Cold Eyes of Fear (1971) Poster

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6/10
Exciting though claustrophobic ¨Home invasion Giallo¨ being co-produced by Italy and Spain
ma-cortes30 January 2016
Moving and bleak Italian/Spanish film with high doses of violence and a lot of dialogue . This spooky picture about some criminals holding the couple hostage at home contains shocks , suspense , grisly killings and numerous creepy scenes . It is a passable home invasion thriller with noticeable flaws . It deals with a solicitor called Peter (Gianni Garco , famous Spaghetti actor as Sartana) , son of a respectable judge (Fernando Rey) , picks up Anna (Giovanna Ralli) , a prostitute from the club in which is shown a nude spectacle (performed by Karin Schubert as Nightclub Actress) and takes her back to his father 's place . The duo soon discover they are not alone , as a mugger called Quill (Julian Mateos), is waiting for them . Subsequently , there appears Arthur Welt (Frank Wolff who ulteriorly committed suicide) , the lead maniac disguised as a bobby , and things get worse . The couple is besieged and terrorized by the psycho-killer attackers and then look for some means to getaway .

Tension , suspense , and unsettling scenes when a couple is harassed by two dangerous criminals . "Cold Eyes of Fear" provides that mindless entertainment in spades, with a few head-scratches along the way. It displays relentless thriller , intrigue , shocks , hard-edged drama , plot twists , creepy images and some violence when crimes and fights takes place . The villains in this movie are a mixed bag , each of the burglars have their own agenda that we find out over the course of the movie through the use of flashbacks . This flawed film written by Leo Anchoriz , an ordinary secondary actor , packs thrilling and hair-raising frames , twists and turns . You can attempt to put all the pieces together at the final but you'll only end up confused and disappointed , it's not worth the effort . This violent story belongs to ¨Home invasion sub-genre¨ similarly to ¨Michael Hanake's Funny Games¨, ¨William Wyler's Desperate hours¨, ¨Michael Cimino's Desperate Hours¨and recently : ¨Miguel Angel Vivas's Kidnapped¨ as well as ¨Joel Schumacher's Trespass¨. The overall result is chilling proof that E. G. Castell can take us back into a luxurious mansion while delivering a completely different scare . While the look is suitable eerie and frightening , the plot spreads to the breaking point and the ending turns out to be a little frustrating . The cast is pretty well , as Frank Wolff's eccentric performance really adds to the gravity of the situation and makes for a gripping protagonist-antagonist dynamic . Gorgeous Giovanna Ralli as an Italian woman of dubious virtue , Ralli played classic films as ¨El General De La Rovere¨ , but also acted in Spaghetti as ¨The mercenary¨ and Giallos . And Julian Mateos , a famed Spanish actor , player in US Western as well as Spaghetti as ¨Hellbenders¨ , ¨Four rode out¨ , ¨Catlow¨ , ¨Shalako¨, ¨Return of seven magnificent¨ . Special mention for Fernando Rey as a prestigious judge , Rey was Luis Buñuel's usual actor and unforgettable in ¨French Connection I and II¨. Atmospheric cinematography by Antonio L. Ballesteros shot at Cinecitta and in London . Jazzy musical score by the great Ennio Morricone , including some rare and atonal sounds.

