Los ojos de Julia (Julia's Eyes) (2010)

94% of critics liked it
(34 reviews)
65% of users liked it
(3,631 ratings)

A woman is trying to unravel a mystery that she literally can no longer see in this thriller from Spanish filmmaker Guillem Morales. Julia (Bel (C)n Rueda) and her sister, Sara, have both inherited a medical condition that is slowly robbing them of their eyesight, with stress severely aggravating… More A woman is trying to unravel a mystery that she literally can no longer see in this thriller from Spanish filmmaker Guillem Morales. Julia (Bel (C)n Rueda) and her sister, Sara, have both inherited a medical condition that is slowly robbing them of their eyesight, with stress severely aggravating the condition. When Julia gets the news that Sara has died, she has a hard time believing the police report that she committed suicide, and she and her husband, Isaac (Llus Homar), begin looking into the matter. As Julia examines the particulars of Sara's death, she begins to suspect the actions of Sara's neighbor Blasco (Boris Ruiz), his daughter, Lia (Andrea Hermosa), and an aged woman named Soledad (Julia Guti (C)rrez Caba). As Julia becomes more convinced that Sara's neighbors were involved in her death, unpleasant events begin happening all around her, and as she comes closer to unraveling the knots that have tied up Sara's death, Julia inches closer to total blindness. Produced in part by Guillermo del Toro, Los Ojos de Julia (aka Julia's Eyes) was an official selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 12 min.
Directed By: Guillem Morales
Written By: Guillem Morales, Oriol Paulo
Genres: Horror, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense

On DVD: Dec 20, 2011
Studio: Universal Pictures International France

Critic Reviews

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
I doubt this project occupied much of del Toro's attention, and it's fundamentally an exercise in genre and style -- but what style!
Geoff Berkshire, Metromix.com
All about mystery and suspense, slowly laying the foundation for an extremely tense final act.
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com
Julia's Eyes doesn't mean much more than what shows up on the surface of the screen, but it's a cinematic exercise that certainly puts a person on edge.
Tim Martain, The Mercury
Julia's Eyes stops just short of being an amazing thriller but...some excellent camera work heightens the experience of fumbling through the mystery from Julia's perspective.
Joseph Proimakis, Movies for the Masses
another reminder to why modern horror speaks Spanish
Matthew Pejkovic, Matt's Movie Reviews
A tense psychological thriller, Julia's Eyes is another example why the Spanish have become the kings of quality horror cinema.
Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun (Australia)
The anchoring performance of Rueda is what keeps this second-hand material fresh and forcefully involving.
Philippa Hawker, The Age (Australia)
Julia's Eyes becomes a little incoherent as it plunges towards resolution, but it's unerringly stylish and whole-heartedly suspenseful along the way.
Lynden Barber, sbs.com.au
Director Guillem Morales and his writing partner Oriol Paulo thread a series of tired old horror tropes around a mystery plot in which Julia sets out to find the identity of the mystery man she believes is responsible for her sister's death.
Emmet O'Cuana, FILMINK (Australia)
Julia's Eyes is a traditional horror that shows there's life in the old spine-chiller yet.
Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile
This terrifying psychological thriller cum horror film plays with notions that are both real and imagined and whose premise relies on fear of the known and the unknown, and most notably, of the dark
Sophie Ivan, Film4
Good fun, but featuring more twists than a double helix, Julia's Eyes could more aptly be titled 'When Blind Man's Buff Gets Out of Hand'.
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
An over-cooked but good-looking and occasionally effective chiller about a visually impaired woman terrorised by malevolent forces.
Philip French, Guardian [UK]
A fascinating, broken-backed picture full of riveting twists and dubious psychology.
Mark Stafford, Electric Sheep
It's still pretty scary, but never steps outside the confines of what you'd expect from this kind of thing.
Martin Roberts, Fan The Fire
Do all public places need to be drenched in inadequate lighting? In horror they do. The centre for the blind that Julia visits early in the film is a great, looming edifice, bathed in shadows and rust. And that's a public health centre.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Not only is it genuinely unsettling, but it's full of clever nods to horror masterpieces
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
This cannily uncanny film resonates.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

