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Highly Overrated But Still Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

THE THIRD EYE is a proto-giallo made on a low budget and in black and white. This is more of a psycho-thriller in the Hammer mould than a Bava-style giallo. There's a debt of inspiration owed to Hitchcock's PSYCHO. If a sense of familiarity comes to you while watching, it's because Joe D'Amato virtually remade the movie for his 1979 nasty, BLUE HOLOCAUST.As a psychological thriller this is an interesting little film, with the usual bunch of nasty characters holed up in a rambling mansion. There's the dominating old mother, the conniving housekeeper, and the wayward son; the son's innocent bride-to-be soon learns of the madness inherent in the household. The requisite number of plot twists hold the attention throughout, and there's plenty of style to boot. Some of the violence is explicit for the period and the taxidermy theme can be unpleasant. Some of the acting is a little histrionic but overall this is an interesting, albeit neglected, curio. Franco Nero headlines the cast prior to achieving fame as DJANGO.

Whilst much of this b/w film is well shot with interesting angles and perspectives, I didn't feel that the director truly had a grip on things. There are good moments and frankly duff moments and despite the presence of franco Nero there were times when I wondered if I was even going to stick with this. First real problem is that as things get under way we are introduced to the overpowering mother of Nero's character, played by Olga Solbelli and she is fantastic, like some Fellini grotesque and , of course, the splendid, EriKa Blanc, and they both disappear from the picture. Almost in the blink of an eye the best are gone and we are left with a struggling Nero and a conniving maid. Nero works very hard in his role as a latter day Italian Bates but the director doesn't seem to help and he sometimes seems to overdue things, to become just too 'crazy'. Worth a look as a supposed forerunner to D'Amato's Buio Omega and it probably features the longest struggle towards a ringing phone in movie history.

Although I only saw this movie once and over 25 years ago, the imagery and disturbing feel have stayed with me. Sure, the production values weren't up to current standards and the acting is not top drawer, but somehow what makes it to the screen gets under your skin and makes it crawl. True horror buffs should be fighting to get a copy of this for their collections - and I don't understand why it hasn't received more play in the USA. (OK, so it's foreign and involves cannibalism and other nasty things; is that any reason to pass it over?!) The young Franco Nero in this feature shows the acting promise of the later movies he appeared in, a number of them made for US audiences.

Contains Spoiler! This lesser known early Giallo tells the story of a young count (played by a very young looking Franco Nero) who loses his sanity completely after his fiancée has died in a car accident. The accident happened because the jealous housekeeper of the count and his dominant mother sabotaged the fiancée's car. The young count takes the body back home, only to learn that his mother has died too. She died after the housekeeper had pushed her down the stairs and beaten to death. So, now the count is alone with the murderous housekeeper, and he himself starts to kill every woman he takes home with him. The housekeeper helps him, but only to pursue her own interests. One year later, the sister of the dead fiancée appears, and she looks just like her...Mainly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (the overtly dominant mother, the count likes to prepare dead animals, hints on necrophilia), this sinister thriller was also the inspiration for Aristide Massacesi's best horror film "Buio Omega" (1979). Filmed in black and white, it boosts an uncomfortable atmosphere throughout, and even though it's not very graphic, there are some unpleasantly violent scenes (especially a stabbing towards the end of the movie). There is also a squirm inducing sequence when the count eviscerates a dead bird to prepare it. The only thing with the movie that is annoying are the credits: Almost all people involved are credited with phony English aliases."Il Terzo Occhio" is a catching movie which deserves to be rediscovered by an audience keen to the Thriller and Giallo genre. For my part, I can't understand why the movie is that little known. Rating: 7 out of 10.