Julia’s Eyes is a 2010 Spanish horror thriller film directed by Guillem Morales from a co-screenplay with Oriol Paulo. The movie was co-produced by Guillermo del Toro.
Plot:
Julia (Belén Rueda, The Orphanage) is a woman suffering from a degenerative sight disease who finds her blind sister Sara hung in her basement. Despite all signs pointing to suicide, Julia decides to investigate what she intuitively feels is a murder case.
Julia’s sight gradually deteriorates as she uncovers the terrifying truth about Sara’s death, and an invisible man with a mysterious link to Sarah begins to stalk her and leave a series of unexplained deaths in his trail…
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Reviews:
“Using blindness as a plot device, a metaphor for social awareness and as a numinous experience that romantically links minds, it’s a fascinating, broken-backed picture full of riveting twists and dubious psychology.” The Observer
“Although it’s a little too long and the heavy-handed soundscape is a deterrent in the early scenes, the film comes into its own, when the scenario becomes full-blown horror, jolting us into a dark and terrifying journey.” Urban Cinefile
” …like the figures at the periphery of Julia’s vision, the crucial details remain blurred and indistinct. Forcing us to share Julia’s narrowing field of view, Morales’s elaborately staged set-pieces, the script’s forensic attention to detail and Rueda’s emotionally charged acting focus the mind and grip the imagination. Then, suddenly, all semblance of credibility vanishes in a frenzy of fuzzy logic and melodramatic contrivance.” Time Out
“It may lack the slow build and socio-political layering of some other recent Spanish genre works, but if it’s unpretentious thrills you’re after and plenty of them, then Julia’s Eyes will fit the bill nicely.’ Cine Outsider
“It doesn’t suffer from a lack of vision but rather too much of it. Genuine scares and character investment gives way to staggeringly convoluted plotting and genre switching mayhem. One minute we are watching a blackly comic tale of love and murder, the next a trite drama complacently shooting for Oscar glory.” Love Horror
“On balance, the plot runs away with itself in style – the production design is drenched in suitably murky, lugubrious tones and the film’s neat visual trickery genuinely impels the viewer to contemplate the horror of a creeping loss of sight. Aura of camp melodrama, overblown score and even more overblown dialogue notwithstanding, Julia’s Eyes offers more to get your teeth into than your average Friday night horror-fare.” Film4
Cast and characters:
- Belén Rueda as Julia
- Lluís Homar as Isaac
- Clara Segura
- Julia Gutiérrez Caba
- Francesc Orella
- Pablo Derqui
- Joan Dalmau
- Hèctor Claramunt
- Daniel Grao
- Boris Ruiz
- Víctor Benjumea
- Carlos Fabregas
- Dani Codina as Enfermero
- Òscar Foronda
- Laura Barba
Trailer:
