The Evil Eye
HORROR-THON 2024 • SEEING RED
8/10
DIRECTOR: Mario Bava
STARRING: John Saxon, Letícia Román, Valentina Cortese
RELEASED: 1963
RUNTIME: 1 hour, 26 minutes
WATCH ON: Shudder, AMC+, Prime Video, Tubi, YouTube TV
SCARE LEVEL: Low to medium, with a lot of suspense
READING MYSTERY NOVELS BEFORE BED: Dangerous
A young American woman lands in Rome with a suitcase full of mystery novels. Within days, she’s knocked out on the Spanish steps, wakes up to a woman being stabbed in front of her, and can’t get a single person to believe her. Mario Bava basically invented the giallo with this one, and it shows.
Nora comes to Rome to visit her elderly aunt, who dies on her very first night. Walking to the hospital, Nora is mugged, passes out, and comes to just in time to see a woman murdered nearby. By morning, there’s no body, no blood, and no witnesses except her.
The police think she imagined it. The handsome young doctor treating her thinks she reads too many mysteries. Nora starts investigating anyway. She finds out about a string of killings, all following the alphabet, and that her own last name begins with the next letter.
The original Italian title, La regazza che sapeva troppo, translates to The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and it fits.
MY HUMBLE OPINION
I was shocked by the killer, which rarely happens to me. I’ve seen enough horror to usually call it by the halfway mark. Not this time.
Then there are the fashions. It’s early-’60s Rome, so there are sharp coats, little heels, great hair, and black and white so crisp it looks like a magazine spread. Nora is being stalked by a serial killer, but she’s doing it in excellent tailoring.
My one minus: it reminded me too much of Gaslight, which I watched for Horror-Thon 2023. It’s the whole routine of telling a woman she’s crazy until she isn’t. I get that it’s the point, but I’ve had enough watching men pat women on the head.
FUN FACT FOR YOUR NEXT DINNER PARTY
Mario Bava was a big Hitchcock fan and included many Hitchcockian touches in the movie, including a cameo. He appears in a portrait on the wall with eyes that keep following Letícia Román in her bedroom of Ethel’s home.