A bus load of American tourists sightseeing in Barcelona are being killed off one by one by an unknown killer in a red cape, the killer also gouges out one of the victims eyes. The local police chief is a week away from retirement, so a big case like this is the last thing he wants, but he sets out for a quick conclusion. The tourists are the regular rag bag of suspicious characters you might expect, the inevitable priest, a flirtatious lesbian couple, an adulteress
oh you get the picture. Mark Burton, an American writer meets up with his secretary and lover who is also part of the sightseeing trip, his mentally disturbed wife is unaware of his adulterous liaison, or is she? When the murders begin to happen, she is not contactable, Mark's suspicions are aroused as she hasn't checked in at her local mental hospital in the US and he is suffering mental flashbacks of a similar murder of a girl near their home, the previous year? Umberto Lenzi has made many good Gialli in his time, this though is just about average and doesn't do the director's reputation or the viewer many favours. The murders are very repetitive, the dialogue is pretty inane, suspension of disbelief has to be called on as no member of the party seems to be that bothered that they are being picked off by some deranged psychopath. There are a few visual flourishes, a killing in a Ghost Train being a modest highlight. The melodic score by the masterful Bruno Nicolai is also very engaging and for the most appropriate to what's on screen. I'd never say a Giallo is disappointing, but to anyone not sharing my affection for the genre it might just be that.
Review of Eyeball
