Bezenby If you have a daughter make sure she's not dumb enough to end up with a partner like this. Valentina is a fashion model (this is a giallo, after all) whose journalist boyfriend manages to talk her into taking an experimental LSD-like drug for the sake of a magazine article. He assures her she'll be wearing a mask and a doctor will administer the drug, but once she's high as a kite he takes the mask off and starts taking pictures of her. While she's ripped to the nines and well muntered, larging it the 'nth' degree and chewing her cheeks, she also has some sort of vision where she sees a man punching a woman in the face over and over again with a spiked glove. Thinking it was all part of the trip, the next day she gets sacked from her job and finds her face plastered all over her boyfriend's magazine. She also finds out the 'doctor' was a doorman, goes mental, and throws a brick through her boyfriend's window. Then she starts seeing that killer around the place, and it seems that not only did she not hallucinate a murder, but the drug might have triggered a repressed memory of murder she may have witnessed six months before – and it gets even more complicated than that!We know the killer right from the start, but we have no idea who he is, what he's up to, or why someone is in a loony bin for a murder he seemingly committed! Many other characters turn up to badger Valentino, and two very shifty gentlemen, including a knife throwing, giggling Luciano Rossi, roll into town for some reason too. The police are pretty much useless in this one, so can she turn to one of her two boyfriends for help? That's right, two, and one of them is a sculptor looking after two Japanese kids, for good measure.Just like Ercoli's previous film Death Walks on High Heels, this one is a bit too long, but the pay-off is well worth it! Just about every character that makes it to the end of the film ends up on the roof of an apartment block for a final fight/punch up/stabbing/gun fight, and this is where Ercoli finally unleashes the nastiness. One character even ends up splattered across the pavement with his brains lying next to his head and his cigarette holder poking through his face. Kinds of wakes you up a bit when that happens in a film.So then, another good, solid, beautiful looking giallo from Ercoli. I can't wait to watch the next one: Open the Door, Get on the Floor, Death Walks the Dinosaur!

trashgang For so many this is pure cult and now that the Blu ray release is on it's way it was time to go pick it up. I must admit that I'm not a big fan of the Giallo genre. Some are stupid and are clocking in at two hours, way too long. And the script itself is sometimes hilarious as I mean, the conversations. Let this on be a perfect example of it. The conversations were so dull that I lost track of the story and laughed it out sometimes. There isn't that much going on, oh yes, the glove is there, and the killings are all linked and you will be fooled and you do see the killer in the first minute you think but overall this is the Giallo I don't like. I'm more fan of the sleazy Giallo's but most of them aren't released and are still OOP. If you want an example, Giallo A Venezia (1979). But Dario Argento I can dig too. Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Red-Barracuda The third of Luciano Ercoli's trilogy of early 70's gialli is the oddest of the three. It tells the story of a fashion model who takes a hallucinogenic drug for a photo shoot. While tripping she witnesses a murder in the apartment across the street. She then finds herself stalked by the killer and drawn into a complex web of shady goings on, including drug trafficking and murder.This movie is quite disappointing when compared to its predecessor, the effective Death Walks on High Heels. However, it starts extremely well. The trip murder sequence is well handled. Its both visceral and dreamlike, with a memorably creepy looking killer. Unfortunately, this excellent opening is the highlight of the movie. There are a number of other effective set-pieces but the movie gets bogged down a bit with excessively convoluted plot lines. There is a large cast of characters and it becomes difficult keeping track of who did what where. Everything is wrapped up when most of the remaining cast members get involved in a ridiculous, but fun, fight on a rooftop.This is not a great giallo, however, it is certainly likable. Susan Scott is, as ever, great value in the lead role. She carries the film through the less interesting phases, ensuring that things never really get boring. Simón Andreu also is reliable. Ercoli shoots the film well and the decor is impressive. Overall, this is a beautiful looking, well acted but somewhat silly giallo. Its not one of the best from the genre but it is fun in a camp sort of way.

The_Void It would seem that many fans don't consider 'Death Walks at Midnight' to be a good film, and while it's not a first class addition to the Giallo sub-genre; I rather liked it. The film is far less graphic than many Giallo fans will be used to, and there aren't many murders. The first and central murder leads you to believe that this film will feature more bloodshed as the film goes on; but the plot veers off-course often, and the film doesn't always focus on the murder themed plot. The first murder is so striking largely because of the murder weapon used; I've never seen a spiked glove before, and the murder scene is stylishly shot and gives the odd murder weapon a good environment to operate in. The plot is co-scripted by two prominent forces in Italian films; Sergio Corbucci ('Django') and more importantly, Ernesto Gastaldi who has a number of important Giallo classics under his belt, most notably Sergio Martino films such as Your Vice and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail. It follows a woman who tries out an experimental drug and while under its influence, witnesses the aforementioned graphic murder.The plot seems like an all too obvious excuse for a different perspective on the common Giallo theme of someone witnessing a murder, and as it isn't given explanation; it doesn't come off as being very credible. Director Luciano Ercoli makes up for this, however, with a constant stream of odd events and a good eye for striking cinematography, and although the plot soon becomes convoluted and often relies on coincidence; it's always engaging, and there's a lot of good ideas on display. The beautiful Susan Scott (a.k.a. Nieves Navarro), who has worked with Ercoli on films such as Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion and Death Walks on High Heels, heads an interesting cast, and does a good job of holding the film together. The fact that we know who the murderer is from the beginning ensures that there isn't a lot of mystery, but this is made up for by the way that there's always something new lurking just around the corner, and the script does a good job of implementing red herrings into the plot. The final twist can be seen coming a mile off; but the rooftop finale is a treat, and overall I've got to say that there's a lot to like about this not often seen Giallo.