qmtv Incredibly long, slow and boring film. Took me 3 sittings to finish this one. 1 star for filler.I saw the follow up to this "Death Walks at Midnight" and thought it wasn't great, but it was entertaining, and cool parts, so it got a C, or 5 stars. Not so with High Heels. This movie just plain sucks. Here are the good parts: 1) The main actress was good, not great, her dance scenes were entertaining. The doctor, his wife, maid, and fisherman were OK. 2) The opening scene with the first kill was OK, not great. The woman getting cut up, again OK, not great. 3) Cinematography was good, again not great. Some of the scenes near the beach house were cool. Better to watch a travel video.Now here are the worst parts of this pile of crap: 1) Acting was trash. The French boyfriend, and his accent. The two cops, rubbish. The blond hair guy with his stupid stare and then the dress! The idiots at the bar, old lady and the fool next to her. The older guy selling the boat, trash. You see this guy walking around, like it means something. 2) The story was trash. It had some ideas that needed to be worked out. And for giallo it wouldn't have taken too long to fix it. But the story was so long, incredibly convoluted even for giallo. 3) Script/Dialogue was trash and repetitive. There's a scene where the idiot cops find the blue eye contacts and asks the female assistant to have them checked out, TWICE! There are scenes of people walking around, that the cinematographer took good aim to capture, that just takes years away from your life. There are numerous attempts by the cops, with zero charisma, at humor. It doesn't work. It bores and stalls the movie. 3) Yellow Vomit. We get to see the French Boyfriend puke out of the window, after drinking coffee/lemon, on top of a cop. Now, who the hell came up with this brilliant idea? Was it supposed to be more of this thing called comedy, or shock. I don't know.The music was just filler. I was basically bored and disgusted by this film. I don't remember the music. Editing was competent, but someone should have told them to cut all the boring inconsequential parts out. That would have cut down the boredom and moved this film along.So, I was thinking that since I liked "Midnight", I would give this a 2 or 3. But adding it all up. This film is a failure. 1 star. The only reason I would recommend watching this movie is if you're interested in studying it as a social experiment. After watching it, read the reviews and compare notes, and try to understand your fellow film aficionados. Current IMDb rating 6.5. It can be viewed for free on youtube.

Mark Turner (This review is of the box set of two Luciano Ercoli films, DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS and DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT) This box set from Arrow Film combines two films by director Luciano Ercoli, an Italian director with little output in that role and only double that as a producer. While his output wasn't significant the quality of these two films shows much potential and the fact that had he chosen to do more he would have left a larger legacy behind for others to follow. As it is, both films offer well-made giallo films that fans of the genre will want to add to their collections.The first of the two is DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS and is the better of the two films. The film stars the director's wife Nieves Navarro as Nicole Rochard, a well-known and much sought after striptease artists in France. Nicole's father was a renowned jewel thief and when he's killed someone calls her asking if she has his last score, something she knows nothing about.A fan of Nicole's, Dr. Robert Matthews, attends nearly every performance she has no matter where she's working. After Nicole has an argument with her boyfriend over his drinking due being jealous of her success, she finds friendship and love in the arms of Matthews. After a quick romance heads home to England and she accompanies him. He sets her up in a house in the country, a place his wife knows nothing about. With promises of leaving her to set up his own practice, things begin to happen.Murders of various side characters occur with startling frequency. An attack on Matthews happens, his wife the main suspect. Nicole's boyfriend shows in England trying to find her. And a twist near the middle of the film comes completely out of nowhere and sends the film off in a new direction. While this may seem like a brief synopsis to reveal any more would be to spoil the surprises the film has in store.The movie works best as a mystery with clues being presented for the viewer to decipher but all doesn't become clear until the end of the film. What makes it work is that they all make sense and were there for the most part to be seen throughout the film. What makes it even better is the fact that even the most jaded mystery fan might have a difficult time knowing who did what to whom, something few mysteries can accomplish these days.The second film, DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT, once again stars Navarro this time as super model Valentina. Valentina tries an experimental drug in the presence of a reporter friend and while on the drug sees images of a murder taking place. The fact she took the drug ends up in his article and she loses work because of it. It also discusses her visions and suddenly she begins seeing the murderer tracking her. When he makes an attempt on her life, only she has seen him. Is there someone out to kill her or is she simply hallucinating it all? Characters appear for no reason with no background only to take center stage at various parts of the film. As viewers even we aren't sure of Valentina's mental state at first. While the film starts with a decent premise it becomes a "are you kidding me" film as stupid decisions are made from start to finish. An example is, after having been attacked by someone she doesn't see, Valentina is asked to get in the car of a woman she has never met to talk and go for a drive. Not the smartest thing to do. When the woman abandons her in a mental institution where the convicted killer of the victim she saw in her drugged state is at (who is also supposed to be the sister of this woman), Valentina leaves only to go with the same woman to another location later on. With enough moments like this the movie became frustrating for me as a viewer.But good or bad the main thing here is that two movies that may have been lost to the world have been rediscovered and brought out in the best possible transfer possible. Arrow once again goes above and beyond to deliver a package that fans will clamor to and others may want to see to get a taste of what giallo is all about, if for no other reason than the first film. Both display great cinematography that I've not come to expect in Italian made films from the time. Another plus.Keeping in mind that this is an Arrow Films release you know there will be plenty of extras on hand for those that enjoy them. Included in the box set is a limited edition 60 page booklet with writings from authors Danny Shipka, Troy Howarth and Leonard Jacobs, all non-fiction writers about the giallo genre, that includes stills and posters for both films. For the first film you'll find extras like an introduction by screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, an archive interview with Ercoli and Navarro, an interview with Gastaldi, an interview with composer Stelvio Cipriani, the original Italian trailer and an English trailer. On the second film you'll find another introduction by Gastaldi, an audio commentary track by film critic Tim Lucas, and extended TV version, an interview with Gastaldi and a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie discussing the collaborations between Ercoli and Navarro.Fans of giallo will find this a must have. The same for collectors of Italian cinema of that time period. Fortunately for both, Arrow Film has done a marvelous job on this one, making it one worth owning as well as worth watching for those new to the genre.

