El pez de los ojos de oro (1974)

... aka: Eyes of the Golden Fish

... aka: Fish with the Eyes of Gold, The

... aka: Fish with the Golden Eyes, The

Directed by:

Pedro L. Ramírez

The name Waldemar Wohlfahrt may not mean much to you (it didn't to me either prior to viewing this), but this flash-in-the-pan minor 60s / 70s celebrity has an interesting story that's worth telling. Long story short, in 1966, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed German-born playboy from Stuttgart found himself accused of being a serial killer targeting young ladies along the Autobahn! As for hard evidence that implicated him, well, it basically boiled down to his love of travel (he divided his time between Germany and Spain) and the fact he happened to own a red Mercedes sports car. And that's about it! Wohlfahrt ended up getting arrested and was slandered mercilessly by the tabloid press, whom he later successfully sued after it turned out he wasn't even in the same country at the time of one of the murders. I'm not sure if the real killer was ever apprehended or not, but Wohlfahrt decided to parlay his press notoriety into a show business career. He first released an unsuccessful album, posing on the cover with his red sports car and using the name "Waldemar the Vampire" (!)

While he made mention in the press that he'd also been eyeing an acting career and stated he'd love to play a 007-style secret agent, there would be no James Bond level films for Wohlfahrt but instead stuff like The Horrible Sexy Vampire, The Lustful Amazons and Virgin Killer. But them's the breaks, especially when you're not much of an actor to begin with. His film debut, which he himself financed with his lawsuit earnings, was the 1969 sleaze-horror film El vampiro de la autopista; a title directly alluding to the Autobahn serial killer the Spanish press had once insisted was him. The film, which wouldn't be released until two years after it was shot, had absolutely nothing to do with the killer nor the star's life. The Spanish murder-mystery El pez de los ojos de oro on the other hand does actually seem to be sometimes commenting about Wohlfahrt's celebrity and contains a few direct references.

Wohlfahrt (billed as "Wal Davis") stars as a bellbottomed "Englishman" record store employee named Derek, who's hitchhiking through Spain on his way to visit a couple of friends for the holidays. As he's standing on the street trying to thumb a ride, he spots Mónica (Montserrat Prous) and Marco (Rex Martín) having a heated argument. She immediately jumps into her red convertible, spots Derek, picks him up and takes him back to her apartment for an off-screen revenge fuck. Later that night, Derek awakens to find her bloody corpse lying in bed next to him. She'd been stabbed to death and the killer has been kind enough to leave the murder weapon lying right on the floor. After touching her body, thumbing through her purse and doing everything else to ensure his fingerprints are all over the place, Derek then flees in the woman's car.

Instead of going straight to the police, Derek goes to visit his friends, artist Zachary Kendall ("Richard Kendall" / Ricardo Vázquez) and his sculptress wife Virginia (Norma Kastel). There, he learns there's a serial killer on the loose in the area. In fact, Zachary himself had previously witnessed the scuba gear-clad killer stab Belgian tourist Hildegard Aaron (Susana Taber) to death on an inlet. He also has visions of a child seeing their father stab the mother to death as a fishbowl gets knocked over. It's likely no coincidence then that the killer seems to be set off by images of fish. The Belgian girl had been killed while lounging on a fish beach towel, while Mónica was wearing a fish necklace when she was murdered. The killer had even stolen the pendant after killing her.

Zachary and Derek decide to go to a police commissioner (Barta Barri) to report their experiences and are shocked to find themselves the two key suspects in the killings. I mean, that's pretty understandable though, right? One claims to have directly witnessed a killing and the other had somehow managed to sleep right through a murder being committed right next to him and it's all just an "odd coincidence." The inspector obviously isn't buying it. The fishiness (har har) continues with the introduction of Marina (Adela Tauler), who's a student studying under Zachary and the daughter of the ultra-strict Pedro (Víctor Israel), who happens to run an aquarium. While Marina fancies a job as an artist, her demanding father is always nagging her to feed the fish. He also talks to the fish and claims they're his loyal friends. Despite Marina being an adult, Pedro tries to forbid her from dating, so he's none too thrilled to find out that his daughter has recently started seeing Derek.

