What makes a Giallo a Giallo?

It is no secret that I love the Giallo genre. I have written enough about them to make that obvious. However the question: "what makes a movie a Giallo?" is always at the back of my mind. There is no clear answer to this question. Yes, there are movies like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), Deep Red (1975), Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) and The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971), to name a few, that are undeniably Gialli, but where does one draw the line? What is necessary for a movie to be a Giallo? The sex? The gore? The killer in black gloves? Well none of those things hold the key by themselves, and although those tropes are extremely common in most Gialli, they don't define the genre as such. 

There is some mix of Noir, Thriller, Horror, Mystery and Exploitation that needs to be balanced just right for a movie to truly be a Giallo. Late stage Gialli seem to drop most of the Noir in favor of Horror, and most fans will rate those movies poorly, and even if they do like them, they aren't always considered true Gialli. Stagefright (1987) is one such. It isn't a true Giallo, but it is close, and I do like it. 

I would argue that there can't be too many or ideally any supernatural forces at work for it to count as a Giallo. In Lucio Fulci's The Psychic (1977) we have a woman who sees glimpses of things to come, but that is pretty much as far as the supernatural can go. Once you start mixing in ghosts, zombies, witches and magic, you are firmly in Horror territory. This is why Argento's Three Mothers trilogy cannot be considered Gialli. You can have fake supernatural forces though, that has been done successfully.  

Yesterday I tripped over a documentary that does a good job at answering some of these questions. Officially it is a documentary about Dario Argento who's career includes some of the highest rated Gialli in movie history. He did not invent the genre, but he set the bar and he set it high. 

Unfortunately there are heavy spoilers for a lot of movies, so if you are looking to dive into the Gialli genre yourself DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO! Three years ago I posted a two part video from the wonderful TheKingInGiallo channel that explores this in a spoiler free environment. 

That post is here: https://eccentricspheres.blogspot.com/2023/10/what-is-giallo-really.html

If however you are a veteran of the genre, or are mostly curious to learn more but have no intention of watching the movies yourself, have at it. I found it really interesting. Again, it contains a lot of SPOILERS!

This is the Argento documentary Yellow Fever, and I'll embed it below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmDOJC1pxF4 

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

 

 

What have You Done To Solange?

This week I knocked a Giallo I've been meaning to watch from the old watch-list:

What have You Done To Solange? (1972).

We open on a couple, Rosseni (Fabio Testi) and Elizabeth (Cristina Galbo) floating in a rowboat while making out. She sees a glimpse of a knife and what could be a murder and is too freaked out to keep having fun. This is when we learn that she is in the final year of Catholic school, and he is her gym teacher. Yeah... Then we find out that he is married to another teacher at the same school, Herta (Karin Baal). The next day Rosseni learns that there was a murder and the victim was not only a student at his school but also his girlfriends classmate. Rosseni becomes a suspect and in typical Giallo fashion investigates the killings himself even though he has neither the authority or the training to do so. I'm not going to spoil anything further, but there are a lot more murders and other grisly scenes.

What have You Done To Solange? is usually listed with the seedier Gialli, and is often paired up with What Have They Done to You Daughters? (1974) which I have seen before. The main reason I wanted to watch Solange is so I can stop mixing up which of the similar sounding movies I had seen. There is also a third movie in this “series”, Rings of Fear (1978), but I know nothing about it.

What have You Done To Solange is directed by Massimo Dallamano, who apart from his directing career also worked as cinematographer on A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. His own cinematographer for Solange was again Joe D'Amato, tying neatly if unintentionally into last week's movie.

Solange is a well made Giallo, the music is by Morricone, the cinematography is solid and functional and the actors are competent. The star of the show though is the plot. Naturally I can't go into detail, but I was kept guessing throughout, and I still failed to figure it out even though I was on the right track.

The aforementioned seediness is absolutely there, not just because a married man in his thirties (I'm guessing) is dating an 18 year old, but because someone is repeatedly spying on the girls in the shower, which means that Solange has a lot of nudity. The gore factor is middle of the road with quite a lot of the red stuff, but the camera doesn't linger on it.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, to Giallo fans but no to most others. What Have You Done To Solange? is a fairly average Giallo in many ways, but there is a darkness here that left me feeling a bit weird afterwards. This is not a mark against the movie, rather I wasn't ready for it. Hardcore thriller fans should still be able to enjoy it. I might be overselling a bit here, but without being able to go into details, this is the best I can do.

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

 

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!

 

Seven Blood-Stained Orchids.

Last night I decided to finally watch:

Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972).

When someone makes a movie in a particular genre they have to make a choice whether to color within the lines or to go wild. Veteran director Umberto Lenzi stays within the lines in this Giallo, but that is not a bad thing.