The picture produced by Jose Frade/Atlantida Films was professionally directed by Enzo Girolami Castellari , though has some flaws and gaps . Enzo is a craftsman whose father was filmmaker Marino Girolami and his brother Ennio Girolami . He had a lot of hit-smashes in the action cinema and Spaghetti . His first film was ¨Seven Winchester for a massacre¨ ; after the movie 's success, the same producers approached Castellari again to direct a Western ¨Jonny Hamlet¨ the next year, which he accepted . Enzo usually makes experimental editing techniques such as unbroken transitions from one scene to another and a cameo appearance in his films . Castellari often works with Guido and Maurizio De Angelis and uses to do slow motion shootouts and choreographic death scenes . Enzo is a good professional working in all kind of genres , but he made Western especially . His first one was ¨Some dollars for Django¨ co-directed by Leon Klimovsky , but actually , for the most part of its filming by the disagreements arising with Klimovsky was realized by Enzo G. Castellari, which this film was his directorial debut in a sub-genre that became one of its greatest representatives ; in fact if you compare the beginning of "7 Winchester for a massacre" which would direct the next year and the end this one seem to be similar direction . After that , he went on directing ¨ Johnny Hamlet¨ , ¨Kill them everybody and came back alone¨, ¨Tedeum¨ , ¨Cipolla colt¨ , ¨Go kill and come back¨, and the masterpiece : ¨Keoma¨ and finally its inferior sequel ¨Jonathan of the Bears¨ with Franco Nero . Some of them are serious , others are goofy and plenty of slapstick and slapdash . He also directed successful wartime movies as ¨Inglorious bastards ¨ , ¨Eagles over London¨ , Sci-Fi : ¨1990 : Bronx warriors¨ , "The New Barbarians: Warriors of the Wasteland" , "Escape from the Bronx" , Adventures : ¨Tuareg¨, ¨Adventures and loves of Scaramouche¨ , Simbad¨, "The Shark Hunter" and Poliziotteschi : "Day of the Cobra" , ¨Striker¨, ¨Heroin Busters¨. The pic will appeal to Eurocult fans and Italian-Spanish production enthusiasts.
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6/10
Ciao, geezers!
Bezenby10 November 2017
As far as I know this is Enzo Castellari's only venture into the giallo genre, and I'd also heard it wasn't that good. That's not true, and it's barely even a giallo, so maybe I should check my sources or just watch the film. Chocks away!

Sporting incredible sideburns, Gianni Garko is a posh solicitor who quite wisely spends his free time with strippers and hookers who on this occasion takes home an Italian lady. When I say home, I mean his rich uncle's home in a rich part of London. You know, the kind that has a butler in it and a driveway. The Italian lady is playing hard to get even though she's a hooker, and the discovery of the dead butler is a bad enough dampner on the proceedings, so sex totally goes out the window when a gun-toting cockney emerges from the gloom.

He's a kind of 'Alright Guvnor, knees ap Maaver Bhraaan' cockney type but his motivations are not quite clear. Adding to Gianni's woes is his uncle (Fernando Rey), who is a judge and keeps calling to harass him about case files. Fernando sends a policeman over to the house with some files, and while he's trying to whisper that he's being held hostage, the policeman punches him square in the face. Uh-oh! Looks like there's a doings-a-transpiring!

Turns out the copper is the head bad guy which isn't much of a surprise seeing as he's played by Frank Wolff. Frank's motivations aren't quite clear but he does mention quite early on that he's wired Fernando Rey's office to blow up the moment he opens his door, so now the game is on for Gianni to free himself and the hooker, get rid of Frank and his partner, and save Fernando in the nick of time. Either that or he can just have a lot of punch ups while the hooker plays mind games with the two of them.

As this is one of those films that could almost be a stage play in terms of limited set and characters, Enzo's usual hyperactivity makes sure that things don't get boring, so he throws in loads of jarring editing techniques, unusual camera angles (like filming Gianni through the bottom of a jug of icy water he's having his head forced into, or through those finger holes you used to get on telephones), loads of twists (even the cockney becomes unsure of Frank's motives), and an overly violent ending just to cap things off.

Although Fernando Rey shouts down the phone a lot and doesn't do much else, Frank and Gianni do well in their roles, with Frank constantly mocking Gianni's Eton and 'playing rugger', with Gianni alternating between snivelling wimp and stiff upper lip radge mentalness.

I've never seen an Enzo film I didn't like, so you might want to knock the praise in this review down a bit. Ennio Morricone's freeform jazz soundtrack is a winner too.
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6/10
Did Dick Van Dyke dub this?
Stevieboy66612 April 2021
Looking at the various artworks for this joint Spanish/Italian movie it is easy to assume that it is a traditional looking giallo, but in fact it is more of a tense home invasion thriller. The opening scene is pure giallo and there are certainly elements throughout the movie of that genre, but for the most part it is a suspenseful crime thriller, though towards the end one of the characters starts to get some scary hallucinations. The fact that it takes place at night also helps create some fear. Set in London I loved the street scenes, looked to my like it was probably done without permission as many passers-by can been seen looking at the action. Ennio Morricone provides an excellent soundtrack, very cool, and of all the cast Giovanna Ralli as a prostitute called Anna was my favourite character. However the movie is hardly a classic and the laughable "Cockney" accents of the two criminals, in particular of Quill (Julian Mateos), spoil any menace, I've docked it a couple of points for that. Could they not have employed somebody better to dub these two??