It's revealed that the neglected Virginia is having an affair with sleazy gigolo and con artist Marco and is currently working on a fish sculpture herself. She claims to have gotten the design from somewhere else, perhaps from a local goldsmith named Miguel Toledo (Gustavo Re) who is, in turn, making golden-eye fish pendant necklaces like the one Mónica was wearing. However, he hasn't put them up for sale yet and had only given one to Marco to give to Mónica as a gift. The investigation turns up that Marco has been sexually involved with not only all of the victims thus far but also at least one of the suspects. That man really gets around. However, he's soon strangled to death so that checks him off the list. Meanwhile, Zachary starts his own affair with Nurse Tessi (María Elena Arpón) and she moves into his home. A few more murders follow.

Sleep with the fishes you cheap, bland, subpar film! This is talky and tame, with zero suspense, a poorly structured and surprise-free mystery, annoying cheat scenes, comically bad dialogue, horrible editing and mostly bad acting. There's also a curious lack of exploitative elements. Most of the kills are bloodless and there's no nudity in the 80 minute version I watched despite there being ample opportunity for such and a cast of performers who were certainly not shy in most of the other films they appeared in. One random bird who has nothing at all to do with the plot is even introduced just long enough to be stabbed to death in the shower, yet they show nothing. However, the hatchet job editing indicates the version currently floating around has been cut and is likely derived from a heavily-censored, Franco-approved Spanish release. That said, I could find no evidence this was ever released outside of Spain so a "continental" version may no longer even exist.

As for ole Waldemar, he's strictly of the deer-in-headlights school of emoting, though his hilariously unsubtle facial expressions at least elicit a few laughs. Tauler, who plays his romantic interest, was also his real-life girlfriend (eventually wife). The two appeared in no less than seven films together and she even wrote a vehicle just for him to star in. Co-star Ricardo Vázquez was also the executive producer and one Ricardo Vázquez Jr. is listed as being the assistant director. The director only made on other genre film: the mediocre though slightly better SCHOOL OF DEATH (1975).

The only legitimate home video release I'm aware of was a 1984 Spanish VHS release on the Videotel label, which uses a drawing of a screaming Carroll Baker stolen from the Spanish poster for Detrás del silencio / Knife of Ice (1972) for the box. Some bootleg dealers now carry it on DVD though the same exact VHS print is used for all of these as no official or restored version of the film has ever been released.

Edit: Since I've reviewed this, there's been a new Blu-ray release for this title from Vinegar Syndrome, as part of their "Spanish Blood Bath" set. It's paired with Jess Franco's NIGHT OF THE SKULL (1974) and Jorge Grau's Violent Blood Bath (1974), and the full running time is 84 minutes. 

★1/2

Confessions of a Serial Killer (1987)

... aka: Confissões de um Matador (Confessions of a Killer)

... aka: Crimes of a Drifter

... aka: Exomologiseis enos dolofonou (Confessions of a Murderer)

... aka: Spowiedź mordercy (Murderer's Confessions)

Directed by:

"Mark Blair" (John Dwyer)

Sometimes just plain bad luck plagues an otherwise worthwhile film. There are few better examples of that than Confessions of a Serial Killer, which suffered a series of unfortunate events over a period of several decades that have managed to cripple its reputation in the process. For starters, this happened to be shot at around the same time as another, similar and, it would turn out, ultimately better film: John McNaughton's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986). Both were shot on grainy 16mm film on low budgets and both were inspired by the crimes of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Lucas had just been arrested in 1983 for several murders and was making front page headlines at the time due to the startling amount of murders being pinned on him. However, Lucas was also a known pathological liar who often took credit for killings he couldn't have possibly committed, recanted confessions to those he could have and at one point was trying to take credit for at least 600 different murders across the country. He was actually aided in his deception by the Texas Rangers working for the Lucas Task Force, who were sharing information and crime files with Lucas in order to help him along in his confessions; presumably just so they could finally get these cold cases off the books! 

