The Evil Eye
Directed by Mario Bava
This influential early giallo follows a tourist who witnesses a vicious murder. But when no body is found, nobody believes poor Nora Davis. Nobody except love interest John Saxon (Heather Langenkamp's father in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) of course. But could he be the killer? Mario Bava's last film in black and white is nonetheless as chilling and creepy as his later efforts. Widely credited for helping spawn the genre that directors like Dario Argento and Sergio Martino would turn into high art, Bava's film is an important film in the director's oeuvre.
This influential early giallo follows a tourist who witnesses a grisly murder.
Cast: Leticia Roman, John Saxon, Valentina Cortese
Member Reviews
For those unaware, this is the americanized cut of The Girl Who Knew Too Much, widely considered as the first giallo film. This version, however, is not as good as the italian original.
Ok movie but the ending sucked
You can see the first kindlings of Giallo here. But Bava would go on to truly ignite Giallo with Blood and Black Lace the following year. Still, this one is a cracking mystery
Hitchcockian, beautifully shot, decent dubbing
It really uses a wonderful device for the opening credits. The camera pans among the passengers on a plane. We are able to hear what the passengers are thinking, some with mundane travel concerns, some not thinking in English, and finally a beautiful woman thinking, "I shouldn't have used a knife for the murder, I should have used a gun." We soon discover this woman is actually reading a murder mystery. This film owes a bit to Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, though there are many stops in the line of descension. In that novel, a young woman that reads Gothic novels imagines mysteries. In this film, everyone thinks that the murder and skullduggery Nora sees are figments of her imagination, due to the pulp fiction she reads. I was amused how Letícia Román, an Italian, was cast as an American tourist in Rome, while John Saxon, an American, plays an Italian doctor. But Letícia Román is quite charming as a Nancy Drew type, using her wits to try to solve the mystery. And Saxon always looks a little shady, making him an excellent red herring.