Michael Ledo When Angela washes up on the beach, a detective (Fabio Testi) investigates a girl's school with a lack of social graces. The plot wasn't half bad, what there was of it. The film had that same wonderful substandard dubbing we have come to accept with questionable restoration. On the plus side the film boasts ample gratuitous teen full frontal nudity. Available on 50 DVD packs.

Michael_Elliott Enigma rosso (1978) * 1/2 (out of 4) Inspector Gianni Di Salvo (Fabio Testi) is called to a location where the mutilated body of a teenage girl has been discovered. There aren't too many clues but the girl's young sister tells the inspector of some of her sister's girlfriends who were a part of some sort of pact.ENIGMA ROSSO is the third and final film in the unofficial "schoolgirls in peril" series, which also featured WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SOLANGE? and WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? Both of those films were much better than this final entry, which is a pretty good showcase as to why the giallo was drying up around this period. Unlike the previous two films, this one here is just a flat mess that really doesn't have too much going for it.Like the previous two movies this one here deals with a rather dark and perverted storyline but very little is actually done with it. There's some nudity scattered throughout the picture but for the most part the death scenes are extremely awful and not very memorable. The plot is also rather confusing and is just never interesting enough to grab your attention. The one saving grace is the performance of Testi who at least offers up a nice laid back character.

MARIO GAUCI Third and least of a series of ‘schoolgirl’ gialli: the previous two, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? (1972) and WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (1974), were both directed by Massimo Dallamano – he co-wrote this but, since he died in 1976 and the film was released a couple of years later, it appears that he only managed to be involved during the early stages of the writing.Anyway, the earlier films had tackled the subject matter from different angles – the first from the viewpoint of a suspect and the second from that of the police. The third entry should have taken yet another view – perhaps from that of a possible victim – but, being an Italian/West German/Spanish co-production, the casting of Fabio Testi (graduating from the suspected teacher in SOLANGE to a police inspector) prevailed as well as that of German actress Christine Kaufmann in, basically, a nothing role! While the plot isn’t particularly involving and fairly muddled until the various threads come together at the end, the film provides the usual quota of thrills, gore and sleaze: especially interesting is the cross-cutting (albeit too brief) between an orgy and an abortion, but also notable is the scene where marbles are used for purposes of murder (a girl slips down a flight of stairs and, symbolically, brings to the ground with her the statue representing the saint after which the school is named). Incidentally, both the original title – which translates to RIDDLE IN RED – and the English RINGS OF FEAR prove meaningless! The score by the usually-reliable Riz Ortolani does the job but it’s nowhere near as memorable as the work of Ennio Morricone on WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? and that of Stelvio Cipriani on WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? Still, the identity of the corrupt official exposed by the investigation (there's always one but, this time, he also doubles as the killer!) is interesting – and even more so that of the “Nemesis” figure, whose messages (quoting poet Robert Burns) turn up intermittently throughout. The supporting cast includes veteran German actor Ivan Desny as Testi’s superior and Jess Franco regular Jack Taylor as the depraved but gutless owner of a shop for women’s clothing. The English dubbing wasn’t too bad under the circumstances, though the image quality of my DivX copy was soft and incredibly murky (especially during scenes set in the dark).

gridoon This rather obscure giallo is relatively tame in terms of gore, but gets its creepiness from certain plot elements, like the young age of some important characters. The plot has too many suspects to keep track of and is difficult to follow at times, but that's not surprising considering that SIX (!) people worked on the script. Add some high-grade nudity from some VERY beautiful schoolgirls, a bizarre method of interrogation (choking the suspect while on a wild roller-coaster ride!), and a perfectly functional Fabio Testi performance in the lead and you have an uneven but creepy giallo. Too bad I only saw a badly cropped version of it, called "Trauma". (**1/2)