So much average

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Made in Spain just before 'Blood and Black Lace' but remarkably little known today considering the amount of attention perennially lavished upon Italian gialli. I've been keen to see this film for over forty years, but ironically just found it on YouTube at the very moment when the London papers are full of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in North Kensington last month and a revolting spate of gratuitous acid attacks by thieves in East London less than ten days ago.Like Takashi Miike's 'Audition' (1999) this film is - if you'll pardon the description - a slow burner that has almost hit the halfway mark before the key plot development that most viewers will already have known about in advance finally kicks in; especially when the film has a title like 'Pyro'.Aided by a literate script and good performances, the early scenes are actually working extremely well purely as an engrossing marital drama in its own right. (It also casually throws in occasional bombshells such as the paternity of Hyer's young daughter which make you wonder what else was in the original script or didn't make the final cut.) But anticipating what is coming inevitably makes it feel like watching an episode of 'Casualty', steeling yourself for what in this context you know is coming.Sullivan is excellent both before and after the life-changing injuries he suffers. While later lying low the way Sullivan carries himself, his subtly immobile face and obvious wig disturbingly suggests the wreckage concealed beneath his disguise; although as usual what we eventually see when he pulls his mask off - although pretty well done - doesn't come close to the horror promised us earlier by the doctor describing his burns. Hyer is excellent too, her handsome blonde-maned good looks - enhanced by leather gear provided by Mitzou of Madrid - seeming in this context almost indecent.

Pre-dating FATAL ATTRACTION by decades, this proto-giallo depicts the nightmare Vance Pierson free-falls into when he breaks off his extramarital affair with sizzling (and mentally unbalanced) Laura Blanco. Before he leaves for good, Laura asks him one fatal question: If you weren't committed, would you stay with me? He answers yes and all hell breaks loose...Barry Sullivan and Martha Hyer were durable contract players in Hollywood for well over a decade before filming FUEGO (aka PYRO) and their considerable talents add immeasurably to the tale. Vance and Laura are Americans living in Spain and find themselves immediately drawn to each other. Vance is an engineer, transferred to Galacia to build a dam, while Laura, her life at a dead-end, is ready to cut her losses and move on. Vance knows he's wrong to pursue a sexual affair with her, not only because it would devastate his wife (nicely played for sympathy by Sherry Moreland), but because he also knows exactly what she is. When she tells him she's never loved anyone, he sardonically asks "Have you ever tried?" She lets that slide because she thinks she's finally found "the one". Laura has the same sensuous sex appeal Hyer gave to her role of prostitute Jennie Denton in THE CARPETBAGGERS the previous year. All fire and ice, her Laura is a scorching pyromaniac, undulating in platinum hair, skin-tight black leather pants and hot-pink top. Vance first sees her this way when he catches her trying to torch her house for the insurance money and falls for her, right then and there, completely forgetting he's married with children. There's also an excellent supporting cast including a very young Soledad Miranda (as Liz) as a small-time carnival cookie who temporarily tempts Vance away from his macabre dance of death with Laura. Fernando Hilbeck plays Julio, a friend and co-worker of Vance's who tries to warn him about how dangerous Laura is. Julio ought to know because he was involved with her before Vance became ensnared in her web.PYRO is also very Eurotrashy ...the way most gialli are. There's lots of nasty little touches put in for apparently no good reason. When Vance admires a picture of her daughter, Laura turns away, saying "Her father was my father." Later, when she catches her daughter igniting matches in a field, her daughter cries out "I'm not doing anything wrong, mommy!" What are we to make of this? That Laura's special brand of insanity is genetic? This film has all the ingredients of a great giallo. There's a gloved killer (more than one actually) and obsessive love and vengeance as motive. When Vance, horribly scarred and near death from the burns he received from trying (and failing) to save his family from the fire Laura purposely set (in an especially chilling scene), he whispers to her from his hospital bed: "Run! Hide!! Take your family and HIDE!!!" An eye for an eye.... The convoluted voice-over in the beginning by Julio is an existential bit of mumbo-jumbo about fate and the ferris wheel. Vance has a special affinity for ferris wheels and gets, fittingly, a job with a traveling carnival once he escapes from the hospital to avenge himself on Laura. The film begins and ends atop one and the dam Vance and Julio are working on is built on it's revolving principals. There's even a little toy ferris wheel on the nightclub table when Vance breaks if off with Laura. It's not hard to get the symbolism: What goes around, comes around...With a little more care and effort, this film could have been amazing. If the (second) killer's identity had been hidden from the audience awhile longer and a few more grisly murders of Laura's friends and family had been added, director Julio Coll would have been in competition with Mario Bava (who just filmed BLOOD AND BLACK LACE) as to who really made the first giallo. As it stands, PYRO is atmospheric, involving, creepy and sick. Guaranteed to induce nightmares in the impressionable and well worth checking out. You'll flip for red-hot Martha Hyer. Just don't get too close...what a smokin' way to BURN!

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.

I watched this movie one Saturday night on Creature Features when I was about 10-years-old and it scared the hell out of me. I had to climb in bed and sleep with my mother for the rest of the night. I didn't scare easily, I had watched The Exorcist, The Omen and every other horror movie of that day, but this one did it to me. It was the shot where Barry Sullivan reveals his face and it is burned and scarred. It truly was a scary moment for me. I bought the DVD a few years ago and rewatched it. I was 35 and didn't have to go sleep with my mother, but it was still creepy. This is a pretty good movie to seek out. Even 25 years later it still had the ability to creep me out.