We get the bog standard Giallo killer, complete with trench coat, hat and leather gloves, all in black of course. The killer is on a murdering spree against a specific group of women, and since the police are as useless as always in these movies, it is up to fashion designer Mario Gerosa (Antonio Sabato) to solve the mystery. In typical Giallo fashion, Mario hunts the killer alone and unarmed, as they always do for some reason. I mean, at least carry a pocket knife?

I have seen a handful of Lenzi's movies and they have ranged from quite good to pretty awful, so it was with some hesitation that I gave Seven Blood-Stained Orchids a go, but luckily this is one of the good ones. Most of the actors are veterans as well, many were familiar faces from Italian cinema, and it never hurts to work with seasoned professionals.

The sound was actually good. A lot of the music is the standard jazz of the era, but when the killer is on the prowl, it is genuinely pretty creepy. The cinematography is nothing special, but like with most things concerning this movie, it is good enough.

The standout in Seven Blood-Stained Orchids is the main plot. It is a good investigative mystery, and it doesn't cheat. On top of that, the mystery genuinely drew me in, I had to know what was happening. The clues are interesting and Mario is a good and clever main hero. I didn't know Italian fashion designers had detective training, but in Mario's case, he clearly does.

The killer is smart, daring and ruthless, even intentionally cruel at times. Killing isn't enough, the victims need to feel fear first, which heightens the tension for the viewer. I wasn't able to solve the mystery until Mario does, but that's okay, I like it when I can figure it out, but it's not necessary.

There is some nudity in Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, but nothing too sleazy, all the nudity makes perfect sense. Most kills are half off camera, but there are a couple that aren't and one in particular is very gruesome, so be warned. Then again, if you are interested in Gialli, this kind of stuff probably won't bother you too much anyway.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, without a doubt. There are a few Gialli that I'd rank as good beginner movies and Seven Blood-Stained Orchids is one of them. It's nowhere near one of the best, but because Lenzi chose to color within the lines, he made a stylish and solid Giallo. Well worth seeing.

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

 

Nine Guests for a Crime

I've been wanting to get back to the Giallo genre for a while, so yesterday I watched:

Nine Guests for a Crime (1977).

The plot is simple. We begin by witnessing a group of men brutally gunning down a young man and burying him on a beach. Then we meet a family sailing to a villa on an island. The patriarch, the wealthy Uberto, and his young wife Giulia. There are Uberto's three children; Lorenzo, Michele and Patrizia, and their spouses; Greta, Carla and Walter. The ninth member of the party is Uberto's sister Elisabetta.

We learn instantly that there is bad blood between Lorenzo and Michele, their relationship has been troubled since childhood. Patrizia has visions and everyone thinks she's crazy. On top of everything else, everyone is sleeping with everyone else, sending the tension up through the roof. There is so much hate, bitterness and resentment in the party that it is a miracle they are capable of even looking at each other. Soon enough a mysterious killer starts picking them off one by one in the usual Giallo fashion.

Nine Guests for a Crime (great title by the way) has a lot in common with Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970), with a similar luxurious house on an isolated island and a mysterious killer on the loose. Nine Guests is however a more solid movie than Dolls, even though it lacks Mario Bava's elegant touch.

Nine Guests is directed by Ferdinando Baldi, a veteran director and I think that experience shows in a good way. The actors are likewise an experienced bunch, I have no complaints. The music is fine for what it is and there are some, but not many, fantastic camera shots.

The biggest problem is the dialogue. Like every other Italian movie of the time, it was dubbed in post, but I don't know why it is so mismatched with what is going on. At one point one of the women is drowning, but she is known for her practical and tasteless jokes so no one is too alarmed at first. Uberto realizes she's actually in trouble and snarls at his sons “Don't just stand there, go help her”, to which the reply is: “Yeah, you're right”, in the most laconic tone of voice. It's like Uberto had said “No, you're wrong, we had pizza on Tuesday, not Monday”, and the answer is “Yeah, you're right”. Same tone of voice. There are several instances of this weirdly mismatched tone, but to be honest that is my biggest and essentially only complaint.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, absolutely. For being a low budget Giallo, Nine Guests for a Crime is smartly written and well put together. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, and they respect the viewer enough not to cheat, even though there are a couple of minor details I'd have liked to have been given. I think Nine Guests is a good beginner Giallo if you are a bit on the sensitive side. There is nothing straight up sleazy going on and the murders are pretty, but not completely, bloodless. I'd say it goes closer to a “normal” thriller than most Gialli, but it is still and unmistakable member of the Giallo Family. I had a really good time, and I think you might as well.

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

 

What Have They Done?

This week I took a shot in the dark and watched:

What Have They Done To Your Daughters? (1974)

Co-written and directed by Massimo Dallamano, this movie is labeled as a Giallo and Poliziotteschi combination. Personally I think the Giallo part is fairly minimal, and only really comes to play with a killer in black biker leathers, but technically the terminology stands.

