The story is a bit on the schmalzy side, but overall it's a decent little crime thriller, Argento-ized with numerous close-up shots of the killer's eye, quick bouts of vicious stranglings and a couple of dutch-angled stairway shots for good measure. Ennio Morricone provides the slightly staccato jazz beats to put the viewer in even more disarray. Except when they have the little girl on screen, then it's some of the worst, pandering, sympathetic shite that's ever made its way into your eardrums.
Poor blind bastard Franco Arno (Karl Malden), is doomed to be blind and be called "Cookie" by his only surviving relative (his niece). Under his care, he makes the little girl act as his eyes to a somewhat disturbing conversation he overhears as the two are walking by a car late one night. You know murder will follow. But who? Oh, plenty of people! And fortunately for the sadistic, almost all are carried out POV, never revealing who the killer actually is. Then there's this Reporter who thinks he's all bad-ass and a cop or something, getting the inside scoop from the actual cops. The other major leads he gets is from a blind guy, so I hope his journalistic skills are better than his take on criminal deduction. It's amazing how the killer always seems to be present at wherever the major investigations are being conducted. Either they've got quite the knack for knowing who's going to discover what next, or are just perpetually running 5 minutes late to every crime.
