Eye Without A Face is essentially a webcam based adaptation of Rear Window concept–someone thinks they see a murder take place while spying on their neighbor, only this film cleverly applies the concept to webcams. They can be a window into our lives, seemingly waiting for a neighbor to peek into, and this psychological thriller explores the loneliness and social anxiety aspects of online stalking.

The performance of Dakota Shapiro as the main character Henry is great for the majority of the film. Shapiro does a good at displaying the weight of the social anxiety the charter feels. The roommate, Eric (Luke Cook), does a great job at being a fun goofball without feeling annoying or forced. His character is the comedic balance to anxiety-ridden Henry. A slow burn in its pacing, Eye Without A Face acts more as a character on Henry rather than being dependent on the plot.

Eye Without A Face also spends an extended amount of time on building the individual lives of the women in the webcams via voyeurism, giving a glance inside the personal lives of a few different girls. The best part is when Henry begins to mentally breakdown after witnessing the first murder and has to convince Eric that his suspicion is valid. From there the two friends investigate the woman in the webcam to find out if she’s a murderous, cannibal housewife.

Somehow the killer (whose devil mask reminds me of the one in Hack-o-lantern) is able to find the girls from the other webcams that Henry has been following, which results in some pleasant blood FX that remind us just how close a shave can be. The gore adds to the decent production value and helps remind you this a horror movie, not just a dark character drama.

The film peaks in its writing quality around the ending of the second act, before it starts to crumble in the last fifteen minutes. The only thing the ending succeeds at is making you question the internal logic of the rest of the movie. It is an absolute damn shame, because the first two acts of the film are really good.

It helps that the technical aspects, from the cinematography to lighting to production design as well as color palette, are all great. That detail put into creating the unique lives of the girls on the webcams creates a commendable level of authenticity. The performances of Shapiro and Cook are honest and committed, they act (no pun intended) as the foundation the film rests on. Overall, Eye Without A Face is mostly well done even if it doesn’t stick the landing and begins to fall apart under the weight its own plot twists.

7 out of 10