Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1976)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Awesome Movie

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Spanish Giallo in Italian style with Naschy as ex-convict and accused as psycho-killer and rapist . It's packed with fetishism killings on blue-eye women , claustrophobic sets , mysterious suspects , and rare characters . This thrilling film deals with Gilles (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina , here as Iberian sex-symbol) who seeks job and Claude (Diana Lorys) a beautiful woman with orthopedic hand offers him employment as handyman . Claude lives along with her two sisters , Nicole(Eva Leon) a gorgeous nymphomaniac and Ivette ( Maria Perschy) who is wheel-bound, . Gilles's arrival originates a terrible drama among them . The best friend of the family is the doctor (Eduardo Calvo) who cares of Ivette along with a nurse named Michelle (Ines Morales) . After that , on the Angers (France) county occurs various deaths who belong to blue-eyes and blonde hair girls , furthermore their eyes are pulled off. The gendarme named Pierre (Antonio Pica) to investigate the case of the killing series that have been committed by an ominous murderer and discovers Gillian actually is Alain Dupre a dangerous criminal , imprisoned for rape . The psycho-killer murders his victims cruelly by means of slashing , knife and axing . There are several suspicious , who's the killer ? .This is a Spanish Gialli in low budget about 8.000 Euros and filmed in Navarra and Torrelodones (Madrid) . It contains suspense , tension , whodunit , plot twists and lots of blood and guts with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a Naif style. The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story in which a killer series undergoes a criminal spree by means of slitting , decapitation and other brutal executions . Typical Spanish touches as the pig slaughter , the tractor and ordinary Spanish Bar , in spite of French setting is completely shot in Spain . This tale about a suspicious ex-con and a malevolent murderous begins well and grows more and more until the exciting and twisted finale in which we figure out the nasty guilty . There is another double version that packs nudism in charge of Eva Leon, Diana Lorys and other women , as there are gratuitous nudism and top-less . Lots of blood and gore and throat slitting in several images that impacted the viewers for that time . The film follows the Dario Argento wake from his early period when he made Gialli-classics as as ¨Four flies on grey velvet , The cat with nine tails and The bird with the crystal plumage ¨ . Nice cinematography in correct remastering by Francisco Sanchez and shot on location Pamplona and the mansion of Naschy's parents. Ample support cast , usual of Eurotrah as Maria Perschy ,Antonio Pica and Luis Ciges ,Eduardo Calvo , both of whom habitual of Jacinto Molina films . Anti-climatic and unappropiated musical score by Juan Carlos Calderon . The late Naschy was a good professional , writing, filmmaking and acting about hundred titles , mainly in terror genre. ¨House of doom or House of psychotic women¨ is written by Molina along with 21 screenplays as ¨Mark of Wolfman¨, ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Vengeance of the mummy¨, ¨Licantropo¨, among them . He directed 13 films as ¨The Cantabros¨, ¨Return of Wolfman¨, ¨The Beast and the magic sword¨ and many others. This slasher motion picture is professionally directed by Carlos Aured , a slick craftsman who directed all kind of genres, especially Erotic and Terror for Paul Naschy as ¨Horror rises from tomb¨¨¨Vengeance of the mummy¨ and , ¨Return of Walpurgis¨ . The picture will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and Giallo buffs .

Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is a decent enough Spanish Giallo with enough twists and turns in the plot to make it reasonably entertaining. The biggest problem, however, is that it lacks the style I usually associate with the genre. The set-up is wonderful – a drifter, Gilles (played by Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy), is hired as a caretaker at a house inhabited by three beautiful women – all of whom have some sort of problem. Claude has a prosthetic arm, Ivette is wheelchair bound, and Nicole is a raging nymphomaniac. Gilles arrival coincides with a series of brutal murders. Gilles has a secretive past, but is he really capable of the string of vicious deaths? Don't worry, it'll all be sorted out in the end.First - the good. As I've already indicated, I loved the set-up. The big old house full of crazy women provides a wonderful backdrop for the film's events to unfold. The acting is okay. I was most impressed with Diana Lorys' very sympathetic performance as the vulnerable Claude. Next, the plot will keep you guessing right up to the end with its numerous red herrings. Suspicion is thrown on just about everyone. And, even though the ending comes out of nowhere and hardly seems plausible, the final reveal has one of the things I love about Gialli – the total unpredictability of the finale.But as my rating would indicate, there are things about Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll that didn't work for me as well as they could have. First, I'm not the biggest fan of Paul Naschy. I try and try to enjoy the man's work, but for the most part, I don't see the appeal. Next, the special effects are very weak – even for a low budget Giallo. The eyes look ludicrous. Finally, as I indicated in the opening, Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll lacks that style I look for in a Giallo. Leaving out the works of Dario Argento and Mario Bava, just compare this movie with the Gialli of Sergio Martino, Luciano Ercoli, or Emilio Miraglia and you'll quickly see what I mean.In the end, I'll give Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll a weak 6/10, verging on a 5/10.

Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll, The (1973) * 1/2 (out of 4) Spanish giallo has Paul Naschy playing an ex-con who gets out of prison and winds up in a small town looking for work. He finds work at the house of three sisters; one disfigured, one crippled and the other a slut. Soon a serial killer hits town killing blonde women with blue eyes. I saw this film years ago under the American title House of Psychotic Women and really hated it but I gave it another shot since I've become more familiar with Naschy's work. Time did very little to help this thing because it falls into the territory of various other Naschy films in the fact that it doesn't deliver. Being a giallo you expect a lot of style, gory kills and a good mystery but none of those aspects are found here. The movie is half way over before we see the first kill and it's poorly done with bad special effects. There isn't any style to speak of and in reality the movie looks extremely cheap and dull. As for the mystery, you should be able to spot the killers very early on in the picture. For the majority of the running time we have lover boy Naschy trying to get in the pants of two of the sisters as well as a nurse who shows up. We get constant dialogue scenes with some of the funniest lines I've ever heard in this type of film. The one good thing in the film is Naschy who actually delivers a nice performance. None of the violence in the film gets too gory with the exception of one scene where a live pig is slaughtered on camera. As is to be expected, there's a twist at the end but it comes off very forced, faked and safe.

The movie Blue Eyes Of The Broken Doll is a film that i find is very much underestimated amongst some fans of the horror genre.I was reminiscent of the film and watched it again last night under the video version of the same name which i believe to be the uncut version as the American versions were entitled House of Doom and House Of the Psychotic Women were both cut versions but i am uncertain as to which scenes were cut out although i suspect that one of them would upset members of PETA.In regards to the movie which is Spanish but set in France, an escaped convict named Gilles has gone to a town in France searching for a new life and work. He visits a local café in waitress is less than welcoming. He later meets a young woman named Claude who after much hardship and a disfigured hand lives with her two sisters Yvette who is wheelchair bound and Nicole who is a nymphomaniac within a house and estate and need some help so he is invited to work and stay with them. Gilles suffers from flashbacks at times from his previous crimes of strangling a woman who was his lover. Nicole wastes no time in seducing Gilles who later turns his affections to Claude who believes a man would never be interested in her. There is bitter rivalry between all three sisters who have different ways of living.Yvette's condition is being helped by the local doctor and a nurse named Michelle who turns up to replace another nurse, Margo since her disappearance, she is suspicious of Michelle who has problems outside of work but her doctor reassures her that she has her best interests at heart.All the main characters are introduced within the first half an for the plot development and all have something to hide once we get to know a little about them, the story takes a more sinister turn when police first discover that the nurse who was supposed to care for Yvette has been found murdered and then an unknown killer starts to stalk and murder young, attractive, blond haired and blued eyed women. There disguise is to be completely covered in black with gloves trademark is to cut out the blue eyes of their victims, although the viewer does not get to see this unfortunately. The set up of the killings is dark and atmospheric like in many other European horror films from the giallo genre with the music from the children's rhyme Feres Jacques playing in the background and it gets more catchy each time, it is very memorable in reference to the film. Although the killings are not as graphic as you would expect due to production limitations and one misleading cover photo in which tries to make you believe the decapitation of one of the women in the film is more explicit then it actually is. This film turns more from horror to that of a thriller when it comes to the viewer finding out who is the culprit if these gruesome murders.The first hour appears quite predictable but no one could expect the disturbing outcome of this classic and intelligent storyline which is only revealed in the last few scenes makes it definitely worth the watch alone, I wont spoil it for you but it should definitely make you appreciate the films plot and understand the killers motive.I am also pleased that after 35 years Blue Eyes Of the Broken Doll has finally been released on DVD and presented in high definition so i hope to see this version soon.I would give this film a 7 out of 10!