Overall, for fans of Italian crime and giallo movies it is definitely worth a watch, but maybe not a repeat.
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Very average Giallo with a few good moments.
Sultan of Horror5 August 2001
This is an average example of the Italian Giallo, the story set in London, switching between a solicitor's office and his stately house, which is occupied by his solicitor nephew and a prostitute.

The plot is fairly good, involving an elaborate revenge on the elder solicitor for a wrongful judgement some years earlier. This film has some good twists but is tense only at times. It seems to drag and much more could have been made of the frightful atmosphere in the house. Instead, we have over-used extreme close-ups and plenty of screaming and shouting.

Not a bad film by any means, but there are plenty better examples of the genre.
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7/10
Spanish, Italian co-production, set in London
christopher-underwood3 December 2005
Spanish, Italian co-production, set in London and already we are wondering if all will be well. We certainly get some strange accents and if this is giallo influenced, it is not drenched in the genre. What we don't get is lots of gore and nudity. On the plus side there is some Morricone soundtrack, great night shots of late 60's London and some unusually serious discussion of bribery and corruption in high places. Actually these suggestions of a totally corrupt judiciary might be references to Italy rather than England but hey.. There are some nice twists and if the piece is a little wordy it never stops being interesting as the characters change their stance and help to keep us on our toes. Meanwhile Fernando Rey spends the film sitting at his desk waiting for a bomb to go off, which it does and it doesn't!
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7/10
Weak Italian thriller
Red-Barracuda7 April 2007
This is one of the weakest Italian thrillers I've seen. It's a giallo/house-invasion hybrid but it doesn't really succeed in either genre. The film begins like a typical giallo with an opening credit sequence following a car through the streets of London to a Morricone soundtrack; this is followed by a textbook giallo stalk scene which, somewhat bizarrely, turns out to be a stage show. Up to this point the movie is perfectly serviceable but really, this is as good as it gets. The majority of the remainder of the film is about a lawyer and a prostitute who are held captive by a couple of bad guys. And, to be perfectly honest, they don't get up to anything very interesting.

Unlike other weak giallos, like Slaughter Hotel for example, this movie neither delivers much sleaze or is photographed particularly attractively. And the score, while being a stronger aspect of the film, is basically Morricone-by-numbers. However, there is some fun to be had with the ridiculous dubbing, which makes the actors appear that they cannot act for toffee; and the guy called Quill has a very very silly accent. No one in the U.K. talks like this trust me.

Overall, I'm not sure who I can recommend this to. Fans of giallos will find it too unsuspenseful and uninvolving and those who like house invasion movies will not find it anywhere sleazy enough. At best it offers a few laughs and some semi-inventive scenes. But really, it's not very good.
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4/10
Stylish Production but Boring Execution
acidburn-105 August 2022
'Cold Eyes of Fear' is a 1971 stylish giallo thriller directed by Enzo G. Castellari with a tense claustrophobic atmosphere, decent visual flair and an interesting set up with a few twists and turns thrown into the mix. But despite these elements the movie is a rather tepid affair with a sluggish pace and lacking in thrills. To put it mildly it's boring.

The plot begins with Peter Bedell (Gianni Garko) who picks up Anna (Giovanna Ralli) from a club and takes her back to his uncle's house. They soon discover they are not alone when Ex-Convict Arthur Welt (Frank Wolff) and his henchman Quill (Julian Mateos) are there waiting for them and takes them hostage to extract revenge on Peter's uncle Judge Bedell (Fernando Rey) for wrongfully sending one of them to jail.

What could have been a cool home invasion thriller soon becomes rather tedious with too much talking and exposition, and not enough excitement. Even when the action ramps up towards the end, with the plot twists and action, it's merely too little to late and despite some strong performances from the cast and stylish production, the movie falls flat with the director feeling confined by the limitations of the material as the concept wasn't half bad, it just could have done with better writing.

