If you thought good giallos were made only in 70s & 80s, watch this. Very stylish & well made movie.

Exquisite settings, technical virtuosity, remarkable images, beautiful cinematography and a sterling cast with Luigi Lo Cascio (star of the noteworthy I cento passi and the phenomenal La meglio gioventù) in the lead: Eros Puglielli's Eyes of Crystal has it all and ends as a wasted opportunity. The story about a serial killer collecting body parts in order to create his Barbie of the Month oscillates somewhere between other genre danses macabres like Fincher's Se7en, Mulcahy's Resurrection, J.A. Bayona's The Orphanage, and Narcisco Ibánez Serrador's The House That Screamed, and that's exactly its problem. You've seen it all before, all that stylish craftsmanship reeks inevitably of rehash, and it doesn't help all-too-much that 70s giallo regular Simón Andreu („Death Walks on High Heels") - finally a real ghost from the past - turns in the probably best performance of his career. Director Puglielli's first lesson? Never collaborate on a script with the creator of Argento's Opera. The second one he grasped only after the premiere: His flick itself was the ghastly doll, beneath the dashing costume just a fly-ridden corpse. When it comes to horror movies, postmodernism is a curse.

Despite having heard about the film a few years ago,I have somehow never got round to see the major 2004 Giallo that was not directed by Dario Argento.With a poll coming up on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best titles of 2004,I decided that it was time to look into the eyes of crystals.The plot:Called out to a murder scene in a woodland area,Ispettore Amaldi finds that a young couple and a peeping tom have been brutally killed.Taking a look at the women's corpse,Amaldi is horrified to find that the murderer has amputated the victim.Searching for clues,Amaldi spots an area of the woods used by the killer to capture animals,which leads to Amaldi suspecting that the murderer has an interest in dissecting humans & animals.Whilst waiting for the autopsy results,Amaldi decides to visit Agente Ajaccio,who is a former police officer that has recently been put in hospital,after he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.Given medication that leads to him having flashbacks,Ajaccio begins to tell Amaldi about the burning down of the orphanage he grew up in.Although he is able to clearly remember the fire,Ajaccio finds himself struggle to remember the name of a peculiar,fellow student at the orphanage.Trying to nudge Ajaccio's memory,Amaldi receives a call which reveals that the murderer has struck again,which leads to Amaldi deciding that he must dissect the killer,before he finishes his "operations."View on the film:Backed by a chilling score from Francesc Gener,co-writer/(along with Gabriella Blasi and Franco Ferrini) director Eros Puglielli & cinematographer Luca Coassin unleash a blunt Giallo with a jet-black Neo-Noir heart,which creates an extremely grim atmosphere,as Puglielli displays the murder scenes in a stark manner,and drains the movie of almost any bright colours,with Amaldi's world sinking into burnt-out blacks & roaring flames.Along with the strong Neo- Noir atmosphere,Puglielli also gives the title a tantalisingly stylised appearance,as Puglielli expertly uses swift camera moves to show the killer waiting in the shadows for the next victim,which really push the nerve-wrecking tension to the edge,as Puglielli subtly shows Amaldi's desperation in catching the killer,with a change in editing speed.Whilst their adaptation of Luca Di Fulvio's novel L'impagliatore does feature one or two noticeable flaws, (why would a hospital not have any CCTV?)the writers make them ones easy to overlook,thanks to building an intense Giallo,with each murder scene being made central to the case.Initially starting with 3 separate threads,the writers show an amazing precession in coiling them around each other,as Amaldi begins to fear that the identity of the killer may be linked to Ajaccio's fragile memory,as the killer makes things very personal,by setting his sights on reawakening Amaldi's tragic past.Desperate to track down the killer, Luigi Lo Cascio gives a fantastic performance as Ispettore Amaldi,thanks to Cascio showing the murders to cut straight to Amaldi's bones,with each dead body found allowing the demons of the past to grind Cascio down.Wrapping in nightmarish special effects, Simón Andreu gives a tense performance as Agente Ajaccio,with Andreu giving Ajaccio a real sense of desperation,as Ajaccio frantically tries to grip his fading memory,before he looks into the deadly eyes of crystal.

Eyes of Crystal is certainly a very welcome film. Good Giallo's are few and far between these days, and this is easily the best that I've seen since 2001's Sleepless, which in turn is the best since Argento made the fantastic 'Opera' back in 1987. The film isn't a lot like the Giallo's of the seventies (the golden period of the style), as the picture is largely glossy and clear and overall, the film is more character orientated than the murder fuelled classic Giallo structure; in fact, I'd say that this film is more like the hit thriller Seven than any film by Dario Argento or Sergio Martino. The plot has two main areas; firstly, it's a film about a police investigation into a series of murders, and secondly it's the story of the investigating officer wrestling with his conscience as he tries to solve the crimes. The plot starts off properly as a brutal triple murder is committed, and from there we follow the investigation into the murder, and see how the police pick up small clues to try and track the killer.Director Eros Puglielli injects his film with a slick sense of style as he directs the action through a number of different angles. The film features many scenes that really are beautiful; the favourite of mine being the sequence that sees the police enter a murder scene in the dark with torches. The music is less frantic than that seen in previous Giallo films, and tends to be of a more searing nature, which helps to elevate the film over and above the story of murder and policemen that it is. I have to say that the music does go over the top at times, but generally it fits the scene. The main problem with this film, however, stems from the plot. The murders are grisly and gruesome, but it becomes too obvious where it's all going too quickly, and the reason behind the killings is hardly original, and since it's also rather silly; it almost undoes all the hard work that has gone into the film up until the final twist is revealed. Giallo's have never been known for completely making sense and staying away from silly story lines - but Eyes of Crystal tries to go over and above the common tradition, and doesn't completely succeed. Even so, this is a quality thriller with good acting and fine direction which, when combined with the fact that this is the best Giallo in ages, means that Eyes of Crystal is well worth seeing.