It was 11.15pm on Saturday and Nottingham was awash with inebriated young people.
Mrs W and I, the epitome of sobriety, ran the gauntlet of the crowds to take in Cineworld's last showing of this Spanish chiller.
I'm always a bit wary of movies which are 'presented by' somebody famous but directed by someone else.
In this case, Guillermo Del Toro has his name in lights but the movie is helmed by Guillem Morales.
Del Toro, in fact, seems to be getting his moniker attached to all sorts of stuff lately. He was associate producer of Biutiful, creative consultant on Megamind, executive producer of Kung Fu Panda 2 and here he is just plain old producer. What does it all mean?
Well, for Julia's Eyes, it means the phrase 'from the makers of the Orphanage' can be slapped all over promotional material.
The Orphanage still has the kudos of being one of the creepiest imports into the UK in the last five years - any link is worth establishing.
So let's address that point first. Julia's Eyes is creepy. The jumpometer was needed five times. But, in terms of a story, it does not match up to the Orphanage.
That's not to say it's bad, far from it - it's just not outstanding.
The story surrounds Julia (Belen Rueda) who has the same degenerative eye disease as he twin sister who has been found hanged.
The authorities and her husband (Lluis Homar) try to persuade Julia that her twin committed suicide but she cannot be convinced and sets about trying to prove someone else was involved.
This sets off a significant creepfest.
Director Guillem Morales does a splendid job of using darkness as his key method of frightening his audience.
For much of the movie Julia is either in the dark or has bandages around her eyes (no spolier - just at the poster). I felt like I shared her sense of the unknown.
He also uses a superb trick of not showing the faces of the some of his characters until the audience has built up an expectation of them.
Rueda helps build up the suspense with a frantic display.
There are a couple of gory bits but overall Julia's Eyes plays with the mind more than the eyes.
Mrs W and I were impressed and agreed on a rating of 7.5/10
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