Black Belly of the Tarantula

More Giallo, this time:

Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971).

The plot in this Paolo Cavara directed Giallo is this:

A killer paralyzes his victims with a long needle to the neck before disemboweling them while still alive and conscious. Inspector Tellini (Giancarlo Giannini) is on the case, leaving nothing to chance as he chases the deranged killer. He also finds the time to handle some incidental drug smuggling until we get a tense climax.

The reason I can't go into any more detail then that is that it would go straight into deep spoiler territory. There are several things I'd like to go over but that would give away important plot points, so I'll do what I can. Maybe consider this a mild spoiler warning, just to be safe.

What immediately stands out is the presence of Inspector Tellini. In the majority of Gialli movies, the police are in the background investigating, but it is usually an involved civilian who solves the mystery. The police are either too obstinate or incompetent to get the killer, but they sometimes show up in the end to do the heavy lifting. Not so in Black Belly of the Tarantula. Inspector Tellini is intelligent, diligent, competent and sensitive. So sensitive in fact that he contemplates leaving the force as he dislikes the violence and sheer nastiness of it all.

The movie is competently filmed with occasional stand out shots. The music is by Ennio Morricone and suits the movie just fine. The other actors beside Giannini are good, but what irked me is that they bothered to get both Barbara Bouchet and Barbara Bach and then sidelining them both a great deal. With a lesser actor than Giannini, Black Belly of the Tarantula would have been a disaster. Luckily this is not the case.

The biggest problem Black Belly of the Tarantula has is the script. It is pretty messy with odd sidelines that make little sense. Busting a scientist for drug smuggling has no bearing on finding the killer, but we waste time on it anyway. One of the victims is killed off camera and beyond seeing the gloved hand of the killer grabbing her, we wouldn't even know she was dead until later when Tellini talks about it in a depressed, almost offhand manner. There is also a blackmailing plot woven into the story and it all becomes too busy. What is there is pretty good, but it gets muddled by adding too much to the story,

So, do I recommend this movie? I guess I do. There is nothing horribly wrong with Black Belly of the Tarantula, but there are numerous small annoyances. On two occasions a person tells Tellini “I'll talk to you tomorrow” and then they get killed. Once is fine, but using the same ploy twice is sloppy. Things like that. There is no way to solve the mystery as the viewer, it is all down to guesswork. I had the killer on my list of suspects, but that was more because I had no reason to not have that person there. If you are on a Giallo journey do give this movie a shot, it is worth it, but put it lower on the list and give your attention to better movies first. It's okay but it could be a lot better.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Bloody Iris...

This week we jump back into Giallo with:

The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972).

Directed by Giuliano Carnimeo and written by Ernesto Gastaldi, this slick movie takes place somewhere in a large Italian city, I don't think it is ever mentioned exactly where.

The movie begins with a woman being murdered in an elevator on her way up to see a client. Soon enough another woman dies in the same building. All we see of the killer are a black overcoat, a black mask and an equally monochrome hat. Unusually for a Giallo, the killer wears thick translucent rubber gloves instead of the normal black leather.

Anyway, we meet Jennifer (Edwige Fenech) and Marilyn (Paola Quattrini), both models who do risque shoots. By chance they meet architect Andrea (George Hilton) who becomes enamored with Jennifer. Thanks to his influence, the ladies manage to rent the apartment where the second woman was killed. Soon they are also stalked by the killer while the police bumble around, collect stamps and make fools of themselves.

The Case of the Bloody Iris has no shortage of suspects. First there is Jennifer's old lover who runs a sex cult and is furious that she left them and is willing to anything to get her back. Then there is Jennifer's neighbors; a strange old conservative lady who buys gory horror magazines and the taciturn music professor who lives with his elegant lesbian daughter. Of course there is also Andrea, the architect and Jennifer's lover. On the surface he isn't much of a suspect since he is afraid of blood, but in Giallo that means very little. After more death and frantic running around, the movie ends with a pretty satisfying wrap up.

The Case of the Bloody Iris is one of those movies that I like but I'm not sure why. Sure, it has great tension and the general atmosphere is great, but the police are pretty much comic relief which I usually dislike in Giallo. The cinematography is alright with a couple of great shots. Besides Fenech and Hilton, the actors are fine but not that remarkable. The sound is functional to good but not great. Nothing really stands out as noteworthy, but somehow they managed to pull off a better than average Giallo.

This isn't the kind of movie where you can follow the clues and deduce the killer, but I was down to two suspects and my theory of how it could be one of them turned out to be true. That is of course always satisfying, but I don't think that is why I like this movie. Overall there isn't anything really new here, but it is all nicely put together.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, I do. The Case of the Bloody Iris is definitely above average though not one of the great Gialli. Genre fans need to watch it, and thriller fans should like it. It is on the harder side of gruesome at times and there is a good bit of nudity so if that isn't your bag stay clear. Then again, if that isn't your thing, you should probably avoid the Giallo genre in general. The Case of the Bloody Iris is 94 minutes that just fly by.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Hands of the Ripper

This week I was in the mood for some Hammer Horror so I watched;

Hands of the Ripper (1971).

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.

