"Death Walks on High Heels" is a giallo style thriller that features Susan Scott as a stripper named Nicole who gets caught up in a murder mystery. The complicated plot involves a missing hoard of stolen diamonds that is being sought after by various greedy people. Nicole is the daughter of one of the original criminals responsible for the theft, so she soon finds herself threatened over the phone and then again in person by a masked attacker, who is sure that she can lead him to the jewels, even though she says she knows nothing. She flees Paris and makes her way to England with a rich admirer who promises to protect her - even her French boyfriend is one of the suspects in this mystery where no-one can be trusted. From here on, the plot becomes even more tangled and you'll need your wits about you to make it to the end knowing exactly what's going on.
It's a credit to the writers that they are able to carry on pulling new surprises out of thin air right up to the very last moments of the story, and Ercoli is able to keep you hooked due to the marvellous cinematography, and of course the beautiful women who populate the film, namely Susan Scott and Claudie Lange. Scott is able to carry the film effortlessly, especially in a couple of pretty loopy striptease numbers, as well as the many changes of costume and wigs she sports throughout. And it makes a great change to see a strong female lead as although often in peril, Nicole is a character tough enough to take what's thrown at her with panache.
While the film is fairly low on action and long on conversations, it does dish up one particularly vicious murder in which the female victim is repeatedly sliced with a switchblade knife (This idea was taken to a far more nauseating extreme much later by Lucio Fulci in "The New York Ripper"). Ercoli also stages another spectacular punch up towards the end, in a similar vein to the roof top climax in "Death Walks at Midnight" ...when Ercoli films a fist- fight, his men hit HARD!
Speaking of those conversations, I watched the film in English, and the dubbing probably does the atmosphere a real dis-service, as none of the English script seems to adequately match the emotions the actors are trying to portray. Luckily both this and the other "Death Walks..." movie are out as a double bill by No Shame, and on this release the discs allow you to choose the Italian soundtrack with subtitles and I have a feeling that the translation might be quite a lot better in the subtitles than in the English dub, which probably robs the films of some of the subtler script nuances, and also makes the twists and turns harder to keep up with.
Giallo fans will be happy with the sleek violence on display, and retro fans will revel in the lurid fashions of the era and the sumptuous lounge/kitsch musical soundtracks of both films. Susan Scott is a statuesque beauty who throws herself into the proceedings with vigour, and I enjoyed the film on account of her performance, without which it would probably be only half as entertaining.
It's a credit to the writers that they are able to carry on pulling new surprises out of thin air right up to the very last moments of the story, and Ercoli is able to keep you hooked due to the marvellous cinematography, and of course the beautiful women who populate the film, namely Susan Scott and Claudie Lange. Scott is able to carry the film effortlessly, especially in a couple of pretty loopy striptease numbers, as well as the many changes of costume and wigs she sports throughout. And it makes a great change to see a strong female lead as although often in peril, Nicole is a character tough enough to take what's thrown at her with panache.
While the film is fairly low on action and long on conversations, it does dish up one particularly vicious murder in which the female victim is repeatedly sliced with a switchblade knife (This idea was taken to a far more nauseating extreme much later by Lucio Fulci in "The New York Ripper"). Ercoli also stages another spectacular punch up towards the end, in a similar vein to the roof top climax in "Death Walks at Midnight" ...when Ercoli films a fist- fight, his men hit HARD!
Speaking of those conversations, I watched the film in English, and the dubbing probably does the atmosphere a real dis-service, as none of the English script seems to adequately match the emotions the actors are trying to portray. Luckily both this and the other "Death Walks..." movie are out as a double bill by No Shame, and on this release the discs allow you to choose the Italian soundtrack with subtitles and I have a feeling that the translation might be quite a lot better in the subtitles than in the English dub, which probably robs the films of some of the subtler script nuances, and also makes the twists and turns harder to keep up with.
Giallo fans will be happy with the sleek violence on display, and retro fans will revel in the lurid fashions of the era and the sumptuous lounge/kitsch musical soundtracks of both films. Susan Scott is a statuesque beauty who throws herself into the proceedings with vigour, and I enjoyed the film on account of her performance, without which it would probably be only half as entertaining.