Geeky and bespectacled mama's boy orderly John Pressman (an excellent performance by Michael Lerner) is hypnotized by his evil and domineering mother Alice (a deliciously creepy portrayal by Zelda Rubinstein of "Poltergeist" fame) to embark on a vicious killing spree and pluck out the eyes of his victims. Meanwhile, the audience watching this gruesome picture in a movie theater are terrorized by another deranged maniac (a frighteningly intense turn by Angel Jove) with similar mommy issues. Writer/director Bigas Luna makes crafty and inspired use of the nifty film-with-a-film premise (at one point Pressman goes into a theater to bump off patrons just as the other lunatic in the theater begins doing the same thing!),does a bang-up job of creating and sustaining a tense, freaky, and unnerving atmosphere, and stages several of the effectively bloody and brutal murder set pieces with real flair and style (the graphic moments of gory eyeball violence are very nasty and nauseating). Moreover, this film culminates in a positively nerve-wracking last third as all hell erupts in the theater and concludes with a truly unsettling ambiguous open ending. Better still, this movie even works as an interesting, intelligent, and provocative meditation on the slippery, subliminal, and manipulative nature of cinema itself. Both Joseph M. Civit's lush widescreen cinematography and Jose Manuel Pagan's spirited shuddery score further enhance the overall fine quality of this highly recommended cult favorite.

I have just watched "Angustia" for the fourth or fifth time, now on DVD, and I do not get tired of this original, bizarre and surrealistic cult-movie, very underrated in IMDb. I am a fan of Bigas Lune, and in my opinion "Angustia" is his masterpiece. The story is simple, but tense, with a soundtrack that recalls Dario Argento's movies. Michael Lerner, in the role of the mad ophthalmologist; Talia Paul, in the role of a scared viewer that becomes impressed with the film she is watching on the screen; and Ángel Jovè, in the role of a lunatic killer, are perfect. Zelda Rubinstein, with her weird tune of voice, completes the lead cast of this gem with a great performance. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Os Olhos da Cidade São Meus" ("The Eyes of the City Are Mine")

This creepy motion picture ingeniously realized exploring the hypnotic effects of cinema talks about a timid eye clinic intern (Michael Lerner, Omen 4) under the sway of his psychic and authoritarian mother (Zelda Rubinstein, Poltergeister). Hypnotized by swirling spirals and screechy bursts of gleaming wails, the ominous son packs up his surgical tool set and goes out a rampage . Our hapless soon-to-be victims arrive for a view a horror flick only to watch the gore unfold in the audience as well as on screen in which are showing the silent film titled ¨The lost world¨ and ¨ The mummy¨ . As a group of viewers are killed in the form of a screening of a horror movie that brings naturalism to life. As the terror picture shown to the audience gets more and more violent. The spectators (Talia Paul, Clara Pastor) see Lerner carving eyes on screen while a psycho-killer (Angel Jove) obsessed with the movie unleashes his own criminal spree on the unsuspecting spectators and he attacks anyone who crosses her way and soon the place is filled with people killed. The survivors trapped in the theater must fend off attacks of the murderers. At the ending the remaining public start the desperate battle for their lives and eventually, the theatre turns a walled-in trap. Soon it becomes clear that the parallel arguments gather together in deadly synchronization.

The picture is full of suspense,thrills, mystery, and lots of blood and gore .This slick gore-feast is a triumph of style over movie logic. It's packed with overwhelming body count, excessive gore, grotesque killing, and rivers of red blood. This is one of the most original utilization of the movie-within-a-movie with terror argument, such as formerly made Lambert Bava in ¨Demons¨(1985). The picture is smartly designed ,stylishly photographed filming in Barcelona by Civit and with a suspenseful musical score by Pagan . Bigas Luna delivers the terror movie goods with sense of style. He's an expert on murky atmosphere such as proved in ¨Caniche¨, ¨Bilbao¨ and ¨Reborn¨. The picture will appeal to horror buffs and Bigas Luna fans.