Overall 'Cold Eyes of Fear' is a rather lacklustre giallo and there's far better examples of the genre out there to enjoy. Skip this one.
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6/10
Okay Italian thriller.
HumanoidOfFlesh27 April 2005
Warning: Spoilers
"Cold Eyes of Fear" by Enzo G.Castellari is an Italian crime drama that has some giallo elements.A psychotic man takes a guy named Patrick(and his paid escort)hostage in his uncle's home.The guy doesn't really want Patrick and the girl-he's after Patrick's uncle,who is a corrupt judge.Eventually,Patrick gets a message to his uncle to call the cops.And when the cop arrives,we find that he's in on this plan as well."Cold Eyes of Fear" is pretty good.There is only a little bit of violence and sleaze,but the plot offers enough twists and turns to keep fans of Italian cult cinema entertained.The swing-jazz score by Ennio Morricone is brilliant,unfortunately "Cold Eyes of Fear" is relentlessly talky and dull in places.However if you are a fan of Italian giallos you can give it a look.6 out of 10.
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3/10
Cold Eyes...Wide Shut!
Coventry1 February 2006
Dull and truly disappointing early 70's Italian film that can never seem to decide whether it wants to be a typical giallo or an ordinary crime thriller. The opening is very promising, showing a girl assaulted by a man with a knife whose face we do not see, but that quickly turns out to be a totally unrelated theater performance and that REALLY upset me! The actual story of "Cold Eyes of Fear" revolves on the pampered nephew of an eminent judge who is, together with a random prostitute he picked up earlier, held hostage by two criminals in his uncle's giant villa. One of the crooks is out for vengeance against the corrupt judge and the other merely hopes to find money in the house. What follows is a totally uninteresting and overly talkative showdown between the two parties without not even the slightest bit of action or excitement. There's some very stylish and creative giallo-camera-work to admire, but the sub genre's most appealing characteristics (nudity, graphic violence, absurd plot-twists…) are regretfully neglected. Everybody else around here seems to love the jazzy music but I personally found it very annoying and it totally doesn't fit the tone of the film. It's definitely one of Ennio Morricone's worst scores ever. During the pretentious yet hilarious opening sequences, London is portrayed like a swinging city, in the trend of Las Vegas, with colorful billboards, casinos and wild nightclubs. What the hell was that all about? Enzo G. Castellari's directing is rather uninspired and he's no competition for other contemporary Italian filmmakers like Dario Argento, Mario Bava or Sergio Martino. He did return in the 80's with one of my favorite "Jaws" rip-offs, namely "The Last Shark".
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6/10
All's Well That End's Welt
ferbs5413 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The 1971 Italian/Spanish coproduction "Cold Eyes of Fear" is hardly a giallo (at least in the sense that I understand the term) and not even a horror movie; rather, it is a fairly tense hostage thriller with the bare minimum of nudity and bloodshed. In it, an ex-con named Arthur Welt (well named, as he sure is good at inflicting welts on others!), along with a Cockney goon named Quill, breaks into judge Fernando Rey's swank London mansion, holding the judge's solicitor nephew and his luscious Italian whore of the evening prisoners whilst they carry on their agenda. What ensues is an increasingly suspenseful and violent battle of wits and brawn between the four, leading to some surprises for the viewer as Welt's intentions become clear. In the role of Welt, Frank Wolff, who many may recall as the horny paterfamilias from the previous year's "Lickerish Quartet," is excellent, by turns urbane and a frothing madman. Julian Mateos as Quill is convincingly menacing, Giovanni Ralli as the feisty hooker is very fine, Gianni Garko as the young nephew is spot on, and Fernando Rey...well, he literally phones his role in. The picture has been terribly dubbed and features numerous scenes of unconvincing fisticuffs. The initial 20 minutes are pretty slow going, and will likely leave most viewers wondering just where this darn thing is going. Fortunately, the film does pick up nicely once the brutish Quill makes his initial appearance, and a discordant jazz score by the maestro, Ennio Morricone, helps us get over some of the duller patches. Director Enzo G. Castellari's work is pretty flashy here, and the film has been shot and edited for a fair amount of disorientation...including a few trippy fantasy sequences. In all, a reasonably gripping entertainment, and nicely presented on this Image DVD.
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1/10
ARGHHHH
Bobfingr2 October 2001
Never been more bored. There are plenty of italian films of that time which have more content, action, excitement and better acting. First of all the italian versions are always better. Those international english speaking edition always miss something and never almost match with the acting. In this movie, nothing happens. The woman is very irritating, it should probably show a very spoiled italian woman. Hum, don't really get very close to that. The "criminal" dudes are not as such. If you really want to see some good italian Thriller choose directors like Mario Bava and you will never waste either your time or your money. PS - If Castellani would have made a movie entirely dedicated to the actress Karin Shubert, wow that would have been much much better and enjoyable.
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8/10
A Sufficient Giallo
hae1340018 April 2003
An Eton-graduated lawyer, Peter Flower, meets an Italian prostitute, Anna, in a London nightclub, and goes to his uncle's house with her. But soon the house's butler, Hawking, is found dead, and a stranger named Quill shows himself with gun. And furthermore, the arrival of Arthur Welt sharpens the unstableness of the strange triangle of two men and one woman... I think this Italian-Spanish co-produced film, which is sometimes called cult one because of its eccentric visualisation of one character's confusion of fancy with reality, is not bad at all. It has no extraordinariness of the characters, but the each character he-or-her-self is the believable who wants to be concerned only with what he or she can assimilate to. And the story is not full of highly cinematic surprises but has something realistic and familiar, and it lacks the manifest combination of love and separateness but has of (in)security and class consciousness, and of learning and sexual warfare. Still one can point out the film has some over-stylised Italian cinema-graphical techniques and somehow stereotyped female character, Anna. Regarding the latter, one can think of various possibilities of the characteristic. For instance, it can be said Anna should not be a prostitute. If she is the lover or, in better setting, one of the lovers of Peter, then her influence upon him and/or his upon her can be much more complex and profound, and so forth. But the ongoing story of the film has cinematically advance hints, and even offhanded meeting of Anna and Peter, who are first and last strangers each other, has something latently important and therefore their otherness has its own meaning. The director/co-writer E.G.Castellari could do more than what really did, but what he did was, I think, cinematically sufficient.
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7/10
Effective suspense flick - but it's not a giallo
Leofwine_draca18 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This is often wrongly mislabelled as a giallo movie, thanks to the entirely gratuitous sex scene that opens the film. In it, a mysterious man (we never see his face) stalks a blonde woman (genre regular Karin Schubert) in her lingerie, gradually cutting off her clothing with a flick knife before he beds her. Anyone watching this will understandably think they're in for a sex-obsessed and entirely sleazy murder mystery, but then the camera pans back to reveal we're watching a show and the real film starts.