Despite the lack of credibility of both Lucas and the Texas "investigators" in charge of his case, the press labeled Lucas "America's most prolific serial killer" early on (a title that has stuck despite plenty of information pointing to the contrary) and public fascination with him grew. In other words, it made perfect sense that more than just one film influenced by him and his crimes would be made at around the same time.

Henry Lee Lucas (right), with Ottis Toole

However, a funny thing happened. Henry, which made its debut at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1986 and continued playing festivals over the next few years, went on to become one of the most acclaimed American horror films of the entire decade. Not only did it win the respect of many top critics, even ending up on numerous year end Top 10 lists, but it was also nominated for major awards and gained extra publicity and notoriety due to all of its ratings controversies (it was one of the chief films that encouraged the MPAA to create the new NC-17 rating). Though it would not be widely seen until years after it was made, Henry eventually found a significant audience during a limited major city theatrical run and unrated VHS release in 1990. Meanwhile, Confessions never really did find much of an audience.

As for why Confessions slipped through the cracks, we first need to clear up some false information that's been circulating around everywhere. Instead of putting in a couple of minutes of research, nearly every website has lazily ponied over incorrect data from IMDb, which claims this was released to theaters in 1985 by Roger Corman's company Concorde / New Horizons. I found no evidence (theatrical poster, newspaper ad, reviews...) whatsoever to back up that claim. In fact, aside from a possible small release in Japanese theaters I've seen mentioned but could also not verify, the earliest release I could find was the 1992 New Horizons video. If this did indeed play theaters back in the 80s, it had to have been on an extremely limited basis; something akin to a one-theater premiere in Texas or something. It's also possible that Concorde / New Horizons booked this in a few theaters prior to their VHS release but, again, I can find no evidence of that occurring. Furthermore, I don't see how this could have possibly been released to theaters in 1985 when the copyright date in the end credits is 1987!

As much as I love Corman, his company is mostly responsible for why this film failed. After acquiring the rights, they reedited and removed scenes (odd considering they ended up releasing it to home video unrated, anyway), and then stuck it on a shelf to languish for five years. Curiously, they didn't bother trying to capitalize on the success of McNaughton's film in 1990 despite the similar subject matter and instead waited until Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991), in which Corman made a cameo appearance, became a runaway success. The subsequent New Horizons ad campaign and box art, stealing a key image from Lambs, was absolutely dreadful and made this look like a cheesy, low-grade rip-off of Demme's film that I'm sure many potential renters passed right up. Then this just kind of vanished, right along with all of the video stores that once stocked it.

If that wasn't bad enough already, moving into the DVD era, this was given a full frame, subpar quality 2003 release by the UK company Prism Leisure, who found it wise to make additional cuts to the film to secure a UK 15 rating. Their version, which ended up becoming the most widely circulated cut online for the longest time, neutered every single one of the murder scenes. Nearly all of the violence was removed and other "questionable" scenes were snipped out in their entirety. That resulted in a flood of negative reviews complaining about how poorly edited and "tame" the movie was. Geesh! This film just couldn't seem to catch a break, could it?

I actually wanted to give this film a proper review years ago, after including it on my list of underrated 80s horror films, but figured I'd wait until something better was made available. And I waited. And waited some more. And then forgot that I was waiting. And then, out of the blue, I decided to check back in and happily discovered that some of the investors managed to get the rights to their film back and have finally issued a fully uncut version running 105 minutes, which was made available on various streaming platforms starting in November 2021. This version was also screened at the Austin Film Festival back in 2017 and at other festivals.

