VividSimon Simply Perfect

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Mikel3 This is a strange story of infidelity, horror and revenge. I wouldn't say it was a great movie, it did hold my interest and there were some very scary moments in it. After a certain point when the revenge started...it was predictable. I'd compare it to 'House of Wax' in some ways. I rate it a 5 out of 10 for the acting by the leads and the off-beat story. Barry Sullivan was good and he delivered some very chilling lines, especially when he was telling his former mistress to run while she could. It's a film with the type of plot more often found in Spanish, Mexican or Italian made films of that time. It's not like the standard run of the mill USA/UK type horror films made back then.

Elliot James The really interesting thing about the horror films of the 50s and 60s is the amount of implicit kink and perversity that got through the censors of the time, proving that the censors were looking for visual elements to prohibit, not plot points or dialogue. If Pyro had been produced with the same sado-erotic fever as four of the most lurid and salacious horror films ever made around the same time (Psycho, Horrors of the Black Museum, Peeping Tom and Circus of Horrors), Pyro would be a classic today. The beginning of Pyro shows the climax, a huge mistake. Producer/writer Sydney Pink felt Pyro was his best film. There are several excellent flourishes throughout Pyro, a title Mr Pink felt was not commercial for the USA. He wanted to call it Phantom of the Ferris Wheel, which is not much better. (It was titled Phantom of the Ferris Wheel in England where it did good business.) An excellent actor, Barry Sullivan shows the signs of deterioration early in the film when he verbally jousts with firebug Hyer at their first meeting. Her criminal insanity and "hot" temper excites him--this is a woman who screws a total stranger within five minutes of meeting him. Half-way through their affair, she reveals to Sullivan that her daughter is the result of incest with her own father, a revelation dropped as fast as it is delivered. Hyer looks in her mid-30's and since the girl is about ten, the writers leave the door wide open for what actually happened. Very powerful stuff for a movie made in 1961, no matter the country of origin. (How did this get through the Franco-era Spanish censors?) That he has a super-hot wife drives home the point that he has a moral compass in need of repair. Little more than a soap opera, Pyro totally disintegrates in the final 20 minutes. Crazy nymphomaniac Hyer's death is perfunctory and shot in an anti-climatic style although the unmasking scene with Sullivan on top of her is both creepily erotic and horrifically effective. (The burn make-up was excellent.) The closing scene--Sullivan kidnapping the child and going on his Ferris Wheel with cops closing in--is beyond clichéd, boring and routine. The Ferris Wheel climax of Horrors of the Black Museum pre-dates Pyros' similar ending. (The writers must have seen Horrors.) Another mood killer is the horrible travelogue-style music, some of the worst music ever scored for a thriller. It's almost as if the music was lifted from a romantic light comedy and just dropped onto Pyro's audio track, without purpose or understanding. The fire effects were very well done--too bad the demented world of pyromania was never explored in any way. A young Soledad Miranda shows an incredible kittenish sexuality very reminiscent of Yvonne Monlaur in Circus of Horrors. Her inexplicable interest in the masked fugitive Sullivan, a man more than twice her age, is a full circle rotation pointing towards Hyer's involvement with her father. I'd like to see a remake of Pyro in the hands of Eli Roth or Brian Yunza but B-level films like this are just not produced anymore, at least not for theatrical release.

bensonmum2 A married man has a torrid affair with the previous owner of the house he has bought for his family. He tries to end the affair, but the woman will have none of that. She sets the house on fire killing his wife and child. Burned beyond recognition, the man vows revenge against his former lover.Overall, Pyro is a nice little horror/thriller. The plot, although predictable, is generally well paced and only gets bogged down by the love story on one or two brief occasions. It's the predictability that keeps me from rating Pyro much higher. There are a few chills to be had like the scene where the woman runs in fear down a deserted street at night, afraid that her disfigured lover is about the catch-up with her. The acting is a notch or two above what I have seen in other early Spanish horror films. Both Barry Sullivan and Martha Hyer give excellent performances in the lead roles. Hyer, in particular, is wonderful as the scheming, murderous ex-lover. Finally, the burn make-up is effectively creepy. It's the stuff of nightmares.A couple bits of trivia – first, apparently Pyro was the first horror/thriller movie to be filmed in Spain. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. I just thought it was interesting. Second, cult fans may be interested in catching Pyro to see a young, pre-Franco Soledad Miranda in a small role. She doesn't do much, but she has a presence about her that's unmistakable.

Kelt Smith Low budget, odd little movie has some chills, and good performances by MARTHA HYER and BARRY SULLIVAN. Laura Blanco (HYER) is a divorcee with a young daughter who has a fling with family man Vince Pierson (SULLIVAN). When his wife finds out, Vince tries to break off from Laura. She, however, has other ideas and believes that if Vince's wife & daughter are out of the way, she'll have him all to herself. Seeing Vince leave his house with wife & daughter still inside upstairs, Laura slips in and splashes gasoline around and sets the house ablaze. She even goes so far as to cut the water off, and attach a container of gasoline to the plumbing. Vince comes back and runs into the burning house to save his family. I can't say anymore without giving away the ending, but the rest is a pretty good thriller. HYER is very good as pure evil Laura. SULLIVAN also does well as Vince. In some ways this movie might remind you of FATAL ATTRACTION 20 years earlier. A stern warning to married men seeking greener pastures. This was one of AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL pictures, low on production dollars, and yet with its creepy plot, still a worthwhile thriller!!!