What Have They Done To Your Daughters? opens with the police finding a young girl that has hanged herself. What puzzles the police is that she is completely naked. Inspector Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) is on the case together with assistant district attorney Stori (Giovanna Ralli). Soon they discover a sordid prostitution ring that pimps out teenaged school girls to rich old men. The biker in black runs around with a meat cleaver killing, and little by little, the case gets darker and more dangerous until certain unpleasant realities leads to a grim ending.

The subject matter is of course really unpleasant, but the movie handles it well. There is nothing seductive about any of it, not even the brief scenes of nudity that are scattered around the film. Speaking of nudity, the hanged body in the beginning is clearly a puppet, and a badly made one at that. I thought at first that they went with a prop to spare the characters actress, but she shows up in a flashback scene completely nude anyway, so I don't get the bad prop. There are many ways of faking a hanging without endangering the actor.

The director, Dallamano, has twelve directing credits on IMDB and 45 cinematographer credits so it is clear where his expertise lay. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with his direction, but that the entire movie has the look of someone who really knows and cares about cinematography. There are so many great scenes in What Have They Done To Your Daughters? that it becomes pointless to try listing them.

The actors are all really good, being mostly veterans. They know what they're doing and I have zero complaints on that score. The score is fine, and the effects are excellent. Speaking of effects, there isn't all that much gore here, but when it shows up it is There with a capital T. Because the blood is used sparingly, it becomes more shocking, which is nice.

What I found most enjoyable about What Have They Done To Your Daughters? is that I couldn't predict this movie at all. At this point I have seen a lot of both Gialli and Poliziotteschi movies and they, like so many genres, tend towards certain patterns. What Have They Done To Your Daughters? doesn't outright break the rules, but it circumvents a few of them very nicely. What is also really nice is that the villains, the people running the teens, make mistakes. They screw up and that is a refreshing experience. The tendency is to portray the people running conspiracies as infallible. Not so here, and on top of that, the cops are very competent.

So, do I recommend this movie? Oh yes, definitely! Despite the vile subject matter, What Have They Done To Your Daughters? is a top notch thriller that doesn't shy away from the nastiness but also doesn't glorify it. Thriller fans of all kinds should have a good time here, not just Gialli lovers. The movie hints at being based on a true story or at least based on similar events in real life. I don't know about that, but it does add an extra layer of grime on top of the existing slime.

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

 

All the Colors of the Dark

We are back in Giallo territory with Sergio Martino's:

All the Colors of the Dark (1972).

Jane (Edwige Fenech) suffers from terrible nightmares stemming from both her mothers murder and from the fact that she miscarried when she and her lover, Richard (George Hilton), were in a car crash. Jane's sister, Barbara (Nieves Navarro) urges her to talk to the psychiatrist Barbara works for, Doctor Burton (George Rigaud), but Richard hates that idea and urges Jane to just rest and take vitamins he gives her. A recurring element in Jane's nightmares is the man with piercing blue eyes, since he is the one who stabs her mother to death in her dreams. Imagine Jane's terror when that man (Ivan Rassimov) starts stalking her in real life! Or is it real? Is she hallucinating? In one such panicked state, Jane meets her neighbor, Mary (Marina Malfatti) and they become friends. At one point, Mary confides that she got rid of her problems by joining a cult and performing a black mass. Desperate for help, Jane agrees to attend a black mass and that's when things get really crazy.

All the Colors of the Dark is not only an amazing title, but as solid a movie as any Giallo Martino has directed, but it struck me that it is more a Gothic thriller than a Giallo. A fusion of styles, if you will. The actors are good as ever, particularly Fenech who again demonstrates her ability to convey absolute terror with only her eyes.

The cinematography is good as usual, and Martino plays a lot with contrasts here. In one scene, Jane parks her small gray Mini Morris in front of an equally gray Jaguar and you are struck by how they are both gray cars with round headlights, but otherwise they couldn't be more different. Jane and Mary both compliment and contrast each other, and it all just works.

The story in All the Colors of the Dark is both its strength and weakness. It isn't the kind of story that you can really solve, so we don't need to worry about the movie cheating, but with Janes hallucinations and dreams, it is sometimes frustrating to know what is actually happening. I also wish that Jane could have one moment of power, but alas she spends her time screaming, running and falling down. Admittedly, Fenech does that as well as anyone, but it got a bit samey after a while.

While there are some minor plot holes in All the Colors of the Dark, they aren't that bad. Overall, everything is explained in the end, which again is a Martino staple.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes! Obviously Giallo fans should see All the Colors of the Dark if they haven't, but it could also serve as a “beginner” Giallo since a lot of the expected tropes are absent and replaced with more conventional Gothic themes instead. All in all, this is a solid if somewhat confusing thriller that kept me interested throughout.

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

Death Walks on High Heels

Quite a while ago, I talked about The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970) by Luciano Ercoli. That was the first movie he directed, today we're looking at his second movie;

Death Walks on High Heels (1971).

