''The Third Eye'' ( it, Il terzo occhio) is a 1966 Italian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

. It was directed by

Mino Guerrini Mino Guerrini (16 December 1927 – 10 January 1990) was an Italian director, screenwriter, journalist, actor and painter. Biography Born in Rome as Giacomo Guerrini, Guerrini entered the cinema industry in 1954 as screenwriter in Marcello Pagli ...

and stars

Franco Nero Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...

, Gioia Pascal and

Erika Blanc Enrica Bianchi Colombatto (born 23 July 1942), usually known by her stagename of Erika Blanc, is an Italian actress. Career Her most notable role was as the first fictional character Emmanuelle in '' Io, Emmanuelle'' (1969). Blanc starred in se ...

. A young count, who lives with his domineering, jealous mother, begins on a downward spiral into madness after his fiancée dies in a car accident. This was one of Franco Nero's earliest films, before he achieved stardom in the spaghetti western genre. Erika Blanc plays a dual role in the film, portraying both the Count's dead fiancée Laura, as well as Laura's twin sister Daniela.

Joe D'Amato Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres (westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...

remade the film as 1979's '' Beyond the Darkness''.

Plot

Mino, a wealthy count/ taxidermist living under the thumb of his domineering mother, decides to marry his fiancée Laura, a decision that infuriates not only his jealous mother, but their plotting maid Marta, who has desires of marrying the count someday herself. Before Laura goes out for a drive, Marta sabotages her car's brakes and the poor woman is killed when her car plunges off a cliff. Mino, who was following her in his car, witnesses the accident and salvages his fiancée's corpse from the wreckage, leaving the car in a lake. He works on her in his taxidermy lab, stuffing her like one of his birds, and puts her in their marital bed. Meanwhile, Marta has gotten rid of Mino's mother by shoving her down a flight of stairs. Soon after, Mino begins bringing prostitutes to his mansion, where he makes love to them in the same bed in which he keeps his fiancée's stuffed corpse. When the girls see the body and begin screaming, he strangles them to death. Marta discovers the murders and offers to help him dispose of the bodies in acid, if he agrees to marry her and make her the countess. Everything seems to be going her way until Laura's twin sister Daniela shows up at the estate, trying to find out if her sister's body was ever dredged out of the lake by the police. When Mino sees Daniela, his mind snaps and he thinks it is Laura, returned from the dead. He breaks his deal with Marta and tells her to pack her bags and leave the mansion, so that he and Daniela can be married. Marta tries to stab Daniela that night with a huge butcher knife, but Mino intervenes and stabs Marta repeatedly in a gruesome scene that is heavily edited in the Italian release prints. Leaving Marta for dead, Mino kidnaps Daniela and drives out into the country with her, ranting like a lunatic as they drive. But Marta's not dead, and she manages to drag her blood-spattered body to the phone to call the authorities. Before she dies, she alerts the police to the kidnapping, and a manhunt begins to capture Mino before he can harm Daniela.

Cast

as Mino * Gioia Pascal as Marta *

as Laura / Daniela *

Olga Solbelli Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russ ...

as Mino's mother * Marina Morgan as Woman in the Nightclub

Production

The story of the film came from producer Ermanno Donati who is credited under the pen name Phil Young. The film's credits state the plot is based on famed serial killer

Gilles de Rais Gilles de Rais (c. 1405 – 26 October 1440), Baron de Rais (), was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his reputation and later convi ...

but this is fictional. The film was originally titled ''Il freddo bacio della morte'' (), a title that appeared on the French release prints only. It went into production in June 1965. The film was shot at the

Villa Parisi Villa Parisi - Borghese is a villa in Frascati, now in Monte Porzio Catone municipal territory, Italy. Description and history Villa Parisi was built between 1604 and 1605 by Mons. Fernando Taverna. In 1615 it was acquired by Cardinal Scipione ...

Release

''The Third Eye'' came into trouble with censors in Italy on its release. On February 28, 1966 the film was rejected as it was considered to be "contrary to the public moral". The rejection also noted that "In addition many scenes of almost full female nudity and excessively graphic intercourses, the film features episodes of necrophilia, close-ups of horrific scenes with blood and brutal violence, presented with real sadism and a protracted insistence which conveys a sense of complacency by part of the makers". The film was later distributed in Italy by Medusa and released on June 11, 1966. It grossed a total of 72 million

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

References

;Notes ;Sources * *

External links