"The Headless Eyes" follows a struggling New York artist who loses his eye in a botched robbery attempt; consequently, he develops a bizarre obsession with eyeballs, and goes on a brutal murder spree, killing women and tearing out their eyes with spoons.

Written and directed Kent Bateman, "The Headless Eyes" is a gritty and gruesome exploitation flick that was an ostensible inspiration on later New York-based films like "The Driller Killer" and "Maniac"; it's two parts grindhouse filth and one part art-house horror. The film features an over-the-top performance by Swedish actor Bo Brundin, who leads a very small cast through a scuzzy New York City just after the dawn of the 1970s. It's an interesting film merely as a time capsule, and also functions as a dark meditation on poverty and hopelessness.

The film boasts a handful of surprisingly savage murder scenes and expected eye gougings; in spite of some hammy special effects, the scenes retain a disturbing grit to them that is unexpectedly palpable and disturbing. The narrative is relatively aimless and frenetic; there is little in the way of plot, and the film does feel something like a stitched-together patchwork of gore and half-baked ideas; that said, the messiness gives the film a somewhat disconcerting, schizophrenic energy, and the relative lack of dialogue is another unusual feature. The ending is abrupt and uneven, but it's difficult to expect anything else.

Overall, "The Headless Eyes" is a fairly gruesome but aimless exploitation effort. The skeletal plot and hammy performances don't necessarily work in its favor, but it does retain a bizarre and disturbed energy that makes it worth a watch for die-hard grindhouse horror fans. It's certainly not a good film, but it is tonally scuzzy and forbidding. It's the kind of film that triggers the urge to take a hot bath after viewing, which, depending on your proclivities, will either elicit interest or turn you away. 6/10.

Hahahaha! This film is great. If you are looking for low-budget crap from the early 70's, check this grade Z film out. No budget, horrible editing, some atrocious acting, and eyeballs.

The plot is so simple, even a 10 year old could have thought of it. A struggling artist decides to rob a woman's apartment in the middle of the night so he can afford to keep his shop open. In the process of the robbery, the woman wakes up and scoops his eyeball out with a spoon. He gets away, only after screaming "MY EYE! AHHHAHHH my eyeeeee....." over and over again. This whole event changes his life and he decides to start killing woman, remove their eyeballs and use them to further his art career.

This movie is so bad, but I really enjoyed it. The beginning of the movie is possibly one of the funniest moments I have ever seen in a movie. When he gets his eye removed and starts screaming about it, the sound editors decided to loop his scream over and over again, looping it about 6 or 7 times. You just have to see it to really understand.

The gore in the film is hilarious. There isn't a whole lot of it, but there are a few scenes noteworthy. If anything, it is far more bloody then it is gory. Don't expect HG Lewis here, though.

If you like this stuff, it is worth a watch. I thought it was great, but that is just my opinion. 7/10

"The Headless Eyes" is one of those ridiculous, micro-budget, nutty obscurities that will appeal to B horror enthusiasts who love unearthing little known curios. Swedish actor Bo Brundin ("Raise the Titanic") plays Arthur Malcolm, a starving artist who resorts to thievery. Discovered in the act by a victim, he struggles with her, and she manages to gouge out his left eyeball with a spoon. Now utterly insane, he stalks the streets of NYC, stopping long enough to kill unfortunate citizens and remove their orbs. These he turns into dubious objets d'art.

This film is, overall, too slowly paced, and it doesn't have enough of the laugh out loud moments that would make for a very enjoyable bad movie experience. However, this flaky exercise in horror / exploitation / surrealism / art by writer & director Kent Bateman isn't totally without its amusements. Imagine the gore from a Herschell Gordon Lewis flick, except even MORE tacky. The acting is extremely amateurish from just about everybody involved, although it must be said that Brundin gives an appropriately certifiable performance. At one point, it looks as if he might have a stable influence in his life, a female art student who actually likes his work and wants him to mentor her. But soon, he's going right back to doing what he did before. The decision to stage a later stalking scene in a slaughterhouse is an admittedly novel idea.

This is the kind of thing you watch if you're a completist and want to be able to say that you've seen it. It's not exactly a good film at all, but it has a certain gritty quality going for it.

Other than this flick, Batemans' big claim to fame is having sired acting offspring: Jason ('Arrested Development') and Justine ('Family Ties') Bateman.

Five out of 10.