This is a hostage thriller, set in a single location as a couple of people are trapped in a house with two violent killers. The premise has been done over and over again (as in the Bruce Willis flick HOSTAGE) but that's because it's such a filmable premise and easy to get right. The good news is that this film is a success, largely thanks to direction from Enzo G. Castellari. This Italian director was one of the biggest names in action cinema and as a result we get a film chock full of tense stand offs and brutal fist-fights, along with the stylish camera-work we know and love from this director.

The script is intelligent and the various characters have believable machinations. Acting is spot on, with honours going to the American Frank Wolff as the shady copper who turns out to be the chief villain. Wolff brings equal parts humanity and equal parts villainy to his character and it's a barnstorming performance not to be trifled with. While Gianni Garko makes for an entirely unsympathetic hero – he's just too weedy and self-centred, the leading actress is easy on the eye and an equal force to be reckoned with. Heavyweight support is lent by the ever-good Fernando Rey and the film as a whole rips along, never boring or slow, always adding to the tension and suspense. The finale is perhaps unsurprisingly violent and brutal, but it works and provides a fitting coda to what is a very effective suspense flick.
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3/10
"Will you shut your bloody mouth." Boring, boring, boring.
poolandrews8 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura, or Cold Eyes of Fear as it's more commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, starts on a dark night in 70's London as lawyer Peter Flower (Gianni Garko) picks up a prostitute named Anna (Giovanna Ralli). Peter takes her back to his uncles house who happens to be the prominent & high powered Judge Juez (Fernando Rey). Once there Peter & Anna begin to get down to business but are rudely interrupted by a gunman named Quill (Julian Mateos) whom has already shot Hawkins the servant. Quill holds them both at gunpoint until his accomplice arrives, Arthur Welt (Frank Wolff). The whole situation leads back to Judge Juez but is this as simple a case of revenge as it first appears? Unfortunately it's really not worth watching to find out...

