I was pleasantly surprised while watching this, finding it highly engaging. For a low budget movie, it is well-acted, well-scripted, and well shot! My only complaint is that, to me, it ran on a bit long towards the end. Pacing was good up to that point, but towards the end it felt redundant and labored. But that's a minor point on an overall fun film. Very glad to have found this gem!

It's been a good while since I've seen a horror movie this original. Anguish is very creative, especially for its time. Its clever use of the "film-within-a-film"(often mixing both so well you don't know what's the film they're watching and which is the film you're watching). Although it's far from perfect, this is a great big breath of fresh air.The movie starts with a shy eye doctor, John, who still lives with his mother. John gets harassed by one of his patients when he gets the wrong contact lenses. His mother promises to make them suffer, unlocking a serial killer side to John. He makes a visit to the girl's house to give her the correct pair of lenses, and promptly kills her and her boyfriend. We are then shown that this is a movie, and there is an audience watching. We're introduced to two girls, one fully enjoying the movie, and the other completely horrified. As the movie continues on, and John's killings become more frequent and intensified, the girl gets more terrified, to the verge of tears. John enters a movie theater, and starts slowly killing the audience one by one. His killings become too much and the girl leaves to the bathroom. While in the stall, a man walks in. This causes her to go back to her friend to check out the bathrooms. What they don't know is that there is a real killer who has targeted their showing. He dispatches off a few of the staff with his silenced pistol, before coming into the screening. His killings start to mimic John's on screen. He grabs the girl and holds her at gunpoint, slowly slipping into deep lunacy. He talks to the screen, and his cover gets blown. The girl's friend alerts the police, who watch him waiting to make their move. They manage to get their shot and take him out, just as the other movie is ending. The girl is taken to the hospital, where she is attacked by the killer from the movie. As the credits role, it is revealed that this was all ANOTHER movie.This movie is creepy and creative. The acting is very good in most places, nothing that's completely terrible and groan worthy. A lot of the movie has an Argento feel, kinda sleazy and gritty. There's a little bit of gore, but not as much as I wanted. The kills weren't that inventive but were satisfying enough. I think this is one that should be seen by lovers of horror and even those that are just looking for something different. The characters are pretty well developed, particularly the ones in The Mommy (the movie inside the movie). Highly recommended.

This has got to be one of the most original concepts for a film I have ever seen! This film takes the 'film within a film' (a concept used in other horror films such as Lamberto Bava's "Demons") concept to an entirely new level! As the film begins, we are told the story of a diabolic mother (played by Zelda Rubenstein of "Poltergeist" fame) and her obese, dim witted son who is nearly blind. This man is a serial killer who is controlled by his mother and her bizarre hypnotic powers over him. The strange hypnosis scenes in this movie are quite intense and it was rumored that they actually caused headaches and nausea for some viewers (in fact the original VHS box for the film warns that the film can be hypnotic and that watching it could cause headaches). "Mother" convinces her son to stalk a movie theater during a screening of "The Lost World" and murder the patrons one by one. She also commands him to remove the victims eyes and bring them to her. She believes that collecting eyes will somehow cure her son's illness and blindness. However, at this point the film takes a strange twist and we now realize that the film we have been watching is actually a separate movie called "The Mommy" that is being viewed by patrons in yet another movie theater who are being stalked by a man who is obsessed with the film. As the patrons of the theater witness the brutal slayings happening on the screen in front of them, they too are murdered one by one by the psychopath that is loose in their own movie theater! Now the viewer realizes that they are actually watching a film within a film within a film! It is now that the film reaches it's bizarre and unusual climax with an unbelievable ending. "Anguish" is not for the squeamish or faint of heart as the eye gouging and murder sequences are pretty intense and gory but it is most certainly one of the most original concepts for a horror film that I have seen in a long time and unfortunately, yes it is currently being remade!

I have just watched "Angustia" for the fourth or fifth time, now on DVD, and I do not get tired of this original, bizarre and surrealistic cult-movie, very underrated in IMDb. I am a fan of Bigas Lune, and in my opinion "Angustia" is his masterpiece. The story is simple, but tense, with a soundtrack that recalls Dario Argento's movies. Michael Lerner, in the role of the mad ophthalmologist; Talia Paul, in the role of a scared viewer that becomes impressed with the film she is watching on the screen; and Ángel Jovè, in the role of a lunatic killer, are perfect. Zelda Rubinstein, with her weird tune of voice, completes the lead cast of this gem with a great performance. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Os Olhos da Cidade São Meus" ("The Eyes of the City Are Mine")