Director Nico Mastorakis has his fans out there. Enough that there is a small cult following for the director and his films. You can agree or disagree with them but he was able to put forth a number of decent films in his career and Arrow Video has obliged those fans by releasing some of those films in pristine condition.
DEATH HAS BLUE EYES though is a combination of genres that never quite gels and becomes a worthwhile foray into his films. It’s his first feature and it feels like it. Peter (Robert Kowalski) arrives in Greece to be greeted by his friend Ches (Hristos Nomikos) at the airport. Both are adventurous ne’er do wells and con artists who make their lives off of others. Peter made his way to Greece by stealing the plane ticket of a man in a washroom and Ches lives off of a wealthy woman he’s shacking up with.
Eating at a restaurant where they attempt to slip the bill to two ladies eating nearby they are asked to join them. The ladies are Geraldine (Jessica Dublin) and Christine (Maria Aliferi). Geraldine, the older of the two has a proposition she offers Peter to come work for her which he turns down. She brushes off the costs of their meal and they leave.
A three way sexual encounter between the two and Ches new girlfriend results in their being thrown from the house of the woman supporting Ches. With nowhere to go and no funds they contact Geraldine and accept the job. It turns out that she is Christine’s mother and Christine is a powerful psychic. Now a group of mobsters is trying to kidnap Christine and they hire the duo as protection for her.
What follows is plenty of fighting sequences, chases, plot twists and more that add up to a movie that should be better than it is. The problem is the flighty back and forth between genres that never quite mold together to form the whole. Is it a sex comedy? A spy movie? A horror film? An action film? A giallo? All of these are given brief moments in the film while never coming together.
In spite of the film being not solid enough to hold the interest of most movie lovers, Arrow Video has done their best to bring the film to the fans who’ve only been able to find bootlegs in the past. In addition to the film being a new 2K restoration from the original 35 mm camera negative supervised by Mastorakis, they’ve included some interesting extras as well. These include an interview with Mastorakis, and interview with actress Maria Aliferi, “Dancing with Death” tracks from the original soundtrack, the original theatrical trailers, an image gallery, a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and for the first pressing only an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing by Julian Grainger.
Fans of Mastorakis will want to add
this one to their collection. For others it might be worth watching out of
curiosity. But on the whole this is one I most likely won’t revisit and that
most will want to pass by.
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