"Anguish" opens with the story of John (Michael Lerner), a middle aged man dominated by his demented mother (the unique Zelda Rubinstein). She hypnotizes him into going on a murder spree, so that he may collect his victims' eyes.The catch here is that these opening 22 minutes are actually a movie within the movie. While Lerner ends up offing the people watching a showing of the original "The Lost World", the people watching *his* movie begin to be terrorized by another mother dominated madman (Angel Jove) wielding a gun.This comes recommended to horror fans, who are sure to appreciate the clever way that director Bigas Luna ("Jamon Jamon", "The Chambermaid on the Titanic") so completely blurs the line between fantasy and reality. And he maintains this tone all the way until his resolution. Up until then, he keeps our attention with an efficient pace, enough splatter to please the gore loving crowd, and some very good suspense. Luna manages to create a reasonable American feel (with much better English dubbing than one usually finds in this sort of thing) while shooting on the cheap in Barcelona. He also gets fine performances from a cast with its fair share of non-actors.The principal performers are very well cast. Lerner is a perfect combination of average schlub and sadistic psycho, and Rubinstein is incredible as the woman driving him to murder. Talia Paul and Clara Pastor are appealing as two girls watching the Lerner tale unfold on screen, and Paul really gives it her all in portraying anxiety and fear. Jove is suitably creepy.As the action in both old and new movie begins to mirror each other, Lunas' movie builds to a highly engrossing fever pitch.The closing credits are also quite appropriate to the occasion.Eight out of 10.

Anguish truly is a unique experience. At one point I had to pause because my heart was beating too fast. It was the very effective visual of people struggling with the same thing on screen, had never thought a film could affect me like this. Almost wanted to throw up in parts, and just because of the sound and bizarre visuals, rather than gore. It's not just a horror movie, it's an experiment into film-within-film with audience members watching a movie at a theater about an insane killer and his mother collecting eyes - with the way it's made disturbing and upsetting many of them - and then the events in the main movie switches to the theater as well - and the claustrophobia and mental states of "the real audience" starts going wild. I can only imagine how insane it would have been watching this in a movie theater as intended. It lost some of it's power when it got more plot driven towards the very end - but it stayed incredible throughout.

After seeing Anguish, I know it will stay in the memory a while as it's not quite like anything else I've seen. However, outside of the central gimmick; there is unfortunately not a great deal to recommend it for. Bigas Luna's film is a horror movie within a horror movie, and as you can probably imagine from that description; it's a completely bizarre and surreal film. The title 'Anguish' seems to be a clue to the order of the day as both segments focus on putting the subjects in a state of anguish with a series of gripping occurrences. The film focuses on John Pressman; an optician with an eye problem and a strange mother. After losing his job, he goes out on a killing spree under the direction of his mother who apparently is using some sort of hypnosis. The spree goes on for a short while and then the film takes a turn for the bizarre as the focus pans out and we find ourselves in a movie theatre with a group of people watching the film we've been watching! However, it turns out all is not well there either, as one of the crowd is a maniacal killer.The main problem I have with this film is simply that while the central idea is very good, the two segments of the story are actually quite mundane. They're both just your average 'serial killer' stories, albeit one featuring a great deal of eyeball violence. The director clearly wanted to excite his audience and get them on the edge of their seats, and while parts of the film are exciting - I didn't find myself in a state of anguish for the duration. I don't often find myself needing a particular point when it comes to serial killer flicks, but this film just feels a bit too intelligent not to have one. I can only assume that the director wanted to portray something along the lines of the idea that a potential killer could be influenced by what they are seeing on screen; although it's never really brought across. Distinctive performers Michael Lerner and Zelda Rubinstein are the pick of the cast and provide memorable leads. The film does deserve a lot of respect for going out and trying to do something a bit different and even though it doesn't come off as well as it might have; Anguish is still well worth seeing.

I'm not sure why this 1980s horror film is so overlooked. It is a very unique film, if a bit gimmicky. It stars Tangina (wait, I mean, Zelda Rubenstein, of course!) as a psycho-mommy whose relationship is a bit too tight with her son. In fact, she hypnotizes him on a nightly basis and has him going out about town, gouging out people's eyeballs for her personal collection! Just when you think the story couldn't get more bizarre, it does. This is definitely for fans of films about messed-up mother/son relationships. For those who can't stomach Tangina, you still might get a kick out of this truly original 80s horror flick. It's been compared to "Demons," but such a comparison is superficial. Beware, most reviews on this one feature major plot spoilers!