This Spanish & Italian co-production was co-written & directed by Enzo G. Castellari & in my humble opinion is a really boring film. The script by Castellari, Tito Carpi & Leo Anchoriz starts off quite well with the initial plot set-up but once Welt makes an appearance it slows down to an absolute snails pace & becomes as dull as dishwater as it's just annoying character's spouting inane badly dubbed dialogue. Anna really got on my nerves, she keeps on facing up to the gunmen & telling them to kill them, excuse me love but these guys are murderers & have guns. I mean squaring up & provoking them really isn't the way to make it out alive, is it? I'd have shot her for just being so irritating. The final 'twist' revelations are far from surprising & in fact are quite obvious. I must admit I found some of the cockney dialogue rather amusing. Am I the only one who thinks Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura resembles The House on the Edge of the Park (1980)? The two are extremely similar in tone except that The House on the Edge of the Park is far more explicit.

Director Castellari gives the film a nice visual look throughout & during the scenes in London it really captures the era. Unfortunately the film has zero tension, scares, atmosphere, shocks or surprises. The violence is virtually non existent, there's a fight at the end with some blood but apart from that forget it.

Technically the film is well made & has a nice look & feel throughout with detailed production design. The acting wasn't up to much especially the two gunmen who were, in my humble opinion, awful.

Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura had potential & starts out pretty good but goes absolutely nowhere. Very tame, very boring & very disappointing Euro sleaze, there are so many better films out there. One more thing, am I alone in thinking that this shouldn't be described as a Giallo? Giallo's are murder mysteries & Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura has neither murder or mystery...
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Good, but not great giallo.
Infofreak7 October 2002
'Cold Eyes Of Fear' starts off well enough. Against a backdrop of Swingin' 60s London a young playboy type "steals" a beautiful Italian girl from her elderly date and suggests she comes back to his place for some good times. "His place" being owned by his father, a rich and respected solicitor. Unfortunately a couple of criminals have plans of their own, one for money, the other for revenge, and the lovers end up prisoners in a tense siege situation. So far so good. The problem is that you keep waiting for the movie to jump up a notch and it never does. Most giallo I have watched either feature some tasty violence or sex, have some amazing plot twists, or something else really spectacular about them, but 'Cold Eyes Of Fear' just ambles along, and stays on course as a reasonably entertaining thriller, no more, no less. The cast are all okay, the girl (Karin Schubert) is beautiful, and the solicitor is played by the legendary Fernando Rey, best known for his work with Bunuel. The best thing by far about the movie is Morricone's outstanding jazz rock score. If you don't expect much this is pretty good entertainment, but if you want to see some amazing examples of this genre try 'Tenebre' (Argento), 'Don't Torture A Duckling' (Fulci) or 'Autopsy'.
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7/10
Not bad, although I wouldn't consider it a "giallo" at all.
Hey_Sweden7 November 2023
"Cold Eyes of Fear" is a good, solid thriller from that genre we now know of as the "home invasion" movie. A young solicitor (Gianni Garko) brings a new acquaintance (Giovanna Ralli) to his uncles' home for a tryst. They arrive only to be accosted by criminals who are slow to make their true intentions known.

"Cold Eyes of Fear" was an early effort for the young Enzo G. Castellari, who, over the decades, has given us many entertaining films in a variety of genres. Here, he utilizes a theme of illusion / deception (especially in the clever opening sequence). He also favors lots of zooms and close-ups. While the story doesn't really hold up to much scrutiny, the filmmaker holds your attention and generates some terrific suspense for the final act. He also delivers a good twist a third of the way through. His use of the striking Ennio Morricone soundtrack is sparing - indeed, even some of the action & suspense scenes play out without music.

The cast is fine; also appearing are Frank Wolff (a definite standout), Fernando Rey (as the solicitors' uncle, a respected judge), Julian Mateos, and Karin Schubert. The sexy Ralli is enjoyably feisty as a young woman who won't let the bad guys intimidate her.

Castellari may have outdone this film for sheer entertainment value with some of his subsequent efforts, but this is still a decent thriller worth a look for fans of his work.

