‘Within their doors await the most unspeakable acts’
The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll – original title: Los Ojos Azules de la Muñeca Rota – is a 1973 Spanish horror film directed by Carlos Aured (The Mummy’s Revenge; Curse of the Devil; Horror Rises from the Tomb) from a screenplay co-written with Paul Naschy, who also stars.
Diana Lorys (Fangs of the Living Dead; The Awful Dr. Orlof), Eduardo Calvo (Inquisition; Cross of the Devil) and Eva Leon (Inquisition; Autopsy) also headline.
A drifter named Gilles (Naschy) arrives in a French village looking for work. He soon gets a lift from a woman named Claude (Lorys) who sports a prosthetic hand, hiding a gruesome deformity.
She gives him a job as a handyman at a large house owned by her and her two sisters: sex-obsessed redhead Nicole (Leon) and wheelchair-user Yvette (Perschy).
Soon after Gilles sets up doing chores around the grounds, Nicole takes a strong interest in him and Claude voices her disgust, while Yvette is tended to by a doctor and nurse.
As these domestic events occur, a black-gloved killer is murdering blue-eyed women and gouging out their eyes, dropping them into a jar of water…
The film is released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory on June 20, 2017, as part of The Paul Naschy Collection.
High Definition 1080p (1.33:1)/DTS-HD Master Audio Mono Castalian/DTS-HD Master Audio Mono English Dub/Not Rated/90 minutes
- In Castilian with English Subtitles and English Dub
- U.S. Theatrical Trailer
- Spanish Credit Sequence
Reviews:
“…Naschy’s Gilles has obvious psychological problems and uses women like meat, but somehow his good qualities level him out into a kind of antihero. The killings are more sleazy than stylish, but fits the film’s overall grindhouse-like texture, and as a giallo, its multi-leveled with the right amount of suspense and enough quirky characters to keep most Euro trash fans smirking.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
“The film looked quite decent and at times is actually quite stylish. There are some well-executed moments of suspense and a particularly kooky and fabulous finale. I especially enjoyed the shots of two black gloved hands dumping two freshly-plucked eyeballs into a bowl of water! It keeps you guessing right up to the end.” Goregirl’s Dungeon
“Naschy as always is in top form, the onscreen gore is plentiful and stylish […] and the story overall will keep you guessing. The only real problem to be found here is that the pacing is a little off. It takes a while to get the viewer where they should be.” Uncle Creepy, Dread Central
“It is not an enjoyable experience by any stretch of the imagination. Not only wasn’t in very logical or even coherent, but the cheapness of its production was mildly upsetting. Everything was so sordid, the screen practically sweated.” Ric Meyers, For One Week Only: The World of Exploitation Films
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” …a fairly proficient piece of work, with a nice slow-burn atmosphere during the early stages, decent cinematography, and some well staged death scenes. The use of ‘Frere Jacques’ during these scenes is creepily effective, even if the rest of the score is jauntily inappropriate.” Neil Fulwood, The Agitation of the Mind
Cast and characters:
- Paul Naschy as Gilles
- Diana Lorys as Claude
- Eduardo Calvo as Doctor Phillipe
- Eva Leon as Nicole
- Inés Morales as Michelle
- Antonio Pica as Inspector Pierre
- Luis Ciges as René
- Pilar Bardem as Caroline
- Maria Perschy as Ivette
Release:
In the US, the film was released in slightly edited form in 1976 by Independent-International as House of Psychotic Women. The film was re-issued on a double-bill with Nurse Sherri.
It was shown on American television, with further cuts, as House of Doom.
View the Independent-International pressbook at Zombos’ Closet
A special edition DVD was released in 2007 by Deimos Entertainment, a subdivision of BCI Eclipse, as Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll.
The Canon Video pre-cert VHS release was regularly seized and confiscated in the UK during the video nasties moral panic, however it was never submitted for prosecution.
Filming locations:
Navacerrada, Talamanca del Jarama and Torrelodones, Madrid, Spain
IMDb | Image credits: Critical Condition | VHS Collector
