White of the Eye (1987): Tragedy, Giallo and lots of Peyote (Review)

Back in the days of VHS, discovering a film was a common experience – countless people visited their local video store in the hope of finding a gem. Now, in the age of the internet, there are few out of the blue surprises left. Films locked on VHS? Sure, but out of blue discoveries? Not so much, information is at the touch of your finger and many films new or old are accompanied by an intimidating level of hype. And it’s for exactly this reason that Arrow’s edition of White of the Eye is such a joy to behold – it is almost as if it was plucked out of time.

Before White of the Eye and 1977’s Demon Seed, the Edinburgh born director made his name with the notorious 60s cult classic he co-directed with Nicolas Roeg, Performance. Sadly Donald Cammell’s career was cut tragically short with his suicide a by-product of his 3 completed films in 28 years. That’s 3 lonely films drowned out by an inordinate number of aborted projects and producers infringing on his vision, for directors who never got the chance – Donald Cammell is right up there at the top of the list, a fact all the more tragic when you see some directors who have been given free rein for a career of mediocrity. Looking at you, Eli Roth.

As strong as the material is, Arrow Video’s box art and the scenario make Cammell’s White of the Eye appear to be a slasher of little substance. Wherein a wealthy and isolated desert community is shocked when a woman is brutally murdered in her own home. Elsewhere in the Arizonan valley, sound expert and hi-fi installer Paul White (David Keith) is targeted as the prime suspect. If it was directed by anybody else, describing Cammell’s film as simplistic slasher/murder mystery would be apt. In his hands, though, he turns a relatively black and white tale of death in Arizona into an almost psychedelic tale of black holes, apache legends and sex.

White of the Eye is a difficult non-linear film. Not only that, but the conceptual visuals owe more to the abstract edges of genre cinema that you are likely to get from any of the 1960s or 70s New Waves than anything being pushed out of the slasher sub-genre at the time. Its closest point of comparison at the time of release would be something along the lines of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre (1989). With regular extreme close-ups on eyes, and flourishes of colour suggesting that this is a vehicle for art, not visceral thrills. While incredible as a spectacle of ideas, it does often stray into the territory the aforementioned reference was all too familiar with – which is to say, this is more Dust Devil than Giallo. Which is to say, this could be viewed as pretentious. As a comparison to meat and potato movies like My Bloody Valentine Slumber Party Massacre it’s pretentious, yes, but within the grand cannon of horror? Context is important in that discussion.

As a two-point comparison, White of the Eye belongs to a whole different way of thinking. The cinematography is central to this, with the staging of the murders owing a lot to the stylish brutality of Giallo. Not only do they have a frightening efficiency to them; these scenes are framed with the elegance of a Bava or Argento film. The opening murder is almost balletic, while the latter is psychotic in its detach, making his disturbing methodology all the more twisted. Which is exactly the point, the murderer views his kills as out-of-body experiences with someone else pulling the strings.

As thrilling and challenging as the film can be, it’d be a mere husk if David Keith and Cathy Moriarty didn’t have such electric chemistry. Even before that, Keith perfectly embodies the hypocrisies of his character. Keith cuts a horrifying presence, that, honestly, is a little disappointing that he hasn’t gone down in the pantheon of great modern horror performances.

White of the Eye was a joy to discover, with difficult modern genre films like Berberian Sound Studio, Kill List and Under the Skin being lauded with critical acclaim, this is the perfect time for Donald Cammell’s masterwork to gain some notoriety. And all this is without going into the perfectly considered final act. Turning a perfectly civil home into a war zone with a little red face paint and ‘hot dogs’, Cammell had the ability to elevate his work in the neatest of ways. The only problem then is an uncharacteristic one for Arrow, the mastering on this release is poor. While the film does look sharp, there’s a massive amount of grain to the image – an unexpected presentational bugbear, perhaps, but it doesn’t make the film any less of a glorious surprise and has genuinely become one of my favourite horror movies of the 1980s. A claim that is met with a frightening level of competition.

Thanks for reading our review of White of the Eye

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