Eye in the Labyrinth (Italian: L’occhio nel labirinto) – aka Blood – is a 1972 Italian psychological horror thriller film directed by Mario Caiano (Nazi Love Camp 27; Nightmare Castle) from a screenplay co-written with Horst Hächler and Antonio Saguera. The jazzy lounge soundtrack score was by Roberto Nicolosi (Black Sabbath; Evil Eye; Black Sunday).
Main cast:
Rosemary Dexter, Adolfo Celi (Holocaust 2000; Who Saw Her Die?; Murders in the Rue Morgue), Alida Valli, Horst Frank (The Dead Are Alive; The Cat o’ Nine Tails), Sybil Danning (The Tomb; Howling II; Nightkill), Franco Ressel (Blood and Black Lace).
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Plot:
Julie (Rosemary Dexter) is disturbed by the disappearance of her psychiatrist boyfriend Luca (Horst Frank) following a bizarre dream where she witnessed him murdered.
She travels to a seaside village where he might be and encounters Frank (Adolfo Celi), who tells her Luca has indeed been there.
Julie’s investigation leads her the house of Gerta (Alida Valli), where the mystery deepens among the odd characters residing at this artistic enclave…
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Reviews:
“Both glossy and strange, it falls far more in line with the sunny upper class mysteries being delivered by Umberto Lenzi around the same time (Paranoia, A Quiet Place to Kill, etc.) instead of the usual black-gloved maniac shockers. That said, it does deliver a handful of gory knife attacks including a memorably surreal opening sequence that kicks things off with a bang.” Nathaniel Thomson, Mondo Digital
“Caiano injects a dose of Alice in Wonderland-like surrealism in scenes where Julia meets familiar faces again and again only for them to insist they have never met before. Or else deny events she sees with her own eyes. Despite featuring the usual cod-Freudian ideas about female sexual neuroses that are almost laughable in their blatant misogyny, this remains a superior giallo that mines a neat line in claustrophobic paranoia.” Andrew Pragasam, The Spinning Image
“It is difficult to become emotionally involved in the action simply because it seems so irrational and the actions of the characters appear to go against common sense and logic almost every step of the way, yet it retains a peculiar fascination from beginning to end.” Troy Howarth, So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films, Volume 1
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Cast and characters:
- Rosemary Dexter – Julie
- Adolfo Celi – Frank
- Alida Valli – Gerda
- Horst Frank – Luca
- Sybil Danning – Toni
- Franco Ressel – Eugene
- Michael Maien – Louis
- Benjamin Lev – Saro
- Gigi Rizzi – Thomas
- Peter Kranz
- Gaetano Donati
- Elisa Mainardi – Orphanage Director
- Mario Cantatore
- Rosita Torosh – Luca’s Secretary
Filming locations:
Elba Island, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy
Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Mondo Digital
