Serbia, 2023)

This is the stage in the month where I start flagging and wondering why the hell I decided to write all these reviews. It happens every year. And after the disappointments of the past couple of days, I desperately needed a lift. So when DeviantKraken, one of the moderators on the Good Friends Discord server, mentioned that Eight Eyes was a hidden gem, I shuffled stuff around to fit it in. Its combination of seventies-style sleaze and psychedelia sounded like just my kind of thing. Nothing counters ennui quite like sleaze.

Eight Eyes is currently streaming on Shudder in the UK.

Synopsis

Cass and Gav, newlyweds from the USA, are on honeymoon in Serbia. Gav is a cine enthusiast, who shoots super 8 footage everywhere they go. Cass is having problems with her vision, seeing flashing lights all around her. This escalates to her hearing voices as well, which seems like more than your average migraine.

After crashing a wedding in Belgrade, the couple later bump into one of the guests while sightseeing. Ivan, who calls himself “St Peter”, is friendly but a bit pushy, determined to play the part of local guide. When he follows them onto a sleeper train, Cass is irritated, but Gav cheerfully gets drunk with him. St Peter suggests they get off the train early, so he can show them around his home town, just over the border in Macedonia.

From here, St Peter grows steadily more manipulative, setting Cass and Gav against each other, isolating them, and generally messing with their heads. Meanwhile, Cass’s visions are growing stranger and more insistent. But what is all this building towards? Is St Peter just some kind of sadist, playing games for his own amusement? Or is he trying to recruit them into something altogether weirder? Maybe a visit with his family can answer these questions.

General Thoughts

While it is set in the present day, Eight Eyes is made to look like a horror film from the seventies. From being shot on film to the psychedelically analogue visual effects to its throwback soundtrack, it absolutely nails the feel of its exploitation movie influences, right down to scratches and defects on the print.

It was interesting watching this so soon after Speak No Evil. While they are very different films, they both involve superficially friendly hosts slowly manipulating their guests, leading them somewhere terrible. Like the hosts in Speak No Evil, St Peter uses his guests’ politeness against them, but he also preys upon their adventurousness, hedonism, and Gav’s general obliviousness. He is perhaps a more effective predator, but Cass is harder prey than the family in Speak No Evil.

Verdict

Eight Eyes is just what I needed. It’s weird, violent, and aggressively retro. So much about it feels like the delirious horror videos I gorged on as a teenager, only tightened up and made with more skill. There is a griminess to the best horror from the seventies that you rarely see anymore, but Eight Eyes captures it perfectly. This is a film that will make you feel unclean.

If I have a complaint, it’s that Eight Eyes takes just a little too long to get to the good bits. The final act is glorious, like a trippy mash-up of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Videodrome, but the journey there is more mundane. There are still some fantastically creepy moments, and the film is never dull, but the final act is a profound step up in almost every respect.

Eight Eyes is another strong contender for film of the month. If you’re in the mood for something that tickles your nostalgia glands while making you want to bathe in bleach, Eight Eyes deserves your attention.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.