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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bizarre and Complex, This Spanish Giallo Is A Must See For Fans of the Genre, April 6, 2008
This review is from: Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Special Edition) (DVD)
In the seventies, Italy was experiencing a great deal of financial success with their Italian gialli. Spain decided to market their own brand of gialli. One such movie was "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll." It was also known as "House of Psychotic Women," which is a more appropriate title.
Spanish horror icon, Paul Naschy, stars as an ex-convict who finds work as a handyman at a gothic farm house where three sisters live. One is a nymphomaniac, another is confined to a wheelchair, and another has a horribly burned and disfigured hand she hides in a glove. The handyman is plagued with visions of strangling a woman. Soon after his arrival, a nurse is strangled while on route to the farm house to care for the crippled sister. Her mysterious replacement is a beautiful, blonde woman with blue eyes. In the nearby village, an assailant wearing black gloves begins hacking to death beautiful blonde women and removing their blue eyes. If that isn't complicated enough, the former handyman attacks and stabs the new handyman before disappearing.
The killer's victims are dispatched in gruesome and creative means usually involving sharp instruments such as knives, meat cleavers, and a rake. The identity of the true killer remains a mystery until nearly the very end after most of the main characters have been murdered. Also, the killer's motive was unique. It wasn't the usual "I'm punishing these women for their sins." Speaking of sins, I'm thankful the killer isn't a Catholic priest; there isn't a priest in the movie.
"Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" reminded me of another Spanish slasher, and one of my favorite horror movies, "The House That Screamed." Someone at a girl's boarding school is killing students, who try to run away, and removing body parts from them.
The farmland and mountain scenery of "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" are beautiful and well photographed. I just wish its presentation had been widescreen instead of full.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the Wait, May 5, 2008
This review is from: Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Special Edition) (DVD)
I could go into the lengthy story about my fascination and love for this film, but it could take years to tell. To keep it simple, I remember renting this movie from Blockbuster about 15 years ago when it was still under it's Americanized title, "The House of Psychotic Women." It was also about 15 minutes shorter, had sketchy sound and faded colors. It became an immediate cult classic for myself and a small group of friends. I wound up ordering a copy through Blockbuster shortly after renting it, and about a year later I received it... (Thank heaven for Amazon and the internet, lol... waits of a year for a product often make you forget why you ordered in the first place.)
After acquiring a couple of different copies of this same movie over the years, I finally had the pleasant surprise that it was going to be released on dvd a few months ago. Yes, I preordered. And yes, I waited by the mailbox. Was it worth it? You'd better believe it. The sound and picture quality are amazing. The special features, especially the occasionally silly commentary with Naschy and Aured are pure gold. Great packaging. Great menus. (I've honestly never complimented a dvd for having great menus... but this one really seems classy.) Overall, it's a fantastic repackaging of a great cult classic. I won't go into the story line. I'm sure other reviewers have already done that. Anyway, to try and describe the story... well... you'll either love it, or you'll walk away saying, "What in the name of...?"
If you're into cheesy 70's imported horror flicks, then you have to watch this. If you've already watched it and remember it, I'd say you're a fan. If you are a fan and don't have this yet, trust me... get it. BCI did a great job from the hitchhiking opening to the bear trap to the cellar. A must have
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Your typical Spanish Naschyism film, May 18, 2011
This review is from: Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Special Edition) (DVD)
Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll AKA House of Psychotic Women is the story of an escaped convict ( Paul Naschy) who gets work on a property that is all women...one is in a wheelchair, one is a tramp, one has a mutilated arm. Of course Naschy has his obligatory love making scenes with a few of the Spanish beauties with the usual amount of nudity...
All of a sudden we have this mysterious killer who is removing their eyes and placing in water...as the mystery takes shape, we learn the reasoning behind this. To me there was a lot of parts to this that were not 100% clear that will probably need a revisit sooner than later..The explanation for the killing isn't quite too clear..
Now this movie isn't for everyone. If you're a die hard Paul Naschy fan , you probably already have this DVD. To me it wasn't quite as good as Human Beasts but better than most of the El Hombre Lobo films..
There are some good suspenseful moments in this film, but there was just something lacking in this movie and the music wasn't too good either..
There was also a scene which to me added nothing to the film and found no reason for it and that was the scene of a pig being stabbed, squealing like crazy. I found this to be pretty repulsive and unnecessary. Not just for this film , but any film. It didn't need to be there ..I really am not into animal cruelty and even if the scene was a 'fake pig" it still added nothing to this movie...
The DVD transfer is outstanding remastered in HD from the original camera negative..there is a Paul Naschy intro before the film which is subtitled..
Overall as I sit here with the DVD I am deciding whether it really is worth keeping or not..This is another one to really rent first (if you can find it to rent that is)
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