Director: Lucio Fulci
Year: 1982
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Il malocchio; Eye of the Evil Dead
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
While on assignment on Egypt, an archaeologist suffers an accident which returns him and his family to the United States where it slowly dawns on him that his daughter's strange behavior is caused by the possession of an Egyptian priest and must find a way to get her free in order to save her.
Review:
This was a decidedly decent enough effort. Among the more enjoyable elements featured is the rather impressive and wholly engaging sense of Egyptian atmosphere present. The pyramid setting, which allows for the wide-ranging vistas in the desert, plenty of gorgeous shots among the tombs or being thrust into the various catacombs filled with statues, carvings and other wonderful decorations that provide this one with a great idea of the type of cultural flair. When it drops this locale for the urban settings in America, that changes the type of action and suspense into playing with the different scenarios present there into more traditional setups due to some enhanced action.
These offer up quite a lot of fun, from the control she exerts over her brother while the blind father stumbles around the house calling out for the kids while looking for them, an interesting attack on a worker at a local plant where the floor breaks away from underneath and the creepiest sequence where a friend of the family disappears into thin air where only sand and scorpions are left behind. These are all wrapped together with the storyline about how they come to realize she's possessed, starting with the events inside the tomb where he succumbs to the accident to the premonition coming to fruition and the fabled picture which show something's wrong with her that's all rather fun here in telling that story. These here the film's best elements which hold it up over the main flaws.
The biggest factor against this one is the sheer inability to understand anything going on in the story, which isn't that surprising yet still crops up here. The idea that the daughter is possessed is hinted at makes no sense as nothing has happened yet, and the series of explanations offered by the experts to supposedly make sense of it all don't clarify anything. It barely gives any kind of suggestion as to how she got possessed much less what her plans are or what her plans entail since it changes at whim to fit the story which is really puzzling. This even makes it hard to determine who's on what side here with the different allegiances not being resolved. As well as the lackluster finale, these are what hold it down.
Overview: ***/5
While it has it's issues, there's just enough to like with this one that it manages to become watchable enough at the very least for those into this particular style. Give this one a chance if you're a hardcore Fulci fanatic or looking for something different from the master, while those hardcore gore fanatics who want more of the same should heed caution.
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