''Cold Eyes of Fear'' ( it, Gli occhi freddi della paura) is a 1971 Italian-Spanish thriller film directed by Enzo G. Castellari, starring Fernando Rey.

Plot

A handsome young playboy (Gianni Garko) picks up a pretty Italian girl (Giovanna Ralli) and brings her to his uncle's house for some fun. What he doesn't know is that two dangerous convicts are lying in wait at the house to avenge themselves on the young man's uncle (Fernando Rey), who was the judge who caused them to go to jail. The characters are all trapped together in the house for a very tense night, with the young playboy trying to figure out how to save his uncle from a bomb planted at his uncle's workplace.

Cast

Giovanna Ralli Giovanna Ralli, (born 2 January 1935), is an Italian stage, film and television actress. Life and career Born in Rome, Ralli debuted as a child actress at 7; at 13 she made her theatrical debut, entering the stage company of Peppino De Filip ...

: Anna * Frank Wolff: Arthur Welt * Fernando Rey: Juez Flower *

Gianni Garko Gianni Garko (born Giovanni Garcovich; 15 July 1935), often billed as John Garko and occasionally Gary Hudson, is an Italian actor who found fame as a leading man in 1960s Spaghetti Westerns. He is perhaps best known for his lead role as Sartana ...

: Peter Flower *

Julián Mateos Julián Mateos (15 January 1938 – 27 December 1996) was a Spanish actor and film producer. He appeared in 48 films and television shows between 1960 and 1980. He starred in the film ''The Robbers'', which was entered into the 12th Berlin I ...

: Quill *

Karin Schubert Karin Schubert (born 26 November 1944) is a German actress. She appeared in film roles since 1970 and became a pornographic actress in the 1980s. Cinema career Her early roles included the Spaghetti Western '' Compañeros'' (1970) and Gérard O ...

: Nightclub Actress

Production

The film was written by Enzo G. Castellari and Tito Carpi. Although Leo Anchóriz of Spain is credited as a co-writer, he didn't have anything to do with the script. His name appears solely for co-production laws that were required to establish the film as a dual-nationality production. Capri and Castellari wrote a film based on the idea of the entire film being set in an apartment, an idea influenced by the film ''

Wait Until Dark ''Wait Until Dark'' is a play by Frederick Knott, first performed on Broadway in 1966 and often revived since then. A Wait Until Dark (film), film version was released in 1967, and the play was published in the same year. Synopsis Susy Hendrix ...

''. Casterllari was also influenced by

William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the " New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in ...

's '' The Boys in the Band'' (1970) and borrowed plot elements from

William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), ''The Best Years of ...

's '' The Desperate Hours'' (1955). The film was originally intended for foreign audiences so Castellari and Carpi had their script translated into English by actor Frank Wolff's wife Alice. The film was shot at

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

in Rome and on location in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Castellari shot the film in sequence. During filming, Alice left Wolff. Wolff committed suicide a few months after production in December 1971 in his hotel room in Rome.

Release

''Cold Eyes of Fear'' was released in Italy on 6 April 1971, where it was distributed by Cineraid. It grossed a total of 197,089,000 lira domestically. It was released in Madrid Spain on 21 May 1972. It was also released as ''Desperate Moments''.

Reception

AllMovie described the film as a "cleverly crafted giallo-thriller", noting that the film appropriates "some of the form's penchant for cool production design and bizarre cinematography (one scene is shot through ice cubes in a glass)" and that a "kinky S&M stage show which, despite occurring at the start of the film, remains its most memorable sequence." The review concluded that "The rest of this loopy Italian-Spanish co-production isn't bad, however, crisply edited by Vincenzo Tomassi (who went on to edit many of Lucio Fulci's most popular horror films) and well scored by Ennio Morricone" Danny Shipka, author of ''Perverse Titilation'' a book about European exploitation films stated that the film appeared to be "designed to be a thriller that incorporated some giallo constructs when the subgenre became lucrative." The review concluded that audiences of either thrillers or gialli were probably disappointed with ''Cold Eyes of Fear'' and that "there are plenty of action-packed, gore-soaked gialli to watch, but this is not one of them."

Notes

References

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External links

* {{Enzo G. Castellari 1971 films Spanish thriller films Films directed by Enzo G. Castellari 1970s mystery thriller films Italian mystery thriller films Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films shot in Rome Films shot in London 1970s Italian-language films 1970s Italian films