Bearing in mind that I'm not the world's biggest giallo fan, this typical entry in the genre is very much of the "seen it all before" type. There's a mysterious black-gloved, black-coated (sigh) killer going around bumping off lots of different people in diversely unpleasant ways; a dogged inspector tracks down the murderer but always ends up staying one step behind until the end, and lots of people argue, fight, and make love along the way. The story of this one is as garbled and confused as ever, and, typical of this genre, you're never really given the full picture of what happened, and too many characters make things hard to bear. This time around it's something to do with kidnapping and unpleasant hints of child abuse.
However, the film does have some plus points in its favour. It's set entirely in the Italian countryside, which looks very nice indeed, and the central crime scene – a stagnant lake surrounded by derelict buildings – is an aesthetically pleasing, almost Gothic one. The film is enhanced whenever Ennio Morricone's typically excellent music plays, this time taking the form of a sad lament sung by a crying woman – it's really eerie and adds a little atmosphere to the proceedings. The giallo genre is renowned for its sadistic slayings and this film is no exception; people are bludgeoned, strangled, and, in the gory highlight displayed prominently in the film's advertising, a woman is taken to pieces with a circular saw – a very nasty scene indeed. However, my favourite murder is the one which opens the film, which is so over-the-top that it has become my favourite opening scene of any giallo; a JCB picks a guy up BY HIS HEAD and decapitates him! A great, cheesy moment that hints at similar moments to come but sadly no more arrive.
The script is quite interesting for a change and the film has been well dubbed into English. George Hilton, one of the giallo genre's hardest workers, is fine as the inspector, if a little unsympathetic; he's supported by a range of interesting character actors in the likes of William Berger and Manuel Zarzo, and attractive Euro-actresses like Patty Shepard and Helga Line whom the director somehow contrives to make look unattractive. The film does have some intermittently good 'detective' moments straight out of an Agatha Christie book, including the fun 'whodunit' climax. But in all other respects it's very much by the book.
However, the film does have some plus points in its favour. It's set entirely in the Italian countryside, which looks very nice indeed, and the central crime scene – a stagnant lake surrounded by derelict buildings – is an aesthetically pleasing, almost Gothic one. The film is enhanced whenever Ennio Morricone's typically excellent music plays, this time taking the form of a sad lament sung by a crying woman – it's really eerie and adds a little atmosphere to the proceedings. The giallo genre is renowned for its sadistic slayings and this film is no exception; people are bludgeoned, strangled, and, in the gory highlight displayed prominently in the film's advertising, a woman is taken to pieces with a circular saw – a very nasty scene indeed. However, my favourite murder is the one which opens the film, which is so over-the-top that it has become my favourite opening scene of any giallo; a JCB picks a guy up BY HIS HEAD and decapitates him! A great, cheesy moment that hints at similar moments to come but sadly no more arrive.
The script is quite interesting for a change and the film has been well dubbed into English. George Hilton, one of the giallo genre's hardest workers, is fine as the inspector, if a little unsympathetic; he's supported by a range of interesting character actors in the likes of William Berger and Manuel Zarzo, and attractive Euro-actresses like Patty Shepard and Helga Line whom the director somehow contrives to make look unattractive. The film does have some intermittently good 'detective' moments straight out of an Agatha Christie book, including the fun 'whodunit' climax. But in all other respects it's very much by the book.