Witchfinder General 666 "La Morte Cammina Con I Tracci Alti" aka "Death Walks With High Heels" was my first venture into the world of Luciano Ercoli, and I have to say that this gripping 1971 film is a terrific example of Horror's finest sub-genre, the wonderful Giallo. I have not yet seen Ercoli's directorial debut film, "Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion" ("Le Foto Proibite Di Una Signora Per Bene", 1970), but if it is anywhere near as good as this film, I am more than looking forward to it. "Death Walks On High Heels" is an intelligently scripted and excellently executed Giallo that focuses on the mystery elements of the sub-genre, more than on the Horror elements. And what a mystery it is! Nicole (Nieves Navarro), a sexy Paris exotic dancer and daughter of an infamous Jewel thief, is being threatened with murder by an unrecognizably masked assailant. In order to save her own life, Nicole goes to England with Robert Matthews (Frank Wolff), a rich doctor who has fallen for her. But the danger does not cease to exist across the pond... I do not want to give away any of the marvelous plot twists in this gem, which is why my plot description is only quite vague. What I can say, however, is that this is an excellent specimen of the Italian Giallo, which all the desirable trademark ingredients. Stunning suspense and genuine creepiness are present from the first minute, all coming along with an excellent score and on beautiful settings. The film is not very gory, especially not by Giallo-standards, but it includes more than one moment of delightful sleaze. Sexy Nieves Navarro was a delight to cult-cinema fans in several genres, most frequently in Spaghetti Westerns and in Gialli, and she is once again great here. This is the third-to-last film starring the great Frank Wolff, the last ones being the brilliant "Milano Calibro 9", which ranks among the greatest crime flicks ever made, and a presumably trashy film called "When The Women Lost Their Tails". Wolff, an American, who had become one of the greatest regulars in Italian genre cinema after starring in Spaghetti Westerns including such masterpieces as "Once Upon A Time In The West" and "The Great Silence", sadly committed suicide in 1971 - a great loss for Italian cinema. This is one of the many films that prove what a great actor he was. Simon Andreu is also good in the role of Nicole's Parisian macho boyfriend. The supporting cast includes many familiar faces for fans of Italian cinema, such as the weird-looking Luciano Rossi and George Rigaud. All said, "Death Walks With High Heels" is a terrific Giallo that comes with my highest recommendations. A must-see for all suspense-fans!

lazarillo A jewel thief is killed on a train by a man with piercing blue eyes. His daughter, a Paris stripper, believes the killer is after her, and after finding blue contact lenses in the medicine cabinet of her thuggish pimp-boyfriend, she flees France with a rich admirer she hardly knows to his villa a remote Scottish fishing village (where it isn't just the water that's full of red herrings).This is a great giallo with a very convoluted but highly enjoyable plot and plenty of style to burn. The setting is pretty unique and the movie makes the unusual but interesting decision of killing off an important character halfway through. It does run out of gas a little at the end, but it's still pretty damn satisfying. The leads are all good, especially the sexy Nieves Navarro, director Luciano Ercoli's real-life wife. Navarro turned in really good performances in her husband's other movies ("Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion" and "Death Walks at Midnight")and was scrumptious bit of tail in everybody else's ("The Slasher is a Sex Maniac", "Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals"). Here she is really good AND a scrumptious bit of tail. She was probably the hottest Spanish actress of the era with the exception of Soledad Miranda (who was a good ten years younger). But I digress. The new DVD version of this looks great and includes "Death Walks at Midnight", an interesting booklet, and a groovy soundtrack CD. Highly recommended