Death Will Have Your Eyes (1974)

The Film:

After nearly 40 years of being stuck in VHS purgatory MYA has finally taken the liberty to give Death Will Have Your Eyes a legitimate DVD release. The film was directed by Giovanni d'Eramo, this was his second attempt at directing (the first being a movie titled "O.K. John " which seems to be just as obscure). The film follows Louisa (Marisa Mell) who moves to Rome in hopes to find a solid source of income and Mr. Right. One thing leads to another and she ends up being forced into prostitution by a wealthy man. It turns out Louisa gets a strange sense of enjoyment out of her new lifestyle. Things get a little hectic soon after and, to put it simply, the shit hits the fan.

The main gripe I have with Death Will Have Your Eyes is that it has a sort of identity crisis throughout. It can never decide what it wants to be. The movie also bounces around quite a bit, this makes things hard to follow at times. It is slow and uneventful at the beginning, but once things begin to pick up shortly after the hour mark the movie gains a pretty dark atmosphere. Stelvio Cipriani's score compliments these moments well and adds a little to the overall atmosphere. If the atmosphere that is displayed later in the movie could've have been used effectively throughout it would have been to the films benefit.

Overall Death Will Have Your Eyes is far from being a masterpiece. It isn't horrible by any means but it can get rather dull at times. I'm a fan of slow burning movies but this one dragged a bit too much for my taste. That being said, I'm glad it has finally gotten an official DVD release being that it is such an obscure/sought after movie. It certainly has an audience and I don't regret watching it, but it isn't something I can recommend to everyone. The bottom line: Death Will Have Your Eyes makes for an interesting watch and although it isn't exactly flawless it is still worth a watch for hardcore Italian cinema fans.

DVD Contents:

The picture quality looks just like what it is, a low grade VHS transfer. It is a slight step above the horrible looking Mill Creek release of Curtains. It is watchable but not the nicest thing to look at. The sound is another story, it's not bad at all and has no real background noise for the most part. In terms of special features there is next to nothing on the disc. The only extras you get are the trailer and a poster gallery. Although this may be a no frills DVD release you can't complain too much because it is a miracle that this flick is getting the DVD treatment at all. Hopefully MYA will continue releasing films of this nature. They definitely have room to improve on their releases but making this films readily available is really what is most important.

Special Features:

Trailer

Poster Gallery