Unlike Henry, Confessions utilizes a flashback framework. As the film opens, our thinly-veiled Lucas substitute, Daniel Ray Hawkins (Robert A. Burns), is already in police custody for several murders. Investigators are then given the unenviable task of trying to pick the brain of the unreliable psycho, who is neither intelligent nor particularly cunning, yet wily enough to know when to use deception as it suits him and his needs. Completely unresponsive to more aggressive pestering from some of the detectives, Daniel finally becomes receptive to the friendly, leisurely, down homey charm of Sheriff Will Gaines (Berkley Garrett) and begins opening up to him about his various crimes. Attention is paid to the fact that in addition to being a killer, Daniel is also a habitual lair. His claimed victim list increases from 50 to 100 to 200, he's sometimes unable to match photos of those he claims to have killed to the actual victim and he's sometimes unable to give proper directions to places he claims to have dumped bodies. However, at other times he's right on the money about the details.

Gaines' effective approach to interrogating Daniel is a mix of non-threatening, non-judgmental, casual conversation and positive reinforcement via various perks. The killer is allowed to have his handcuffs removed, is given all the cigarettes he can smoke, is treated to cheeseburgers, fries and, his favorite, chocolate milkshakes and is able to escape the confines of the prison by accompanying detectives outside to various crime scenes and body dumping sites. Whether or not any of those are actually real or not is of little concern to Daniel. One suspects his recollections often align with his desire to go on a drive, get better food, etc. This is a man who operates on the basest of instincts.

The tone is perfectly set with the chilling opening sequence. A dark country road late at night. A stranded female motorist (Lainie Ferrante) from out of town. A polite, helpful hick pulling over to "help." After secretly sabotaging the carburetor of the woman's car, Daniel coerces her into his vehicle with promises of dropping her off at the nearest gas station. But then he passes right by the station, rolls up the window and quietly, menacingly looks over at her just as she realizes the door handle and lock have been removed from the passenger's side door. Now knowing she's in big trouble, she attempts to appeal to whatever humanity may be left in the man. She's been driving all night, about to start a new job in a new city, about to get married to her boyfriend.... He simply doesn't care. After agreeing to let her out, he pulls a knife, slashes her throat and stabs her to death.

We're given a little insight into Daniel to explain why he turned out this way. In a disturbing childhood flashback, we see how Daniel's prostitute mother used to bring men home and have sex with them right in front of him and his sister, which prompted his war-wounded father to blow his brains out with a shotgun. By age 15, Daniel was ready to commit his first murder; singling out a prostitute. After beating her head in with a board and fleeing the scene, he realized the act of murder had a profound impact on him ("Real excitin' to me... I had to pull over and do sex with myself."). Daniel's subsequent killing spree maintains a strict pattern; sticking to the highway system and constantly being on the move so, in those rare instances when a proposed victim actually manages to get away, he'll already be long gone by the time the police get involved.

Daniel then reveals that he didn't always operate alone. He sometimes had an accomplice in Moon Lewton (Dennis Hill), a slovenly creep who, when he wasn't helping to acquire / kill victims and engage in various criminal schemes, carried on a sexual affair with Daniel himself. The two had an on-and-off again type of relationship where they'd hook up for a spell, indulge each other's proclivities and then part ways. Moon is based on Lucas' real-life accomplice / lover Ottis Toole, who also figures into McNaughton's film, though it does a much better job with the grotesque characterization. Karen Grimes (Eleese Lester), a single woman with a broken air conditioner, becomes the pair's first victim in what is perhaps the film's most disturbingly graphic scene. I'll spare you the gory details and just let you use your imagination in that it involves rope, shaving cream and a kitchen knife and ends with Moon turning to his friend and asking, “Boy, how ya likin' that ride?”

