The Third Eye has been pretty much forgotten; but many fans of Italian horror will have heard of the film it heavily influenced; Joe D'Amato's notorious exploitation effort Beyond the Darkness. This one does not have the gore and savagery of the later film and it has to be said that Mino Guerrini's film is rather more arty than horrific. The film is also often seen as a precursor to the Giallo genre, though the links between the two are weak at best. Personally, I would describe this film as Gothic horror, and a precursor to later Italian exploitation. The plot focuses on Mino; a young nobleman that lives in a big house with his mother and their maid. His fiancée, Laura, is not well liked by either the mother or the maid, who seem jealous of her presence. The mother, therefore, decides to sever Laura's brakes and this results in a car accident that kills Laura. Meanwhile, the mother and the maid have a fight and the mother dies are being thrown down the stairs. This leads Mino into madness and murder; he kills a couple of women, before Laura's twin sister arrives at the house...

The film stars the great Franco Nero in an early lead role and of course he delivers an excellent performance that mirrors the one he would go on to play a few years later in Elio Petri's A Quiet Place in the Country. The atmosphere is also a major part of the film and the central location is a great place for a Gothic horror film to take place; director Mino Guerrini makes good use of it and creates a claustrophobic feel for the film. The influences for the film are clear; with Edgar Allen Poe and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho being foremost among them. The Third Eye features some really rather morbid elements such as necrophilia, but through the way it's shot, the film always manages to retain an artful feel and this is a bit of a downer in my opinion as the film could have used a bit more impact. It does remain interest for the duration, however, and everything eventually boils down to a fitting conclusion. Overall, this is a rare film and sourcing an English language version is not easy; but it's well worth the effort for Italian horror fans.

***SPOILERS!*** Franco Nero truly is an amazingly versatile actor, and his films from 1966, probably the most important year for his career, are a perfect proof for that. In the same year when Nero became an immortal cult-icon as the cynical and super-tough eponymous antihero in Sergio Corbucci's "Django", he also played an insane mother's boy with a Norman Bates complex in this amazing psychological chiller "Il Terzo Occhio" (aka. "Third Eye"). Released several years before the heyday of the Giallo in the early 70s, and only few years after Mario Bava's genre-defining masterpieces "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" ("La Ragazza Che Sappeva Troppo", 1963) and "Blood And Black Lace" ("Sei Donne Per L'Assassino", 1964),"Il Terzo Occhio" is sometimes referred to as an early Giallo with Gothic elements, but it isn't really, in my opinion. Giallo or not, "Il Terzo Occhio" is doubtlessly an amazingly morbid Psychological Horror Film with a wonderful Gothic atmosphere and a stunning mood of insanity that should definitely appeal to all those who love the Giallo genre.

Nero plays Mino, a young count whose life is dominated by his possessive Mother (Olga Solbelli). Mino's plans to marry the beautiful Laura (Erika Blanc) are a thorn in the flesh both of the malicious old countess and the murderously ambitious Maid Marta (Gioia Pascal)... The film begins exquisitely macabre, when the murderous plans of two possessive women get out of hand, and carries on morbidly when the young count himself goes absolutely nuts. Terriffically set in an eerie country mansion, "Il Terzo Occhio" very obviously copied some elements of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "Psycho" (1960),but, as usual for Italian Horror Films, it is in many ways more explicit and morbid than the acclaimed American film. As famous movie-Psycho Norman Bates, mother's boy Mino enjoys stuffing animals, but, as opposed to "Psycho", we also get to watch his hobby in explicit detail, for example. Franco Nero is, as always, brilliant in his role, and the rest of the cast is terrific too. Fans of Italian Cult-Cinema will be delighted to see the beautiful Erika Blanc ("Kill Baby... Kill!", "The Devil's Nightmare", "The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave", etc.) in the role of Laura. THE great female performance in this film, however, comes from the equally beautiful Gioia Pascal, who sadly never appeared in any other film. Olga Solbelli is great in the role of the horrible old witch of a countess. "Il Terzo Occhio" is probably most famous for spawning a more (in-)famous remake, sleaze-deity Joe D'Amato's notorious and ultra-nasty Exploitation highlight "Buio Omega" ("Beyond The Darkness", 1979). Buio Omega, which tells basically the same story, but focuses more on (very) explicit gore, necrophilia and detailed perversions is also highly recommendable, but only to those with a good stomach. While both films are definite must-sees for my fellow Italian Horror buffs, this one is also recommendable to those who are not into extreme nastiness and nauseating gore. Even though it does not (yet) get the attention it deserves, "Il Terzo Occhio" is an amazingly creepy film with a great ensemble cast that must not be missed by fans of Italian Horror. Highly recommended!

Franco Nero plays a young taxidermist named Mino,who lives with his domineering mother and a loyal family servant Marta in a Gothic residence.The elderly widowed Countness doesn't want his son to marry his beloved Laura.To achieve her goals Marta cuts the brake cable on Laura's car causing the vehicle to roll off an embankment and into a lake and murders the Countess pushing her down the stairs.This is the beginning of Mino's madness.He takes Laura's body and preserves it and starts picking up women and choking them to death in the presence of his preserved love."The Third Eye" is strikingly similar to "Buio Omega",but nowhere nearly as gruesome and disgusting.The cinematography is elegant and stylish and the use of romantic score is a nice touch.A must-see for fans of "Buio Omega".8 out of 10.