The movie starts with a murder on a train. We then meet the daughter of the murdered man, Nicole (Nieves Navarro), a stripper who lives in Paris with her ne'er-do-well lover Michel (Simon Andreu). It seems her father stole a load of diamonds and everyone wants them. The common belief is that she has them, despite her protestations to the contrary. The killer calls and threatens her before attacking her in her home. Terrified, paranoid and desperate to get away, Nicole leaves town with an ardent admirer from the club where she dances, Dr. Matthews (Frank Wolff). The good doctor is a respected medical man from England and she gratefully jumps the country with him. He spoils her shamelessly and sets her up in a love nest by a lake. Unfortunately, he is already married although unhappily. To make it worse, it's his wife Vanessa that owns all the money, including his clinic. Then things get worse, much worse, until we reach a dramatic finale.

Death Walks on High Heels is solid in all matters from acting, to locations, props and music. No problems at all. The dialogue, at least the English dub, was a bit subpar, but long term Giallo fans are used to that. My biggest complaint is that the movie tries to pack too much into a time frame that is almost too short to handle it. The run time is 1 hour 48 minutes, which is already long, but this story, which is very good, would do better as a short mini series. There is just so much to unpack.

Much like The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, it is almost impossible to solve the central mystery. Not because everyone looks guilty as all hell, but because no one really looks all that guilty in the first place. To solve the riddle that is Death Walks on High Heels, you need a great deal of information, and the movie doesn't give you that until the very end. Instead it drowns you in clues, some relevant, some red herrings and some that you don't know the relevance of yet.

I won't go so far as to accuse Death Walks on High Heels of cheating, but it is close. By the end all the threads are sewed up, and everything makes sense, but up until then I was very confused. The movie also has an interesting tendency of slamming on the brakes and doing a 180, only to do it again moments later. A dangerous technique in film making, but it really works. Ercoli pulled it off, which is impressive considering it was his second time directing.

At times I wondered what I was watching, especially in the early middle of the film where the pace dies a bit, but once the end rolls around I was impressed. As mentioned above, the story is really good, one of the better in all the Gialli I have watched. Often the story isn't that important, it's in how it is told that Giallo shines. Death Walks on High Heels almost does the opposite.

I have a couple of very minor nitpicks I want to share. At one point, Nicole and Dr Matthews is eating fish. The scene is clearly meant to be intimate and erotic, but seeing them plop bits of greasy fish in their mouths was way too gross to be sexy. I also noticed that the junior Scotland Yard officer wears white socks... I very much doubt that would have been allowed. Finally I want to mention the unevenness of the murders. One is very bloody while another is incredibly lame and one even happens off camera. Odd, but no deal breaker.

So, do I recommend this movie? Absolutely! Death Walks on High Heels maybe a bit slow at times, but it is an excellent thriller and a damn fine Giallo.

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

 

What is Giallo Really?

I checked the post listing and realized that I have written about Giallo movies for over a year now, and it has been a blast. Some of these movies have been amazing while some have been awful. I don't write about the bad ones, just to make that clear, but overall, I have loved every minute of this journey.

On occasion I have tried to succinctly explain what Giallo is, but it is a bigger subject matter than what can be described in a paragraph.

Luckily, I have found someone who can explain it, and that's what we're doing this week.The Youtube channel TheKingInGiallo has two videos the chronicle the rise of the Giallo literature as well as the movies. How they came about, how they worked under Mussolini's regime, what influenced them and what they in turn influenced. If anything I've written about these movies has made you curious, do check these videos out.

But beware, there are some very gory images and some spoilers for a large amount of movies. Overall, the spoilers aren't that bad, they drown in a flood of information, but in all fairness, I have to warn you.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD6Svl7tcO8

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Val-dy4yBDc

I'll embed them below, for you convenience as well, but that's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

 

The Psychic

Fueled by last week's entry, The Lizard in a Woman's Skin, I watched another Fulci Giallo;

Seven Notes in Black, a.k.a. Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes, a.k.a. Death Tolls Seven Times, a.k.a. The Psychic (1977).

We begin the movie with a woman leaping to her death from the cliffs of Dover while her daughter back in Florence sees it happening. We cut to the current day (back in '77) and the now adult daughter, Virginia (Jennifer O'Neill) is happily married to a rich Italian businessman, Francesco Ducci (Gianni Garko). He departs on a business trip and while she's driving home, Virginia starts having vivid visions. She sees a room in red, a hole hacked in a wall, a woman murdered, a magazine cover, someone being walled up alive and more. Deeply disturbed, she visits her parapsychologist friend Luca Fattori (Marc Porel) to get some advice. Later, Virginia decides to renovate an old palazzo that her husband owns in order to distract her from the visions and as a nice surprise for him. To her horror, she recognizes a room in the palazzo and frantically hacks a hole in the wall. What she finds sets in motion a long investigation and series of horrific events.

