Director: Pedro L. Ramírez
Year: 1974
Country: Spain
Alternate Titles: El pez de los ojos de oro
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
After a strange murder, a woman and a hitchhiker she picks up in the area nearby become embroiled in a crime wave supposedly committed by the hitchhiker, but as he goes about investigating the crimes to clear his name stumbles upon the real murder spree continuing across town.
Review:
Generally, this was a fairly solid if overall flawed Spanish giallo effort. Among the better features here comes from the intriguing and generally twist-laden storyline that offers plenty of solid plotlines. Having a familiar enough setup in play with the stranger arriving just after a series of murders takes place and having a tenuous but still valid connection to the crimes that requires him to remain there and try to clear his name when it points to him being the culprit, the hallmarks are set for an enjoyable take on the genre’s formula. Getting into a credible red herring and having a nice group of suspects around him to generate the required investigator role alongside the rest of the police in town, as it gradually becomes apparent who’s doing the killings. Set off by a childhood trauma and focusing on a bizarre obsession with fish related to each of the killers following a jewel heist, the structure and storyline present here come off rather nicely, with plenty of great aspects involved.
This provides the kind of framework for a multitude of enjoyable enough encounters involving the killer striking in various locations allows for different stalking scenes. Opening with the impressive idea of the scuba-gear-clad killer emerging from the ocean and attacking the one victim on the beach gives the film a strong starting point, while later scenes involving the killer taking out the few victims in their hotel room or out in the community offer some short ambush scenes that bring some decent enough encounters here for some nice variety throughout. On top of these encounters, there are some solid action scenes here, including the highlight sequence of a car chase through the twisting hills of the community that features a fantastic crash scene that looks far more dangerous than expected, giving this a nice change from the usual amount of genre fare. Including a frantic finale that ties together the multitude of plot threads involving some nice twists and double-crosses involving the killer and their motivation on top of the action to stop them, everything comes together to offer up some positive factors.
There are a few issues with this one that keep it down. The main issue to be had here is the immensely familiar storyline, where the film manages to be quite predictable for what’s going on rather easily. With the whole setup about the hitchhiker coming into town and being set up as the main suspect in a series of murders around town, which forces him to start looking into the series of crimes to clear his name, offers the kind of formula that’s quite easy to figure out, they’re not the killer. To then act like he is and spending the time figuring out that he’s been framed to then go out and find the real person responsible is a great tool for the genre to utilize for helping bring an audience in, but that’s also due to so many others out there using the style that this one does nothing special with so it comes across even worse due to that. As well, there’s also the lack of overt sleaze and violence here, with the nudity restricted to a single brief shot and most of the kills being brutal in concept yet dry in execution, so it doesn't stand out all that much for those looking for the seedier side of the genre. As a whole, these are what bring it down overall.
Overview: ***/5
A likable enough if unspectacular Spanish giallo, this one has enough going for it to be a likable and formulaic genre effort, which is held down by those issues highlighting its genre tropes. Those with an appreciation for this era of genre fare, who are huge fans of Eurohorror or appreciate gialli in general, will have a lot to like, while most others out there should heed caution.
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