Seven out of 10.
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7/10
Isolated terror.
parry_na25 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This above-average giallo is set in London, and is so 1970's in style, you could spread it on your bloomin' toast. Ice cold and steeped in thick fog, the various travelogues through the capital city are incredibly evocative. Director Enzo G. Castellari clearly has an eye for the period and makes the most of it; only the warmly furnished interiors, filmed in Rome and Madrid, break the illusion, but are no less picturesque. A screeching, twisting soundtrack from Ennio Morricone coats the visuals with a pervading sense of dread.

This is an intimate piece, with a small cast and one main location. It works well because of this: I'm a big fan of 'world within a world' stories, and we have a nice - maybe nice is the wrong word - sense of isolated terror beyond the radar of the chilly, decent, outside world.
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5/10
Answer him before he does it in his pants.
lastliberal27 May 2009
Maybe more of a crime thriller than true Giallo. I am really not sure how this got into my queue unless I was looking for Ennio Morricone's music. At least it had a flashy intro that puts Elvira to shame.

If nothing else, the movie starts with a great nightclub show featuring Karin Schubert. Almost worth the price of admission itself.

After the show, Peter (Gianni Garko) snatches Anna (Giovanna Ralli) from her date and takes her home where an intruder (Julián Mateos) is determined to spoil his evening.

It's all about Arthur Welt (Frank Wolff) and his search for evidence that will exonerate him. There is little action and a whole lot of talking.
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6/10
One of the most boring Giallo's ever made!
The_Void22 March 2007
Everything I'd read about this film prior to seeing it pointed to it being rubbish, but after reading the plot description; I figured that it might actually be OK. However, I was wrong. The plot sounds like Cold Eyes of Fear could be a gritty cross between the Giallo and the slew of 'house' films (e.g. House on the Edge of the Park, The Last House on the Beach) whereby criminal(s) take innocents hostage inside their home. It sort of is a cross between these genres; but it's so damned boring that any positives that may have come from this are instantly sucked away. The film takes place in London, which is unfortunate as it means that we're 'treated' to a load of phoney British accents. It really annoys me that some people actually think we talk like this! Anyway, the plot focuses on Peter; a young man who picks up an Italian hooker and takes her back to his place. However, they arrive to find a criminal in wait for them. Peter's father, a judge, then sends a copper to sort the situation; but the man who turns up is an impostor, hell-bent on revenge...

The film actually gets off to a good start...but that then turns out to be a stage show, and that pretty much sums the entire film up. Other directors have proved many times that the Giallo can be wholly entertaining, despite the often rubbish plots; but Castellari shows here that they can be really boring too! It's a shame really, as the director has proved himself to me with a trio of great crime films (The Big Racket, Street Law and The Heroin Busters), as well as one of the best Jaws rip offs in the form of The Last Shark - but the man obviously can't handle Giallo. It's strange that a man with such a penchant for violent action would make a film so boring, and perhaps one of the reason why it is so boring is that a lot of the main 'action' focuses on talking, and Castellari is obviously better suited to shooting car chases and fist fights. The acting is as crap as you would expect, and this isn't helped at all by the awful dubbing. Not even Morricone's score is up to much. Overall, don't bother with this one - there are FAR better Giallo's out there!
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7/10
Above-average giallo.
gridoon24 June 2002
Pretty good little thriller, with many tense situations, an interesting plot, and gimmicky, stylish direction (lots of zooms!) by Enzo Castellari. Probably the main reason that this film isn't so well-received is that it wasn't directed by a "specialist" of the genre like Dario Argento, but if you compare it objectively with, say, the following year's "Four Flies On Grey Velvet", it's far less boring! (**1/2)
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6/10
Great direction and music
BandSAboutMovies5 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Nearly every Italian exploitation director tried their hands at the giallo, but Enzo G. Castellari is probably better known for making seven movies with Franco Nero (High Crime; Street Law; Cry, Onion!; Keoma; The Shark Hunter; Day of the Cobra and Jonathan of the Bears) as well as The Inglorious Bastards, House by the Edge of the Lake, The Last Shark and a trilogy of outstanding armageddon films: 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Escape from the Bronx and The New Barbarians.

This would be his only giallo, written with Tito Carpi after being inspired by the all-in-one-apartment feel of Wait Until Dark as well as The Boys in the Band and The Desperate Hours, which explains its alternate title Desperate Moments.

