This stunning supernatural thriller is almost too clever for its own good.
Cast: Belén Rueda, Lluds Homar, Clara Segura, Julia Gutiérrez Caba, Francesc Orella, Pablo Derqui, Joan Dalmau, Hèctor Claramunt, Daniel Grao, Boris Ruiz, Victor Benjumea, Carlos Fabregas, Laura Barba.
Rating: (R16)
Four stars (out of five)
Soaked in creeping dread from the first flickering frames, every cliched horror trope seems to be present. But this isn't Hollywood.
No, Julia's Eyes is very European and refreshing for it.
Twin sisters Sara and Julia (Belén Rueda), are both rapidly losing their eyesight from a rare medical condition.
When Sara is discovered hanging from a rafter in her basement, it's widely accepted that she must have acted out of desperation; an explanation that doesn't wash with Julia.
After a bit of digging into Sara's recent activity, Julia suspects foul play.
The thing is, we have already been primed to expect nothing less.
Promoted as a partial-Guillermo del Toro production, Julia's Eyes relies a lot less on visual trickery than most contemporary horror films.
Director Guillem Morales clearly has an innate sense of Hitchcockian deception, using great camera work to tease his audience.
Rueda brilliantly harnesses the fear that her character fights, embodying the tortured isolation that the onset of blindness brings.
Quite why Julia would choose to recover from an eye operation in a haunted house is a moot point. Though, when the loose threads start to come together and Julia's eyes focus, the truth may not be quite as scary as the imagined - or is it?
Best Thing: The eerie colour palette.
Worst thing: A few too many horror film cliches.
See it with: Someone not easily spooked.
- Mark Orton