After a convenience store hold-up where two people are gunned down, Moon steals a camera so the duo (soon to be trio) can take Polaroids of victims to replace the porn magazines they usually buy. The photos are stored in shoe boxes in a bus terminal locker and are eventually added to the arsenal of evidence in the investigation. Fresh from working at a massage parlor, Moon's equally demented sister Molly (Sidney Brammer) joins up with the two, enters into a sexless common law marriage with Daniel and assists the two in their killing spree. The new couple eventually settle down for a spell at the home of heavily-religious Dr. Earl Krivics (Ollie Handley), who hires Molly to do light office work and Daniel to work at his electronics repair side business. They even talk Dr. Krivics into letting Moon stay there ("He's a Christian, too!" insists Molly) but they immediately arouse suspicion in both the doctor's unpleasant secretary, Doris (Demp Toney), and his hot, spoiled, college-aged daughter, Monica (Dee Dee Norton). Monica's penchant for sunbathing topless in the backyard and parading around in strapless halter tops and cut-offs ends up moving her right to the top of the killer's 'to do' list.

I'd completely disregard any complaints about this film's accuracy, which, in my opinion, are flat out stupid. There actually wasn't - and still isn't - a very accurate way to tell this tale as the real Lucas never did and never could keep his various stories straight, and was lying up until the day he died in prison in 2001. Toole, who from all accounts was every bit the liar Lucas was, had passed away five years earlier. If it's accuracy you're wanting, check out the excellent five-part Netflix documentary The Confession Killer (2019), which goes into great detail about the incompetence, dishonesty and outright corruption in Texas "law enforcement" that tainted the entire Lucas investigation.

This movie, on the other hand, is mostly a work of fiction that's simply been "inspired by" the killer, as was also the case with McNaughton's film. Approached on its own terms, this is imperfect but still very well done overall and worth watching. It's gritty, dirty, suspenseful, gripping, disturbing and even blackly humorous at times, and its different approach to the material and small town rural flavor make for a interesting contrast to the Chicago-set Henry.

Two very notable scenes that were removed in their entirely from Corman's cut include the gunning down of two little girls walking alongside the road, and the brief discussion of a male hitchhiker being raped and killed. Apparently audiences in the 90s were fine with graphic depictions of women being sexually assaulted and murdered but the mere implication that a man befell the same fate would have been too much for them!

Burns (who sadly committed suicide in 2004 after a terminal cancer diagnosis) was a very talented man who wore many hats, but is best remembered for his effective low budget art direction and production design. His excellent work can be seen in classics like THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977) and THE HOWLING (1981) and, in a fair world, he'd have had an Oscar sitting on his mantle for the brilliant job he did on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Burns, who also did the production design for this film, worked in special effects as well, and even directed a few of his own genre films, like Mongrel (1982) and the unreleased Scream Test (1988).

Robert A. Burns on the set of his directorial debut, Mongrel. [PHOTO CREDIT]

As far as his acting abilities are concerned, while Burns may not have been a great actor, he does give an effectively understated, soft-spoken, almost deadpan performance here. The only inflections we ever hear in his voice and only gleam we ever see in his otherwise dead, unfeeling eyes is during depictions of, or thoughts and discussions about, rape and murder. According to acquaintances of his, of all his work, Burns was especially proud of this particular film and all the positive notices he received for his performance. It's a shame he didn't live to see the film getting a new lease on life.

According to a magazine article posted on the official COASK Facebook page, director "Mark Blair" died after falling from a mountain in Nepal! However, that appears to be an intentionally planted fake story that was used to shield the identity of the actual director, John Dwyer. Because Dwyer was working on a project for Disney / Touchstone at the time (which would eventually become 1992's Captain Ron), his agent recommended he not take credit for this film. As for why the fake story involved falling off a mountain in Nepal of all things, it appears director John Dwyer may also be prolific travel book writer John Dwyer, who's been published as recently as 2021 and has his own still-active website and blog. One of his books is titled High Road to Tibet.

Since I'm kind of at a loss as to what release year to actually assign this film, for the time being I'm going with 1987 per the copyright and under the assumption it was publicly screened somewhere that same year. That means it will be removed from its long-standing place in my Top 10 for 1985 and moved over to 1987. The good news is that it'll still be making the Top 10 there, as well.

★★★