That's pretty much what I can reveal without spoiling too much.

Like his other Gialli, The Psychic is beautifully shot. I have been so impressed with Fulci's cinematography in his Gialli that I may have to revisit some of his horror movies to see if it was always there, but I have been too distracted by all the buckets of blood and the hordes of zombies to notice. Time will tell on that one.

The Psychic actually has two plot lines that intertwine. One is Virginia's psychic visions and the other one is everything else. The visions are well done and don't cheat. Everything you see is relevant, whether you and Virginia understand what is shown or not. The other plot is a bit muddled. There were a few scenes where important things were mentioned but it's so quick that if you sneeze, you might miss it. That annoyed me as when I read a synopsis after I was done watching, I realized that what I thought was a bit of fluff was actually a super important clue. This might be an issue with this version of the movie, or just a bit of a screw up.

My other big criticism is that most of The Psychic is really slow. A movie being slow isn't automatically a bad thing, but the sense of mystery and doom doesn't manifest until we get to the “endgame”. At that point everything makes sense and I got the feeling that it wasn't just all worth it but that The Psychic is actually a good movie. Before then, I wasn't so sure.

Besides the lovely cinematography, the rest of the movie is also competent. The actors are very good, particularly Jennifer O'Neill, who's piercing eyes work perfectly for the role of Virginia. I realized while watching this movie that Fulci had a real talent for making people seem sinister so that it was absolutely impossible for me to solve the mystery. I did pick up on a couple of important clues, but not the most relevant one.

At one point, Virginia is gifted a watch that plays the titular tune, and I just knew that I had heard it before. Then I read that Quentin Tarantino wanted to remake The Psychic, but that project failed to materialize. However he used the tune in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and that's where I had heard it.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, it is good, at least when you get to the end. It's not really up there with The Lizard in a Woman's Skin or Don't Torture a Duckling, but it is absolutely worth watching.

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

 

A what in who's skin?

This week we're talking about:

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971).

This Giallo is directed by Italian horror Maestro, Lucio Fulci, who also directed Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), which we've talked about before. Interestingly after Duckling was released, Fulci was accused in court of corrupting a minor until he could prove that it was an adult little person. In Lizard, he was accused of excessive animal cruelty until he could prove, again in court, that it was all special effects. Fulci had bad luck with Gialli and the law.

The story is this: Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan), her husband Frank Hammond (Jean Sorel) and Frank's teenage daughter Joan (Ely Galleani) live in an expensive flat in London. Frank, a lawyer, works for Carol's father, Edmond Brighton who is a wealthy lawyer and politician. Carol sees a therapist in order to come to grips with the vivid and disturbing dreams that torment her. Most of these dreams are about her being seduced by their neighbor Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg). Julia is a bit of a pest in the building as she likes to host drug fueled orgies that are very loud.

One night Carol dreams that she stabs Julia to death, and soon after, Julia is found murdered. Things get worse when it turns out that she was killed in exactly the same way as in Carols dream. The question becomes, did Carol kill Julia? If so, was she even aware that she did it? Was it someone else trying to frame and destroy her by driving her mad?

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin is set and shot in London, presumably because, like with The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, it was a bit fancier than filming in Italy. Fulci does a great job with the scenery here. He fully uses the fancy old buildings and the rolling green fields that are so unlike Italy. In fact, it lends the movie an almost Hammer Horror feel that other Gialli don't have.

Something that confused me at first was how Fulci mostly uses steady shots that allow you to take in everything, but then suddenly uses a handheld, shaking camera with closeups. Then it dawned on me that this only happens when Carol is extremely agitated. The shaking camera mimics her shaking hands as she lights a cigarette to calm her shattered nerves. There is also a brilliant bit when a person is breaking down a door and every time the door is struck, the camera quickly zooms in on Carol. Annoying at first, but effective at hitting us with some of the stress she feels. One could perhaps accuse Fulci of being gimmicky, but it's done well, and I call it clever camera work.

The actors are all really good, no complaints, and the music by Ennio Morricone is... there.

Besides all that, the standout part for me is the story. Sure, the theme of the heroine loosing her mind as she tries to escape the clutches of a deranged killer is not only a regular theme in Giallo, it's pretty overused, but Fulci does something a bit different with this tired trope. I completely failed to solve the mystery and I had a blast doing so. This is an extremely well crafted movie in every aspect. It doesn't cheat, it actually tells you everything, but putting all the clues together in the right order, and from the correct perspective is the tricky bit.

So, do I recommend this movie? Absolutely! A Lizard in a Woman's Skin rocketed up into my top list of Gialli. It is in my opinion one of the best in the genre. Just be warned that there is a lot of nudity, some simulated sex and while the gore overall isn't that bad, the scene that landed Fulci in court is extremely disturbing and gruesome. Be careful who you watch this movie with and you'll be fine.

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

 

A Lizard with Hot Breath

This week I watched a Giallo with the amazing title:

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971).

