The British mystery horror Eye of the Devil, initially called 13, is much more than just Sharon Tate’s feature film debut, as it was later often labeled, especially after her murder three years later. Based on Robin Estridge’s 1964 novel Day of the Arrow, directed by Cape Fear and The Guns of Navarone director J. Lee Thompson, with a screenplay written by Estridge himself with the help of Dennis Murphy, Eye of the Devil is a brilliantly atmospheric and tense horror film that makes your insides uncomfortable from the get-go. Lead by such stars as Deborah Kerr, David Niven and Donald Pleasence, it’s a very effective picture that foreshadows the arrival of classics like The Wicker Man and even Rosemary’s Baby.
When French vineyard owner is called to visit his family’s old castle due to another dry, fruitless season, he leaves Paris followed by his wife and children against his recommendations. His wife slowly realizes the employees of the castle are passionate followers of pagan rituals that require a bloody sacrifice in order to stop the drought, but as the clock is ticking and her husband gradually starts behaving more and more unusual, their situation at the heart of the idyllic countryside turns out to be, well, not idyllic at all and it might be too late to do anything about it. A great, unfairly overlooked piece of cinema.
In 1972 a neophyte Spanish media company created a rare platform for artists to explore classic genre imagery with a sophisticated cinematic sensibility.
After Peter Hyams made a successful TV movie called "Goodnight, My Love", producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler approached him with the desire of...
