The greatest films ever made mostly hail from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and the silent era, with some outliers from more recent years. This is not one of those. Meanwhile, though there are plentiful exceptions, genre fare in the 50s is commonly known for subpar schlock more than earnest film-making and storytelling, and cinema only started to crawl out of that rut in the 60s. I'm certainly not saying that 'Der Fluch der grünen Augen,' also known as 'Cave of the living dead,' also known as 'Night of the vampires,' is as bad as 'Attack of the giant leeches,' but it falls well short of being an exemplar, too. For all the good horror and sci-fi to be claimed among mid-century fare, this flick roundly fails to make much of an impression at all. Could you do worse? Yes. Is there actually any need to watch this? No.
The filming locations are gorgeous. The production design and art direction range from commendable to fantastic, and likewise the costume design, hair, and makeup. Those stunts and effects that are employed, though not necessarily anything remarkable, are mostly quite good. Generally speaking this was beautifully shot, a credit to both filmmaker Ákos Ráthonyi and cinematographer Hrvoje Saric. The story is flush with ideas ripe for genre storytelling, fitting right in with more famous features that play in similar spaces. All this is well and good. Yet the writing is highly variable, at first feeling decidedly forthright, then gawky and scattered, then slothful. The plot does solidify and become more specifically engaging over time, but in a runtime of under ninety minutes, that irregularity is unfortunate, and the greater strength takes all too long to manifest - with the less favorable traits never going away., and continuing to rise and recede. For as nice as the visuals may be, Ráthonyi's direction is less sure-footed when it comes to bringing the screenplay to fruition, very much echoing the writing in its uneven thrust, with a curiously indistinct, flat tone further mucking up the proceedings. The acting sadly follows in kind, varying from "okay, sure" to "pretty good."
There are far worse ways to spend your time. However, that the most appreciable facets here have to do with the excellent craftsmanship, and not the storytelling, says all one needs to know about the movie. I'm glad for those who get more out of it than I do. I don't dislike this, and I don't regret spending my time here - but I won't spend one minute thinking about 'Cave of the living dead' hereafter.
