Hidden Gem

Reviewed by MrB, 2010-01-16

Donald Cammell, the brains behind 'Performance' and 'Tilt', was a talented Brit maverick and a very square peg in Hollywood's round A-hole. Moving to LA after the success of 'Performance', a one off indy style movie for whom Nic Roeg has historically taken the lion's share of the credit, Cammell naivley stumbled around the studios corridors of power pissing the establishment off. It is remarkable that they even gave a Green Light to his 'White of the Eye' project. The result is a remarkable film - made despite constant interference by nitwit exec producers from the studio who, having deigned to let him have the keys to the toy chest then seemed intent on breaking Cammell's spirit. Harassed and ostracized by the Los Angeles 'Film' community, the ignoramuses eventually succeeded when in 1996 Cammell took his own life. What a loss to us all who love films other than the lamentable trash that those same nitwits love to serve up to us! That same LA attitude probably explains why this movie has failed to drag itself clear of the lawyers and secure a much deserved DVD release.

1987

Reviewed by S. Blau, 2008-10-03

I saw this movie in 1987 and then in 1994, i gave it to someone because it's just too violent, but it's a good movie.

Argento in the Desert

Reviewed by Nathaniel, 2007-02-11

Given limited release over here in the 80's it always stuck in my mind and on revisiting this recently I was struck by how much it resembled an Americam take on Argento which is good enough for me. Hard to find this was a Dutch release and though the killers identity is known early on it still has a terrific power and captures something with it's flashbacks and portrail of the heat in it's desert locale.
Good and nasty in places, again it doesn't fall back on jokes to relieve the tension....well worth a look.

Curiously addictive Eighties movie that is so not Eighties

Reviewed by Gary, 2006-08-28

*SPOILERS*

This is the best bad movie in my collection. That's not to say it isn't a hundred per cent worth owning. Its nearest antecedent is Roeg's 'Bad Timing', although lacking his discipline. It is a kick in the pants to the corporate blandness of Hollywood thrillers with their identical plinking piano. Made by a Brit, class conflict is an inevitable theme as a married couple, both from the wrong side of the tracks, discover that a hitherto unspoken and possibly unrealised part of their alliance, their jaundiced view of rich women, will unexpectedly tear them apart.

Unfortunately, the plot is also boneheaded. For instance, the killer knocking out his victim by picking her up, turning her upsidedown and hitting her head on the bathroom carpet. Er, right. Slamming her head against the wall I'd believe. Also, a man is shot between the eyes with a humungous machine gun for half a minute without letting go of the machine-gunner's foot. The deus ex machina final re-appearance of Mike Desantos and the explanation given instantly kills your belief in the story. Suspence is dissipated in favour of a puzzling burlesque between two paramours who are both mad as hatters and dressed to prove it. Pathetic losers are not scary and the film collapses, ruining the climax.

The Dutch DVD is murkier than my VHS version. The sound spec of 2.0 I'm almost certain is a 5.1 and is the best part about the disk.


White of the Eye could have been a masterpiece but merely adds to the list of flawed cult films clogging up one's shelf.

Cult Director Lays an Egg

Reviewed by JD Schaefer, 2002-01-21

This bizarre slasher movie tells the story of David Keith, a stereo systems expert working in the Tucson area. Through flashbacks (Keith's hair is longer and darker otherwise we wouldn't know it's a flashback) we learn how he met his current wife and her boyfriend Alan Rosenberg (well before he became Cybil's ex-husband) as they traveled across country. Rosenberg leaves without her and in the second half of the movie, he turns up apparently to become a potential suspect in the murder mystery of women being ritualistically killed.

This movie tries to be a lot more than it is. While I enjoyed "Performance" with Mick Jagger, this movie fails at whatever it tries to accomplish. There are lots of subtexts to the story that go nowhere. The marriage of David Keith and Cathy Moriarty is not a happy one. She is unlikeable and just reacts without considering the outcome of her actions.

The movie has no apparent continuity. It jumps all over the place. The acting by the cops is atrocious. David Keith and Cathy Moriarty do a creditable job.

Since the director committed suicide in 1996, his movie total is small and this one might be viewed by those who consider themselves completists. Othrwise it might appeal as a slasher movie with the predictable suspense that genre occasionally provides.

I can't recommend this movie nor can I think of a reason to see it again.