Wheelchair-bound writer Ivano (Fernando Rey) and his sexy partner Olga (Olga Bisera) rent out an apartment to a mysterious young man, Arturo (John Phillip Law), unaware that he is a self-destructive weirdo with sexually violent tendencies. Fascinated by his new tenant, who he believes might be able to inspire his creativity, Ivano begins spying on him via a high-tech piece of surveillance equipment with a periscope and lots of knobs and dials on it. In an effort to learn more about his subject, the voyeuristic cripple convinces Olga to get closer to Arturo, a move that has tragic consequences.
Despite a suitably provocative title and a typically disturbing opening scene involving the rape and murder of a woman on a train, Eyes Behind The Wall is far from standard giallo fare, eschewing the classic ingredients of stylised violence and convoluted mystery in favour of the perverse and truly bizarre. There's not one character in the whole film who isn't warped in some way, making this a whole lot of demented fun even though the plot as a whole is lacking in substance.
Arturo likes to let his balls hang free by exercising in the nude, and despite being a killer rapist with a keen eye for an attractive lady, allows himself to be savagely buggered by a big black disco dancer; Ivano and Olga share a secret far more shocking than their love of voyeurism; and butler Ottavio (José Quaglio) keeps a life-size print of Olga in his wardrobe (which he has dressed in her underwear), spies on her in the bath, sniffs her pubic hair, but takes out his frustration on local teenage girl Lucilia. As Olga gets to know Arturo better, she develops feeling for him, resulting in three bouts of frantic lovemaking in one night, while Ivano watches through his periscope.
The film ends in a fittingly weird and rather abrupt fashion, Arturo committing suicide by setting fire to the car he is in, with Olga also going up in flames as she tries to stop him.
I rate Eyes Behind The Wall 6/10 for being so bloody strange from start to finish, and add a bonus point for the hilarious scene in which the big black disco dude struts his stuff with a tarty blonde in hot-pants, who proceeds to get completely starkers in front of an appreciative crowd.
Despite a suitably provocative title and a typically disturbing opening scene involving the rape and murder of a woman on a train, Eyes Behind The Wall is far from standard giallo fare, eschewing the classic ingredients of stylised violence and convoluted mystery in favour of the perverse and truly bizarre. There's not one character in the whole film who isn't warped in some way, making this a whole lot of demented fun even though the plot as a whole is lacking in substance.
Arturo likes to let his balls hang free by exercising in the nude, and despite being a killer rapist with a keen eye for an attractive lady, allows himself to be savagely buggered by a big black disco dancer; Ivano and Olga share a secret far more shocking than their love of voyeurism; and butler Ottavio (José Quaglio) keeps a life-size print of Olga in his wardrobe (which he has dressed in her underwear), spies on her in the bath, sniffs her pubic hair, but takes out his frustration on local teenage girl Lucilia. As Olga gets to know Arturo better, she develops feeling for him, resulting in three bouts of frantic lovemaking in one night, while Ivano watches through his periscope.
The film ends in a fittingly weird and rather abrupt fashion, Arturo committing suicide by setting fire to the car he is in, with Olga also going up in flames as she tries to stop him.
I rate Eyes Behind The Wall 6/10 for being so bloody strange from start to finish, and add a bonus point for the hilarious scene in which the big black disco dude struts his stuff with a tarty blonde in hot-pants, who proceeds to get completely starkers in front of an appreciative crowd.