A Quiet Place to Kill

This week I stepped back into the world of Giallo with:

A Quiet Place to Kill (1970).

We meet Helen (Carroll Baker), a race car driver who has a bad crash. Upon leaving the hospital she gets an invitation from her ex husband Maurice (Jean Sorel) to stay at his villa to recuperate. She takes the invitation, and upon arriving discovers that the invitation was sent by Maurice's new wife Constance (Anna Proclemer). Maurice is an incorrigible flirt and is very keen to “get to know” Helen again, despite her reluctance. Soon Helen finds herself embroiled in two potential murder plots as Maurice and Constance are not happy together.

A Quiet Place to Kill is directed by Umberto Lenzi, perhaps more famous for his horror movies like Cannibal Ferox. He does have a pretty varied career with several Gialli, lots of horror and even a few sword and sandal movies. Fun fact, the main camera operator for A Quiet Place to Kill is Joe D'Amato (as Aristide Massaccesi), who went on to have quite a blood drenched directorial career himself.

A Quiet Place to Kill is a very muted Giallo, with a minimum of blood, no black gloved killer stalking the victim, and only some mild nudity. In many ways it comes across as Hitchcock passed through an Italian filter. This is not a bad thing, I thoroughly enjoyed the tension. The chemistry between Baker and Sorel is very good, you can absolutely believe that their characters were married, bitterly divorced but still hot for each other. Sorel does a fantastic job as the charismatic ladies man, always confident and smooth yet completely untrustworthy. Baker does an equally great job portraying a woman who goes from confident to increasingly paranoid with nerves stretched to the breaking point.

The rest of the cast is good, the music is perfectly correct and the movie is very nicely shot. Personally and perhaps unfairly I always compare Gialli cinematography to The Fifth Cord (1971), because that movie has multiple scenes that belong in a museum of art. The cinematography in A Quiet Place to Kill is competent, if unremarkable, and doesn't get in the way of the movie.

So, do I recommend this movie? Absolutely. A Quiet Place to Kill is a great starter Giallo, it's not too convoluted or too horror adjacent for a general audience. Like I mentioned above it is very Hitchcock-esque, and although somewhat slow at times, it does a great job throwing curve balls at you when you least expect it. A Quiet Place to Kill is nowhere near one of my favorite Gialli, but I am really pleased to have seen it. If you're in the mood for a quality thriller give A Quiet Place to Kill a chance.

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