Director: Mario Caiano
Year: 1972
Country: Italy/West Germany
Alternate Titles: L'occhio nel labirinto
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Worried about her missing friend, a woman sets out to find him which takes her to an island getaway populated by a strange woman and her bohemian-like friends, yet when she begins to look deeper into the mystery a series of troubling actions against her threatens to expose a deadly secret.
Review:
This was an enjoyable enough giallo. One of the more intriguing areas involved with the film is the strong psychological implications thrust into it. As this one tends to unravel its mystery, which starts out strongly due to the stylish murder carried out in an elaborate concrete labyrinth, the focus on the search behind it when its discovered that was a dream drives the film along. The search through the remote village full of hostile eyes and uncooperative locals or the search through the abandoned building that features a thrilling scene of her having to get out before being crushed under fallen ruins to the tactics employed to torture her mentally on the journey which is all tied together with the background dealings at the villa that give this one an engrossing psychological horror bent that comes together incredibly well.
Once this setup has been accomplished, the action picks up considerably in the second half. Although not conducted in the usual manner, its got some fine setpieces here including her being locked in a garage with a car's exhaust turned on, a later attack on a rocky beach as a mysterious figure shoots at her with a spear gun and a wild car ride speeding through the twisting mountain roads leading into a fiery finale for all involved. Even other attacks and fight scenes here provide this with some fine energy going into the finale where everything is finally revealed which causes this one to come away with a rather shocking twist. Carrying out a gruesome and grisly act that really turns this on its head with the psychological ramifications about her mindset that gives this a lot to like overall as this holds the film up over it's few flaws.
There are a few flaws to the film. One of the biggest issues here is the incredibly convoluted and overwrought storyline that really makes no sense. While it starts off simple enough with the search for her friend, there's far too much going on elsewhere at the villa to really sustain interest as the dealings with the bizarre painting or the different flashbacks between the various guests at the villa detailing their connection to the incidents which complicates matters. The continuous attacks on her at the villa are merely distractions that don't have any real logic behind them, a common trope of the film as nearly everything that happens here including the characters' reactions to the revelations or even being nearly killed by others really undoes this one. Others may also be put off by the lack of traditional action here with the film going for a psychological mind-trip of them playing games against her rather than the easy ploy of having a black-gloved killer bumping off those in the area who know too much, yet these aren't enough to hold it back.
Overview: ***/5
While it veers more into a psychological thriller route than it does into straightforward giallo territory, there's still more than enough to enjoy here with this one if you give it a chance. Go into this one aware of that mindset and it's a solid enough entry while those that simply prefer to go for the stalk-and-slash variety of gialli should heed caution here.
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