Belén Rueda is beautiful in this intriguing and fascinating movie, and the scenery is haunting. It's mysteriously atmospheric and I wonder if there will be a Hollywood remake on the cards. There should be numerous stars lining up for this, perhaps Paltrow in the lead, and also someone from the cast of Friends to round it off.

I stumbled upon this movie by complete accident when I was browsing on Shudder (which I highly recommend for any of you horror fans) and I was so pleasantly surprised. You're immediately intrigued by and invested in the movie and I thought it kept up with some really great pacing and suspense throughout.The basic plot… Julia (Belén Rueda) senses something is amiss with her twin sister, Sara, who has recently gone blind due to a degenerative eye disease that they both suffer from. Upon investigation she finds Sara hanged in her basement, but she suspects (and we know from the opening scene) something a bit more sinister is afoot, so she takes it upon herself to investigate.I thought the sense of isolation, dread, and claustrophobia simply because of Julia going blind was brilliant. They made sure to occasionally show how things looked from her perspective, and the pairing of the world collapsing in on her both in the actions of those around her and in her own body is amazing. What she was going through was scary enough, but knowing that her world is getting darker by the day just added a whole other layer of terror.I am usually not a huge fan of too much romance in horror movies — I know, I'm cold hearted — but I thought the relationship between her and Isaac (Lluís Homar) was actually very sweet (to the point where I teared up during the scene where she says goodbye to him).There were a few truly chilling moments, like the hand on her shoulder when she's standing at her sister's casket. The director, Guillem Morales, was good at evoking fear from pretty simple circumstances — there were no over-the-top effects, barely any gore, and he mostly stayed away from any gratuitous sexuality (aside from showing lingering shots of Rueda's cleavage every 10 minutes).Once Julia is fully blind and starts to be cared for by Ivan (Pablo Derqui), things start to get REALLY creepy. Him testing her blindness with the tip of his knife, pretending to talk on the phone while she stands by, showing her the body of the real Ivan in the freezer to illicit a reaction from her… whew. Good stuff.The twist with Soledad (Julia Gutiérrez Caba) was pretty awesome, and the entire scene with Julia and "Ivan" both stumbling through the pitch dark house with the camera flash firing every few seconds was just heart pounding. When the police finally arrive and he slits his throat after begging them to stop looking at him… damn. DAMN.I've said it before, but movies that are about real people are some of the scariest to me. Not monsters, not spirits, not demons in the traditional sense… but real human beings who are driven to do depraved things are the scariest because it could happen to anyone, any time. This movie wasn't perfect as far as the plot went but I thought it was an amazingly suspenseful endeavor, and much more intelligent and creative than horror is often given credit for.

This is more of a thriller than a horror movie, even if the beginning makes it seem like a horror movie. The premise and atmosphere for the most part seems to be done right. However the build up and development is just so darn slow and boring. With Julia going on a detective mode to find his sister's killer to her going blind and paranoid. This movie is just boring when it comes to the build up, which is actually mundane. After a hour and 10 minutes in is when things starts to get interesting. It goes with the who is telling the truth direction, which actually does kept me on my toes and interested in what was going on. The tension even gets pretty darn high near the end. The actress that played Julia did a good job, but here character was poorly written as well. Overall this is a decent Spanish thriller with a good cinematography, but kinda lame and drawn out story until the end. It's watchable if you have the patience until the twist.6.8/10

Los ojos de Julia (Julia's Eyes) is directed by Guillem Morales who also co-writes the screenplay with Oriol Paulo. It stars Belen Rueda, Lluis Homar and Julia Gutierrez Caba. Music is by Fernando Velazquez and cinematography by Oscar Faura.After her blind twin sister mysteriously hangs, Julia (Rueda) refuses to accept it as suicide and begins to investigate the events herself. Unfortunately she is also becoming afflicted by the same degenerative eyesight that affected her sister. Can she solve the case before here eyesight completely fails? Can she stay alive, even, especially as dark forces appear to be closing in on her.There has been some rather nifty horror movies come out of Spain in the last ten years or so, Julia's Eyes is another welcome addition off of the production line. The blind/eyes afflicted girl in peril formula is hardly new, with very good formula spookers already existing having come out of Asia and America, how nice to find that this Spanish entry is as good as any of them.Guillermo Del Toro is once again on producing duty, continuing his crusade to give upcoming Spanish horror directors their chance in movie world. OK! So it's not unfair to say that many a horror fan would like to see Del Toro directing such material himself, but his presence is felt here, where much like El Orfanato (The Orphanage) the atmosphere that pervades the picture is Del Toroesque.Julia's Eyes is very much a blending of thriller conventions, where it deals in psychological discord, slasher traits and whodunit mystery shenanigans. Mix them up with dashes of Gothic and Giallo and you are good to go for edge of your seat/breath holding entertainment. Thematic thrust comes by way of viewer voyeurism, and some scenes are macabre in construction, with one involving blind girls in a locker room really tingling the gooseflesh.The colour scheme ranges from misty tinted coldness to tech-noir starkness, and the sound work is terrific, especially once Julia is handicapped by her bandaged eyes and we the audience need to buy into her dangerously dark world. Camera techniques, also are smart, with Morales cleverly not showing us the faces of those interacting with Julia once her eyes fail her, again this puts us in her world.At nearly two hours in length, film is a touch too long, which when you consider there is no real great character development to speak of, is a bit annoying. However, this is about atmosphere and a genuine chill factors, a picture that gnaws away at the senses throughout and leads us to a poignant finale. Rueda, just as she was in The Orphanage, is terrific, and Julia's Eyes, much like The Orphanage, is also terrific. 8.5/10