Warning: This review contains spoilers!
In the must-have-been-Psycho-inspired Italian thriller, Il Terzo occhio (1966), Franco Nero is impossibly handsome. However, in only his ninth film out of an eventual 242 (and still counting) he doesn’t have the acting chops to portray the subtle creepiness of an Anthony Perkins. He either made a personal choice, or was coached by director Mino Guerrini, to take his performance over-the-top.
Nero portrays Mino Alberti, an aristocrat taxidermist (Psycho nod #1) with mommy issues (Psycho nod #2.) Ever since her husband died in a hunting accident, Mino’s mother, the countess (Olga Solbelli), and Mino have been inseparable. They even sleep in the same proximity, their single beds separated by mere inches. She’s not thrilled, then, when he brings home Laura (Erika Blanc) and plans to be married.
She’s so upset about it that she’d give anything for someone to get rid of her. An accident perhaps, she asks, raising her eyebrows and looking at Marta (Gioia Pascal), who grew up with the family on the estate and whose father also died in the hunting accident. Marta has a thing of her own for Mino and complies, cutting the brake line on Laura’s car. However, unexpectedly, a subsequent argument also causes her to kill the countess.
So, probably a third into the movie, our leading lady blonde is dead (Psycho nod #3) and Mino is left reeling without his mother. Family doctors and lawyers advise Marta to “be there” for him as he grieves. Then the fun starts. Mino brings beautiful young women home and, while they’re lying on the bed next to Laura’s preserved body, kills them (Psycho nods #4 and 5.)
Marta is aware of what’s happening in the supposedly closed wing of the house and blackmails Mino into marrying her in exchange for helping him dispose of the bodies and keeping his secret. How much more twisted can the story become? Well, then Laura’s twin, Daniela (also Erika Blanc), arrives, hoping to locate her sister (Psycho nod #6.) Now I’ll stop spoiling and let you discover what happens next.
Il Terzo occhio is not quite as compelling on screen as it is on paper. An ever-present, overbearing score by Francesco De Masi foreshadows the terror too often and too early. The movie has moments of dread and suspense, but Gierromo is no Hitchcock. Of the 27 films he directed, no others appear to be the same type of Gothic thriller. There are attempts at surprise, but too often they’re clunky.
However, co-writer Piero Regnoli should be a familiar name from the era, responsible for Lust of the Vampire (1957) and The Playgirls & the Vampire (1960.) Producers Luigi Carpentieri and Ermanno Donati were also involved with Lust of the Vampire, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), and The Ghost (1963.) There’s some cred, then, but it was also a prolific time for Italian film, not just horror.
Nitpicks aside, I enjoyed Il Tezzo occhio. I’d like to know more about it, so perhaps I’ll invest in the Arrow Video Blu-ray set, Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror, trusting that the commentary by Rachael Nisbet, video essay by Lindsay Hallam, and/or video interview with Erika Blanc will educate me. Its reputation scares me, but there’s also a 1979 remake by Joe D’Amato (Beyond the Darkness) that apparently emphasizes a necrophilia angle.
The Third Eye is available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video (see above.) I watched it streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Released in Italy on June 11, 1966, this year marks its 60th anniversary.
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