Crystal Eyes (2017) User Reviews

great

[nick121235 · 6/10 · 24 April 2021]

Definitely one of the better neo gialli. There were a few details that took me out of the time period but overall this felt very true to the 80s, more than most big budget throwbacks, and did a great job recapturing that giallo vibe and style. It's also very interesting that they opted to look back at 80s gialli rather than 70s (although they took cues from several of the latter as well) seeing as how 80s films of that type were usually less highly regarded and the trend was over, meaning less of them were being made. Most neo gialli are set in the 70s so this is definitely something new. It has a very obvious low budget which was a bit disappointing as one of the main keys of the subgenre is lavish and opulent set design but they did a good job nonetheless, going for the art noveau style of argento's most popular period. That last building was the real thing though, and gorgeous.

So much fun

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 4 January 2023]

Mirada De Cristal feels like it was made in 1987, influenced by 1970 and filled with neon, sleaze and murderous intent. In other words, it was exactly what I was looking for. Directed by Argentina natives, co-directors and co-writers Ezequiel Endelman and Leandro Montejano, this takes place in Buenos Aires in 1985. As the fashion world mourns a year without supermodel Alexis Carpenter (Camila Pizzo), who died one night after a backstage rampage that saw her take the eye of a makeup girl named Barbara (Valeria Giorcelli), do tons of coke and then get burned alive on the catwalk after she douses the lights with champagne.

Now, fashion editor Lucia L'uccello (Silvia Montanari) must choose between two supermodels - Eva Lantier (Anahí Politi) and Irene del Lago (Erika Boveri) - to honor the lost Alexis on the cover of her magazine. However, the night before the shoot, the dress for the cover image disappears, soon to be followed by the deaths of anyone connected to the magazine and that night, all at the hands of a masked diva who wears a long leather coat and strikes poses as they kill, baby, kill.

This is a film that understands the giallo obsession with duality, frequently showing characters in matched costumes when two people appear on-screen at the same time. It also isn't shy about its influences, with a Hitchcock book in a desk drawer, a setting borrowed from Blood and Black Lace, a set that echoes Suspiria, a blind man named Lucio and a black cat sharing the name Decker with the feline in Mas Negro Que La Noche. It's also filled with smoke and neon, probably more than you've seen since Cinemax stopped showing smut after midnight on Fridays.

While this looks and feels like a giallo - hell, it even literally has a bird with crystal plumage kill someone - it doesn't feel slavish to the genre but instead a celebration of it, as well as later entries like Tenebre, Dressed to Kill and Delirium.

Very meticulously done and fun to watch

[Milo-Jeeder · 8/10 · 13 October 2020]

"Mirada de Cristal" perfectly captures the essence of Italian horror productions from the late 70s and 80s and this is something that I personally loved to see. It features all the elements that made those movies from that particular era so fun to watch: an uncomplicated plot with the right amount of mystery, fun characters, creative death scenes, a killer wearing a very distinctive mask, a bright color palette and great music.

While watching "Mirada de Cristal", I couldn't help but thinking of one of my favorite Italian horror flicks from the 80s, like Michele Soavi's "Deliria" (aka "Stage Fright"), especially with all those colorful lights, the flamboyant characters with diva attitudes and the creative death scenes. The characters are one of the many things I love about this flick: they are clearly supposed to be over the top and somewhat campy, so I also give credit to the actors for delivering their lines in a way that was very evocative of those flicks from the 80s. I especially enjoyed seeing the late Silvia Montanari and veteran actress Claudia Lapacó in a small role towards the very end. To be fair, though, most of the cast members were up to the task, not only the most famous ones.

Though the budget was modest (and it shows from time to time), directors Ezequiel Endelman and Leandro Montejano used it wisely enough for the most part. They tried to recreate the aesthetics of the dance academy from "Suspiria" (1977), which is not exactly easy to do with moderate budget, but somehow, they managed to get the job done (hell, we even get a brief glimpse of ornamental glass peacock!). I regret to say that, at times, the scenery looked perhaps a little bit too stiff and cartoonish. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but I personally didn't care for it that much. That being said, I'll take artificial scenery over lousy CGI any day! For the most part, the scenery was great. The photography and the strident color scheme was very well done and it reminded me of Dario Argento's "Inferno" (1980), for the most part.