This is one of those Gialli that was filmed abroad because that was considered more sophisticated than just filming at home in Italy. Iguana is set in Ireland, but apart from that it is a fairly typical Giallo. Which isn't a bad thing at all.

We start with a woman being brutally murdered as she waits for her lover. Her corpse then turns up in the trunk of the Swiss ambassador Sobiesky's (Anton Diffring) Rolls-Royce. The police chief is aware that diplomatic issues could be a problem so he gives the case to Detective Norton (Luigi Pistilli) who is a bit of a dark horse due to his history of brutality. Like in most Gialli, more people are soon killed, with Norton hot on the killers heels, when he's not going out with Helen Sobiesky (Dagmar Lassander), the ambassadors pretty daughter. With the murderer even threatening Norton's aging mother and his teenaged daughter, it becomes a high stakes game of cat and mouse.

I was warned that trying to figure out who the killer is in Iguana is impossible, and I agree. All the suspects act incredibly suspiciously, almost to a comical degree. There is a hint early on, and I picked up on it but promptly forgot it as it isn't mentioned again. I wouldn't say that The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire cheats, it's just not interested in being a solvable mystery.

Since the movie is filmed in Ireland, the scenery is amazing, and makes for a welcome change from Italy. The shots are competent, but not mind blowing and the effects are gory but clumsy. You can always tell that it is a dummy being hacked open, which is fine, but one of the victims has a red line going across her clavicle, yet everyone acts like she had her throat cut. A bit sloppy in other words. There are some continuity errors that would have been easy to fix, but there isn't really anything majorly wrong. A special mention must be made about the dubbing in Iguana. All Italian movies were dubbed, and this is no exception, but when we meet Norton he has a ridiculously broad Irish accent, yet three scenes later it's gone, only to appear sporadically. Almost as if the voice actor couldn't be bothered to do it too often.

I have on occasion talked about Gialli with strong elements of comedy and how rare it is that it works. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire does this surprisingly well. Norton's mother, a gray haired lady who is half blind and fairly deaf is mostly played off as comedic relief, but because it is isolated to her and not over used, it actually works! The rest of the movie is suitably grim and bloody.

So, do I recommend The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire? To Giallo fans, absolutely. Other movie lovers will probably be a bit too confused at the goings on, as this is pretty much a Giallo for Giallo lovers. The director, Riccardo Freda made a lot of odd decisions, but the end result is good. It shouldn't work, but for some odd reason it does. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is not, and never will be one of my favorite Gialli, but I had a great time watching it.

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

 

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!

 

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!

 

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail

 This week the subject is;

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971).

This Giallo with it's stylishly pulpy name is directed by Sergio Martino, who has appeared here a couple of time with Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972), Torso (1973) and Island of the Fish Men (1979). The Case of the Scorpion's Tail predates them and you can sort of tell.

The story is this:

Lisa Baumer (Evelyn Stewart) finds out that the plane her husband was on has exploded in midair. She also finds out that he had a huge life insurance policy that she can claim in Athens. Hot on her trail is an assortment of shady characters who want to blackmail her as well as insurance investigator Peter Lynch (George Hilton). Things soon take a dramatic turn and Lynch finds himself under investigation by the police. At the same time he meets local journalist Cléo Dupont (Anita Strindberg) and they start investigating together while also starting a passionate relationship. In the middle of all this lurks a savage masked killer with a very sharp knife.

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail like the other Martino movies I've seen is a solid piece of work. Like the others, it isn't brilliant but it keeps your attention nicely, the tense scenes are really tense and the actors all do a good job. As I like to do, I tried to solve the case and failed miserably. The killer wasn't my first or second pick and although I was a bit confused at times, everything is nicely wrapped up by the end and more importantly, it doesn't cheat! I hate stories that cheat on the solution and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail is on the up and up.

This movie was Sergio Martino's sixth movie, and you can tell he was getting into the swing of things. His two following movies mentioned above are more stylish and polished, but that isn't a bad thing. It is worth noting that the movie doesn't really start up properly until about the 20 minute mark, and until then, things are a bit slow. Don't let that deter you, things heat up and the action scenes are really nice.

Having a couple of veterans in the lead like George Hilton and Anita Strindberg doesn't hurt either. Their romance feels very real and adds another layer of tension with the murderer skulking in the shadows. The Case of the Scorpion's Tail is not one of the sleazy Giallo movies either. There is some nudity and gore, which is to be expected, but overall it is tastefully done. If you can call getting a broken bottle in the eye tasteful.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, absolutely. I'd almost call The Case of the Scorpion's Tail a pure thriller, but there is enough Giallo in it to honestly qualify for the title. Fans of both genres should enjoy it and while it isn't at the top of the heap, it falls into the category of solid and good. Worth the watch in my book any day.