Started off pretty good - I thought, from all the creepy happenings, that this was going to be a ghost story. Then, because of the interesting filming after Julia's operation where the new characters introduced never show their faces, I thought she had lost her mind and was… More
Started off pretty good - I thought, from all the creepy happenings, that this was going to be a ghost story. Then, because of the interesting filming after Julia's operation where the new characters introduced never show their faces, I thought she had lost her mind and was imagining the whole thing. The actuality was less exciting, but it works. Filming and acting is great. I especially liked the end scenes with the flashing camera - very effective. Good creepy movie to watch in the evening!
Lewis C

A woman suffering from progressive blindness and her husband come to investigate the apparent suicide of her sister, who had the same affliction. There turns out to be much more to the death than it seems on the surface, and more people may end up finding a similar fate unless the… More
A woman suffering from progressive blindness and her husband come to investigate the apparent suicide of her sister, who had the same affliction. There turns out to be much more to the death than it seems on the surface, and more people may end up finding a similar fate unless the mystery can be unraveled. Julia's Eyes gets off to a good start, with an interesting premise and a captivating opening scene. But, most of what follows is not equal to the introduction. Frustrating characters and annoying plot contrivances keep Julia's Eyes from being anything more than an average mystery/thriller that had me almost disinterested during the middle portion. The ending, fortunately, is strong and helped restore some of the good feelings I had about the movie during its beginning. Don't get me wrong, it's a tense movie throughout, thanks to the natural fear of not being able to see the danger around you. And there are plenty of story twists and turns, and not all of them are predictable. But watching characters make dumb, illogical decisions just for the sake of plot progression draws me right out of the atmosphere that's so necessary for an effective thriller. When Julia's Eyes is good, it's very good. It's just unfortunate that parts of it are exercises in pure frustration.
familiar s

What a ridiculous story!!! It's an awful mess which I wish I'd avoided. Julia's Eyes are better shut down.
Carlos M

The stunning cinematography creates a perfect oppressive atmosphere in a thriller that grows really tense and frightening. Even so, the film is weakened by poor narrative choices, and if you think in retrospect you will see some plot holes. Besides, the lame last scene is… More
The stunning cinematography creates a perfect oppressive atmosphere in a thriller that grows really tense and frightening. Even so, the film is weakened by poor narrative choices, and if you think in retrospect you will see some plot holes. Besides, the lame last scene is unforgivable.
Nicolas K

Artfully directed to keep the suspense going throughout the film, based on a well written scenario which holds more than one twists, and a constant unsettling eery feeling that makes it hard to forget.
Daniel P

A film of great technical skill in terms of direction, cinematography, editing, sound design and acting, but one that I never found scary, or especially exciting. There are some truly memorable sequences - in particular a section where we hear the people around Julia but never see… More
A film of great technical skill in terms of direction, cinematography, editing, sound design and acting, but one that I never found scary, or especially exciting. There are some truly memorable sequences - in particular a section where we hear the people around Julia but never see their faces (just the backs of their heads or the lower parts of their bodies), and a semi-repeated use of an old-fashioned camera with flash that rivals the dénouement of Hithcock's <i>Rear Window</i> for inventiveness. Unfortunately the actual story of Julia's Eyes is not particularly involving, the twists and red herrings become tiring and the climax is rather obvious. Belén Rueda as Julia is never less than absolutely convincing however and really helps overcome a lot of the short-comings of the plot and as a piece demonstrating the skills of a talented crew, <i>Los Ojos de Julia</i> has lots to recommend it.
John M

Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, "Julia's Eyes" is an original Spanish horror movie that is directed in a way that will keep you engaged and guessing during the whole running time with enough tense and truly scary scenes. Acting is very good and Belén Rueda makes an… More
Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, "Julia's Eyes" is an original Spanish horror movie that is directed in a way that will keep you engaged and guessing during the whole running time with enough tense and truly scary scenes. Acting is very good and Belén Rueda makes an excellent work on her dual role. All in all, a really good horror thriller, which keeps you guessing till the very end.