Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

It is a performances centric movie

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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.

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.

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!

"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.