Throughout the entire film, the killer wears a patent leather trench coat, high heels and a creepy mask of a woman with heavy makeup and dead eyes. When chasing his/her victims, the killer walks as if he/she were on a catwalk, even going so far as to strike glamorous poses (how can anyone not enjoy the deliberate campiness of this?). The chase scenes are very well done, providing just the right amount of tension and without being unnecessarily prolonged. As for the kills, they are really creative and intentionally over the top (the one with the crystal bird was just perfect). As for the killer's identity reveal, well, it really wasn't very surprising, but, who cares? Most "old-school" slashers were predictable to a certain extent too, so I don't consider this a flaw.

I really enjoyed this movie and I think those who have watched more than a couple of Italian/American horror productions from the 80s will be able to acknowledge that both directors really have a tremendous passion for horror flicks and they put a lot of effort into this. They evidently cared about their film, nothing felt rushed, they took a lot of time and dedication to take care of even the tiniest details and it shows. When something is done with such devotion, it most likely ends up getting the recognition it deserves.

Hommage to giallo from Argentina is a camp extravaganza for a somewhat limited audience

[davidvmcgillivray-24-905811 · 8/10 · 27 August 2018]

Ezequiel Endelman and Leandro Montejano are two talented new film-makers from Buenos Aires, who at London's Frightfest revealed their main passions - giallo and women in their 60s and 70s, preferably screaming. Their second feature, first to be shown internationally, was intended as one part of a web series but expanded. There's not much of a plot. Drug-addicted, bad-tempered model Alexis Carpenter gets her just deserts when she's accidentally burned during a catwalk show, a bravura sequence that sets the tone of the film. The media reports her death but soon afterwards a sinister masked "silueta", assumed to be the disfigured Alexis goes on a killing spree. A succession of murders ensues, but there's a twist ending befitting the film-makers' favourite Italian genre. Considering Endelman and Montejano claim to have had almost no budget, the art direction is sumptuous and the cast (mostly female) are dressed, coiffed and made-up to the nines. Rarely have we seen so many high heels click-clacking up and down floors and staircases. The "Suspiria"-style lighting is superb and the murders are staged with a flare that Argento probably would acknowledge. The violent music of Pablo Fuu enhances the visuals perfectly. The audience for this film is going to be niche. Considerable knowledge of classic Italian giallo is necessary and it will also help to be familiar with the cast, some of whom are movie veterans. Silvia Montanari made her screen debut in a Poe portmanteau, "Obras maestras del terror" (1960), starring the great Narciso Ibanez Menta. Someone calling him/herself Issis Trash also cuts a strikingly grotesque figure as the masked psycho. If all this sounds like your sort of thing, seek out this film as it does the festival circuit.

An homage to gialli of the '80s.

[BA_Harrison · 28 February 2023]

Crystal Eyes is a homage/pastiche of the giallo -- not so much the classic '70s movies of Argento, Bava and Martino, but rather the glossy, somewhat tacky '80s music-video-inspired efforts that went straight to video: films such as Too Beautiful To Die, Nothing Underneath, and Fulci's Murder Rock, which were set in the world of high fashion, populated by semi-clad women sporting big hair and bad make-up, swathed in neon and smoke, the action accompanied by a pop/rock synth soundtrack.

Directors Ezequiel Endelman and Leandro Montejano get the aesthetic spot on, and add knowing nods to the classics of the genre to please avid fans. The killer is particularly impressive, dressed as a mannequin and striking model poses whilst pursuing the staff and models working at fashion magazine Atilla. If I have one complaint, it's that the murders aren't very elaborate: they're staged well enough, with plenty of blood (the throat slashings are juicy), but they lack imagination -- at least until the ending, where a woman is impaled by a large crystal bird ornament (geddit?). More of that would have been good.