When Peter Flower (Gianni Garko, Sartana in my mind forever) picks up the gorgeous Anna (Giovanna Ralli, What Have They Done to Your Daughters?) -- or maybe hires her? -- and takes her back to his uncle Juez's (Fernando Rey) house. He doesn't realize that Arthur Welt (Frank Wolff) and Quill (Julián Mateos) have been stalking the house, as the uncle was the judge who sent them all to jail.

An American star who stayed in Europe to act in tons of movies -- thanks to the advice of Roger Corman -- Wolff would sadly kill himself weeks after finishing this film. His wife wrote the American dialogue, as this was filmed for foreign audiences, but then she left him. He was clinically depressed; she found another man; he found a younger women who supposedly didn't return his affection. He literally cut his carotid artery with two razors. He was in tons of great movies -- Once Upon a Time In the West, Carnal Circuit, Death Walks On High Heels -- and it makes seeing him in this quite sad.

Welt dresses as a cop and continually tells Peter that they are both above Anna and Quill. After all, they both drink J&B, right? That makes them a higher class. By the end of the movie, he's totally unhinged and that makes sense, as his wife left him during the shooting and he never recovered.

This starts with a scene that seems giallo -- a gorgeous woman is menaced with a switchblade -- but that's the first plot twist as this is simply an S&M show. It also has full on jazz freakout music by Ennio Morricone and Castellari pulling off insane things like shooting scenes through glasses of ice. It slows down for some parts, but the sum is greater than the parts, so I ended up really being entertained.
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less than amazing giallo -- but a great soundtrack!
Matt Moses20 May 2001
By no means the best giallo I've seen, this Enzo Castellari tale of ___ drags horribly and maintains little suspense. Set in Swinging London (but filmed primarily in Rome), the movie finds young lawyer Gianni Garko about to seduce prostitute Giovanna Ralli at his swank house. They stumble upon the butler's dead body, undoubtedly a victim of temperate ruffian Julián Mateos, who then terrorizes the couple with his gun and leather suit. Judge Fernando Rey, who keep a cat on his desk, calls nephew Garko to ask for legal assistance and sends constable Frank Wolff over with a missive. The sleazy couple assumes the cop to be a deus ex machine, but he proves to be in on the racket. After sending Rey a secret plea for help (in Latin no less), our hopeful gets haughty and gives the sneering tough guy a good pounding. While Ralli fails to seduce Mateos with a shower, Rey puzzles out the message and sends some genuine although ineffectual police. Some may wonder what will happen to the unlovable couple besieged by this complicated plot; others may not. Castellari fills Cold Eyes with similarly absurd post-nouvelle vague editing, and I suspect this was a strictly commissioned affair for the veteran writer, producer and actor who can claim over 40 films to his credit. His failure as director really displays itself in the overdone, montage-heavy finale. Despite its lack of flesh and gore, Cold Eyes is shockingly exploitative. Wolff murders a policeman in flashback during a gratuitously cruel story diversion, only to illustrate his already obviously violent side. The violence throughout comes off as unnecessarily brutal, as well as distinctly European in flavor. None of the male characters treat the unimpressive prostitute much like a human, her unsurprised response perhaps suggesting they're correct to do so. Easily the best part of the movie is Ennio Morricone's amazing score, would fit better in a well-paced environment. If you want to see a decent film with Rey, who doesn't actually appear in shot with any of the main cast and probably only showed up for a day's worth of filming, check out the same year's French Connection.
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A "deadly game of cat-and-mouse" between a court solicitor and two criminals seeking revenge.
Doug-487 October 1998
A court solicitor's evening with a prostitute takes a turn for the worse when a pair of hardened criminals show up at the home of said solicitor's uncle, a judge who unfairly convicted one of them years before. Tensions mount as the victims try to turn their captors against one another and save the judge's life, as well as their own.
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Home Insecurity...
azathothpwiggins17 August 2021
In COLD EYES OF FEAR, Anna (Giovanna Ralli) is enjoying an evening with her "date", when they are interrupted by a pair of desperate, violent criminals. These crooks are looking for something, and will stop at nothing to find it.

This giallo is somewhat different from most, and tends to bog down quite a bit during the middle section, though it does recover well in the end. Ms. Ralli's character is the real reason to watch this movie. She's bold, brave, and resourceful. Anna proves to be a formidable "hostage" for her captors...
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