Doctor Pritchard (Eric Porter) and his son Michael (Keith Bell) attend a séance, possibly to expose the medium as a fraud. Shortly after they leave, the medium is murdered, and the police suspects one of the guests, MP Dysart (Derek Godfrey). The doctor, who is a disciple of Freud, suspects that the culprit is the young ward of the medium, sweet but mentally ill girl, Anna (Angharad Rees). It turns out that Anna is the daughter of none other than Jack the Ripper, and due to past trauma, she becomes possessed by him when certain things triggers her. The doctor is unwilling to give up on her as well as his own theories, but things quickly spiral out of control.

The reason I placed the spoiler warning is Anna's heritage, but pretty much every blurb I saw leads with that fact so I don't feel too bad.

Hands of the Ripper is directed by Peter Sasdy who also directed The Stone Tape, Countess Dracula and Taste the Blood of Dracula for Hammer, two of which are some of my favorite Hammer movies. This gave me hope for something really good, but I was a bit disappointed.

Two things keep this movie afloat; the actors and the cinematography, everything else is good enough but nothing special. Prop wise this is typical Victorian studio work, fine but nothing out of the ordinary. The gore, what little there is, is quite tame. For having Ripper in the title and being a Hammer movie, I was expecting a lot more but it is what it is.

Speaking of Victorian, they refer to “Our Queen Victoria” but they also mention that “The Ripper was fifteen years ago”. That places the movie in 1903, which makes it the Edwardian era, not the Victorian since Queen Victoria died in 1901. Not a deal breaker by any means, but a bit sloppy to be sure.

The actors do a good job, particularly Eric Porter and Angharad Rees. Even though Anna is pretty catatonic for a good part of the movie, they have good chemistry and pull you into the story. No one stands out as subpar, which is a plus.

The shot composition ranges from good to really good, particularly the end. Many horror movies are good but ends up with disappointing endings. Hands of the Ripper is the opposite. Tame start, alright middle and an excellent ending. There are even some scenes that makes you sit up and take notice.

All this said, do I recommend this movie? Fans of Hammer, Amicus and that style of movie making should enjoy Hands of the Ripper, but general horror fans will probably be a bit bored. If you set your expectations to the right level, this is a good movie. Not one of Hammers stand out productions no, but good enough to put 95 minutes on.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have great week!

 

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh

I finally got my hands on a movie I've been itching to watch:

The Strange Vice of Mrs.Wardh (1971)

This is Sergio Martino's first Giallo, predating all the others I've written about to far. The story is this:

Mrs. Julie Wardh (Edwige Fenech) arrives back in Vienna with her neglectful diplomat husband Neil (Alberto de Mendoza). On her way home, she learns that a razor wielding maniac is killing women, mostly prostitutes. Through her friend Carol, Julie meets Carol's cousin from Australia, George (George Hilton) and they soon develop a romance. Julie is also tormented and stalked by her ex-lover Jean (Ivan Rassimov), with whom she had a stormy relationship. It turns out that Julie likes it very rough in bed, something Jean was more than willing to supply. It was to escape from Jean that Julie married Neil, but sadistic Jean is not a person that takes no for an answer. Things get tenser and tenser as Julie struggles to keep it together while trying to survive.

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is also known as Blade of the Ripper and The Next Victim, depending on where you are. It marks the start of Martino's Giallo career, and the start of a collaboration between him and a small group of actors. He knew who he liked to work with and had no problem doing so. This means that the movie is full of faces that you will see time and time again in his other movies.

Last week in my write-up of The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, I mentioned that one can see the development of Martino's style in it's early stages. This is still true in my mind, but what's fascinating is that The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is much better shot than Scorpion's Tail. Some of the shots are superb and much more artistic than the average Giallo.

The sound is fine to good. A lot of the music sits in the background, where it belongs. However in several scenes there is heartbeat or a kind of dull roar placed over the music that really elevates the tension to a new level.

What really shines are the actors. All the actors do a fine job, but Edwige Fenech knocks it out of the park. In the other roles that I've seen her, she has been collected and in control or more of a side character. Here, as Julie Wardh, she shines in her ability to display paralyzing terror with little more than her eyes. Anyone can scream, cry and run around, but to stand still and show the fear coursing through you with only subtle expressions is impressive.

As for blood and sex, there is a fair amount in The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, particularly sex. The blood should have been more prominent. If someone gets their throat cut, blood doesn't tastefully drip a bit, it gushes. Not a deal breaker by any means, just an observation.

As I was watching, I found plot hole after plot hole, or so I thought. It turns out that, like in Scorpion's Tail, Martino pulls in all the strings and ties them off in a neat little knot by the end. Everything I was going to complain about is sorted and taken care of. Fun fact: the extra H in Wardh was added because a real Mrs. Ward threatened to sue for ruining her reputation. Also a fun fact: throughout the movie, Julie gets red roses with hand written notes. I google translated them all and one states that “Your Vice is a locked room and only I have the key”. This is funny as Martino used that as the title of one of his later movies.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, I do. This is one of those Giallo that should work for all fans of thrillers, not just Giallo fans. It doesn't go too far in any direction and the story is actually really good. It also does something that I can't remember any other Giallo doing, but telling would be spoiling. Can't have that...

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!