with the acting. In this movie, nothing happens. The woman is very irritating, it should probably show a very spoiled italian woman. Hum, don't really get very close to that. The "criminal" dudes are not as such. If you really want to see some good italian Thriller choose directors like Mario Bava and you will never waste either your time or your money. PS - If Castellani would have made a movie entirely dedicated to the actress Karin Shubert, wow that would have been much much better and enjoyable.