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

The Cat o' Nine Tails

This week I chose:

The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)

This Giallo by genre master Dario Argento is the second in his so called animals trilogy starting with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and ending with Four Flies on Grey Velvet. I had seen this movie before, but that was 15 years ago or thereabout. I remember that I didn't care much for it, and that was about it.

With all the Gialli I have seen in recent years however, I wanted to give this movie a second chance.

The movie opens with someone breaking into a genetic research institute. The watchman is knocked out, but nothing seems to have been stolen. Retired reporter Franco Arno (Karl Malden) lives nearby with his young niece, who helps him as he is blind. He hears something during the break in and his sharp investigative instincts are alerted. The next day he meets Carlo Giordani, a reporter who is covering the burglary. A short time later, a researcher at the institute dies and Franco convinces Carlo that it was murder. Both men love solving puzzles and team up to solve the mystery as person after person dies.

The Cat o' Nine Tails is by no means a bad movie, let's make that clear. It is wonderfully shot with some great scenes, the actors are great, the score is good but... it is almost two hours long and the story is pretty dull. Unlike Crystal Plumage and Four Flies where the stakes are high and the main character has to keep going, Franco and Carlo could have just given up without all that much happening. Sure, a murderer would probably have gotten away with it, but that happens all the time anyway. The stakes here are so low for most of the movie that it unfortunately turns into a bit of a snooze fest. That changes later on, and there are a couple of really intense scenes. The milk scene is positively Hitchcockian.

Argento has said that The Cat o' Nine Tails is his least favorite movie of all the ones he has directed, and I can see why. There is the nucleus of a great story here, but it gets painted over with scene after scene that plods along in a sedate pace.

There is a bit of romance, but since The Cat o' Nine Tails lacks a female main character, it becomes underdeveloped. The lack of a female lead is actually pretty rare for a Giallo, at least in my experience, but that in itself does not hurt the movie. It simply needed to be shorter and sharper.

So, do I recommend this movie? Again, yes and no. If you just want a fun Giallo then give this a miss, but if you are on an Argento trip then you should definitely watch this. As I said, it's not bad it just isn't as good as what Argento can do. If you set your expectations to the right level, you'll be fine.

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

 

Five Dolls for an August Moon

This week we're talking about:

Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970).

This Giallo directed by genre stalwart Mario Bava is a fun mess. The story is this:

Rich industrialist George Stark invites two business partners and a professor together with their wives to his private island. The professor who has invented some incredible resin thinks he's there to relax, but he is there so that the businessmen can persuade him to sell them his formula. People starts to turn up murdered, until we reach the end.

As I watched Five Dolls, I got the feeling I was watching an Agatha Christie movie filtered through a Giallo lens, and it turns out I was right. This is essentially a bit of a rip off of Christie's And Then There Were None. The original director dropped out and the producers got Bava instead. He felt the script needed a lot of rework due to being too close to Christie but filming was slated to start two days later and he had no time. No time and no money either. The actors had to wear their own clothes, that's how small the budget was. With all this in mind, it's amazing this movie is not just watchable but even enjoyable, even if only just.

The cinematography is solid, which isn't surprising as this is Bava we're talking about. The actors are pretty solid with some good names like William Berger, Ira von Fürstenberg (who is a genuine princess), Edwige Fenech and more. What isn't good is the soundtrack which alternates between bad 70's jazz and some I don't know what music. I'm not hard to please when it comes to movie music, but this was unfortunately horrible.

As I watched the movie I was being quite hard on it, but upon reading about how hard it was to get anything at all to screen, I feel a lot more forgiving. For a Giallo, Five Dolls for an August Moon is incredibly tame. No real blood and no nudity. If not for Bava's style and experience, there would be no thrills at all. But he manages to pull this movie across the finish line. That said, there are a couple of massive plot holes that did disappoint me. As always, I was trying to solve the mystery but you can't. Not with the information the movie gives you anyway. You might as well just pick a character at random and see if you picked the killer.

So, do I recommend this movie? To completionists, I do. You might wonder why I would recommend Five Dolls for an August Moon at all after everything I just said, but it has heart and Mario Bava was skilled enough to turn a rotten turnip of a script into something edible if forgettable. Hardcore Giallo or Bava fans can find something to enjoy here, but not anyone else. I like Five Dolls for an August Moon but I will probably never watch it again.

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

 

Autopsy

This week I felt like getting back on the Giallo train so I watched:

Autopsy (1975).

Also known as The Victim or Corpse (terrible titles), this Giallo/Horror is known in Italy as Macchie Solari which translates to Sunspots. Autopsy is directed by Armando Crispino and is scored by Ennio Morricone.

The movie opens with sinister footage of solar flare activity before showing us a bunch of very graphic suicides. We then meet Simona Sanna (Mimsey Farmer), a young pathologist working on her masters degree with a thesis on suicides and faked suicides. The morgue she works in is slammed and she is so exhausted that she starts hallucinating that the corpses are coming to life and having intercourse with each other. We also meet her frustrated boyfriend, a rich photographer and race car driver Riccardo (Ray Lovelock). His main source of frustration seems to be Simonas insistence that they don't fool around until after her thesis is complete.

