EYES OF CRYSTAL

Inspector Amaldi (Luigi Lo Cascio, THE BEAST IN THE HEART) is introduced to the screen chasing a would-be rapist through grey Italian streets. Upon catching his prey, Amaldi needlessly shoots him in the leg. Amaldi's partner Frese (Jose Angel Egido, THE NIGHT OF THE BROTHER) accuses him of being crazy when the Inspector explains he made the shooting "for when (the rapist) gets out" ... but as with all good cop partnerships, Frese covers for Amaldi later anyway.

Meanwhile a bird hunter turns his rifle on a pair of afternoon lovers, making out in a nearby field. An aged peeping Tom is shot mid-wank too - a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time! When the girl tries to stagger away from the gloved murderer, she's shot through the breast in the film's nastiest scene.

Later that day, the gorgeous Guiditta (Lucia Jimenez, THE KOVAK BOX; DON'T TELL ANYONE) wanders into her local police station to report sinister messages she has received on her phone. She believes someone at her college is stalking her. Amaldi listens to her fears and vows to help find the culprit.

But first, he must attend the scene of the aforementioned murders and inspect the corpses. Upon inspection, Amaldi notices that the killer has tied a tourniquet around the girl's blasted chest, beneath which rags have been stuffed into the wound. This action leads to Amaldi telling Frese he suspects this to be the work of a serial killer.

Initially doubtful, Frese comes round to his partner's way of thinking when a second murder occurs - and the corpse is found with its arms severed, having been replaced with lifesize antique doll's arms. Rags and nylon have been used to tidy the wounds ...

Convinced they have a serial killer on their hands, and deducing from their clues that he or she is most likely adept in the art of taxidermy, Amaldi and Frese begin to divide their time between piecing the puzzle together and tending to the needs of their dying, hospitalised boss Ajaccio (Simon Andreu, BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON).

Amaldi has the added task of keeping his blossoming relationship with Guiditta going - and unveiling the identity of her pesky stalker.

With a few sub-plots to follow (even peripheral characters are given their own points of note - secretive affairs, etc), EYES OF CRYSTAL demands your attention. But it's because you have to really watch it - especially since it's subtitled so it would be easy to lose the thread if you turned away - that the film becomes so absorbing.

It helps that the performances are solid and we get a cast of likeable characters that we can actually care about. Lo Cascio makes for a convincing lead, handsome but suitably intense and tortured by a tragic past, while Jimenez makes her role a lot less redundant than it so easily could have been. They're an attractive, believable couple and the film benefits from their chemistry.

Eros Puglielli's (ALL THERE IS TO KNOW) direction is slick and assured - the cop scenes are crisply edited in a TV drama-type way (the opening chase scene is all erratic editing and shaky camera movements akin to NYPD Blue) while the murder scenes are stylish and considered, evoking Argento's better Giallo moments.

While there are a few holes in the plot and things ultimately turn towards the implausible, EYES OF CRYSTAL is the best Italian Giallo horror-thriller in recent memory.

A hit at last year's Dead By Dawn festival, the film failed to find a nationwide cinema release - but hopefully will find a new audience with Revolver/Fright Fest's overdue DVD release.

Revolver's release presents the film uncensored in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The image has been enhanced for 16x9 TV sets. Picture quality is, as you'd expect for a contemporary film, very good - clear, bright and sharp with no grain.

The Italian 2.0 audio is fine, but the optional 5.1 mix is much better - a belter. Removable English subtitles are easy to read and free from typing errors.

Extras include a 20 minute 'Making Of' documentary, with plenty of cast and crew interviews plus split-screen comparisons between on-set shooting and the finished product, and a 3 minute 'On Set' featurette which is basically left-overs from the documentary. Both are presented in Italian with removable English subtitles.

Unfortunately the director's commentary and international trailer that had been advertised on some sites are not present.

The film can be accessed via 12 chapters.

Stylish, intelligent and violent - the type of thriller you wish Argento still had the talent to make. Revolver's release is worth a buy.

Review by Stu Willis