6/10
Entertaining Spanish giallo
27 October 2000
While many of the Italian gialli have been co-produced with Spanish money, this movie is maybe the only real "pure" Spanish giallo - with Paul Naschy playing the most impressive role of his career. His character is a ex-convict who comes to a small town. He gets a job in a big house inhabited by three women who all seem to suffer from severe psychological problems (they are not psychotic, however, even though the American title "House of Psychotic Women" suggests so). Worst of all, a killer stalks the young women in the neighborhood and steals their eyeballs (eyeballs again... films like "The Headless Eyes" and "Gatti Rossi in un Labirinto di Vetro" come in mind).

No wonder that Naschy's character becomes soon a main suspect, even though the policemen of the small town don't know that he's an ex-convict. Naschy's portrayal of the hapless man is more tragic and sympathetic than all his portrayals of wolfman Waldemar Daninsky, the role he repeated playing throughout most of his acting career.

The movie is very low-budget but nevertheless quite thrilling, and the revealing of the killer's identity at the end is at least as surprising as in your typical eerie Italian giallo. Highly recommended to all those who love this kind of stuff and European horror cinema in general.
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