After a grueling days work, Simona returns home and meets an American, Betty Lenox who is staying in the same building, a building owned by Simona's father. Betty is found dead soon after, apparently yet another suicide, but her brother Father Paul Lenox (Barry Primus), insists that she was murdered.

Simona is pulled into the investigation of Betty's death and soon finds herself in over her head. Everyone seems to be hiding something and trust is hard to come by. People die but are they suicides or murders? Can she even trust herself?

By now you have probably noticed that suicide is heavily featured in this movie. There is also an almost absurd amount of nudity and simulated sex. Simona studies what I have to assume are real photographs of medical deformities and crime scene photos, some that are pretty nasty at that. There is also a scene featuring animal cruelty so if you are sensitive, consider this your warning!

Autopsy is labeled as a Horror/Giallo on Wikipedia and that is true. The beginning has strong horror vibes but after a while it seamlessly translates into a pretty typical Giallo. I haven't seen any of Crispino's other movies but Autopsy is nicely shot. The overall vibe is good, you can really feel the heat and stress building and the actors are solid. Mimsey Farmer has appeared twice here before, in Four Flies on Grey Velvet and in The Perfume of the Lady in Black. Lovelock was in Let Sleeping Corpses Lie and in Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. The rest of the cast are all old hands in Italian cinema and I recognized several faces all throughout.

Autopsy is a solid Giallo even though it feels a bit meandering. The list of possible suspects is a bit too short for such a long winded script and the ending was a bit of a letdown. Instead of the mystery being solved, we are just told who the villain is. Not a deal breaker, but definitely unsatisfying.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, to Giallo and Horror fans I do. I doubt many others would get any real enjoyment from Autopsy. I had a good time, even though this is far from a masterpiece. Even if the ending had been better I'd still rate this as a middle of the road affair which in itself is fine. Solid is still solid.

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

 

The Suspicious Death of a Minor

This week I watched an Italian movie and I can't decide which genre it is:

The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975).

Directed by Sergio Martino, whose name is familiar here on Eccentric Spheres and starring a good chunk of Italian actors across the Giallo and Poliziotteschi catalogue. The main character Paolo Germi is played by Claudio Cassinelli who hasn't appeared here yet.

Right off the bat I want to give a mild spoiler warning. If you look up this movie on IMDB or Wikipedia you will discover this anyway so it isn't a big deal, but if you really want to remain spoiler free, go watch the movie before you read another word.

Paolo is an undercover police inspector who's job it is to secretly look into kidnapping cases since the families usually don't want to involve the cops for fear of angering the kidnappers. We don't find out that he is a cop until about the halfway mark.

The movies starts with a young woman being stalked by a creepy man in mirrored sunglasses. She encounters Paolo but runs away and gets killed. Paolo starts snooping around her death and discovers a seedy conspiracy filled with drugs, sacks of money and underage prostitutes that lead up to some seriously dangerous people.

I want to point out that the underage girls are about 16 while I'm sure the actors were 18+ or the brief nudity would have been illegal. Gross as it is anyway, I'm at least glad that the minor mentioned in the title wasn't even younger.

The reason I can't decide on what kind of movie The Suspicious Death of a Minor is, falls to the fact that IMDB calls it a Giallo, but it feels more like a Poliziottesci movie with a strong tough inspector as the male lead. It also has a strong comedic element. I don't think it is trying to be a comedy but there are scenes that are deliberately slapstick which is odd for a Giallo. I slammed Four Flies on Grey Velvet for its comedy elements, but oddly enough, it doesn't bother me as much here. Possibly because it is such a hybrid movie and because many Poliziottesci movies don't take themselves too seriously anyway. They can be funny in a way Gialli can't. Sure there are some pretty gruesome murders here in Minor, but the overall tone is nowhere near as dark as many Giallo.

The Suspicious Death of a Minor is definitely a “journey not the destination” movie. Particularly since the ending was quite weak, while the rest of the movie is pretty entertaining. Paolo has no problems using some very unorthodox investigative methods, and his bosses are non too happy with him at times.

From a technical perspective, I have no complaints. It is a solid Italian action/drama/mystery/comedy. The actors are fine, the cinematography is fine. The music is what it is as always. Some of the dialog is goofy as hell, and could have been better, but that could also be the comedy rearing it's confusing head, I really don't know.

So, do I recommend this movie? To Giallo and Poliziottesci fans, yes. It's nowhere near the top of any list in my opinion but that also includes the bad lists. The Suspicious Death of a Minor is solidly alright, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who isn't a fan of the above mentioned genres. I wasn't bored at any time, and in fact I was even intrigued, but middle of the road is what it is.

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