Nigel P The music of the magnificent Bruno Nicolai ushers us into a busy street scene in which young blond is travelling across town to meet a friend. An elevator. A gloved figure dressed in black. A knife. A spattering of bright blood. And we're off … Lots of scantily clad girls. A camp photographer. Edwige Fenech. An audience of men politely denying a challenge from a dominating model Mizar (Carla Brait): "Let's you and I do it." She's issuing a challenge for a 3-minute wrestling match, of course, and naturally, she wipes the floor with any who accept her challenge. She is not quite so successful when pitted against the mysterious murderer, however … Fenech plays Jennifer Lansbury, estranged wife of aggressive swinger Adam, who demands she returns to him and his polygamous lifestyle. Too obvious to be the killer, attention then turns to Lansbury, who is used as bait to trap the killer by Commissioner Enci (Giampiero Albertini).There are some effective set-pieces, my favourite of which is the demise of playful scamp Marilyn (Paola Quattrini) in the middle of a bustling street. As she clutches at the blood gushing out of her stomach, no-one appears to take any notice, or are too busy to care, before she collapses in the arms of handsome Andrea (George Hilton) – who becomes yet another suspect.There's an elderly eccentric (and horror comic addict!) who is discovered to be hiding her deformed son David. Naturally, being scarred, he is also a sex fiend (!) with designs on Lansbury. Could he be a further possible felon? Whoever the murderer is, and I'm not telling, Fenech is the star and quite rightly her character is central throughout (Producer Luciano Martino and Fenech were an item at the time). She is not only a sublime actress that oozes a genuine charisma, but alongside Rosalba Neri, I would say she is one of the faces of giallo. When the tension is ratcheted up toward the end, there's genuine concern for her. My favourite giallo featuring Fenech continues to be 'The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (1971)', but 'The Case of the Bloody Iris' occasionally approaches a similar standard.

GL84 Moving into a new apartment building, a pair of models find themselves becoming the object of a strange killer searching the tenants of the building and as the rampage continues they find themselves at the center of the killers' target and must try to stop him before they kill again.This was quite an intriguing and enjoyable enough Giallo. Like the majority of the films in the genre, this one really gets quite a lot to like here from the opening half which definitely starts off with the typical introduction of the suspects for the case. As much of the opening act is concerned with the strained relationship with the ex-husband detailing flashbacks to their kinky sex-life with orgies and free-love galore modeled around the few select stalking scenes within the apartment and the concurrent investigation that brings the girls into the building makes for a great set-up in this particular genre. Due to the different photography sessions and the murders usually conducted in the bathrooms the nudity present as well certainly helps move this one along rather nicely with these more traditional elements introduced in the police officer investigating the crimes on the outskirts of their lives. Those are just as much fun with the different strikes coming off incredibly well, with the opening murder in the elevator being effective and startling at the beginning of the film, an attack in a victim's darkened apartment knowing there's somebody in there with them is quite effective while the stand-out sequence of an attack in the middle of a crowded shopping center while passersby are so wrapped up in their own lives they fail to notice the death in the first place is a real show-stopper. Later scenes of the stalking in the cars' junkyard which turns into the big battle in the abandoned factory that's really enjoyable, while the main confrontation at the end which uses the twist-ending and brawl with the killer that's rather nice and enjoyable, ending this one a fine note. While these make for a nice enough Giallo, it does have a few flaws to it. The main issue is the fact that the film decides to pile on a series of red-herrings into the plot that it really doesn't make much sense at all. Simply trying to get as many plot-points as this one maneuvers through into action manages to downplay the action into a crawl for a long stretch of time trying to get everything out to set-up it's red herrings moving the story along. It really doesn't generate the kind of proper structure here maintaining all these obscure characters and useless tangents looking at the other features that manage to hold the middle section into a veritable loop of rather bland moments which really slows it down, quite the opposite of what's really needed at that point in the film. Likewise, the other facet of this manifests itself in the fact that the killer is quite easy to guess and really doesn't come as that much of a surprise when it's revealed, leading to a slightly unimpressive finale because all the time has been spent on these other areas that it just feels quite lackluster. These here are the film's issues.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language and mild sexual scenes.

ferbs54 "The Case of the Bloody Iris" (1971) stars giallo's "Golden Couple," Edwige Fenech and George Hilton, who had recently appeared together in the Sergio Martino masterpiece "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1970) and would soon costar in Martino's giallo/Black Mass hybrid "All the Colors of the Dark" (1972). The two make a handsome couple, to put it mildly; indeed, they almost make Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in 1955's "To Catch a Thief" look dowdy! The story here concerns a whacko who's been killing the female residents of the luxury high-rise building where fashion models Edwige and her roommate have just moved. This giallo nutzo shows some imagination, however, and doesn't just depend on a straight-edged blade to do his work; he also drowns his victims in a bathtub and scalds them with hot steam! Many suspects are offered to the viewer: an old lady who loves horror stories, her burnt-faced son, the lesbian next door, her violin-playing dad, Hilton himself (the architect of the high-rise), Edwige's stalker ex-hubby, et al. I amazed myself this time by nailing the culprit halfway through, and I usually stink at these guessing games. Anyway, director Giuliano Carnimeo has shot his film in a fairly straightforward manner, with little of Martino's flashy "stylistics," and composer Bruno Nicolai's theme music is as hummable as can be. All in all, a fun giallo, if nothing great, that is hindered here by some pretty poor dubbing (subtitles would've been so much more preferable!). But Edwige...OMG! I've seen her in five films lately, and still can't quite believe how extraordinarily beautiful she is. My fellow men, you owe it to yourselves to see this spectacular Eurobabe at least once in your lifetime. Then you'll understand why I laughed out loud when one of the characters in this film tells her that she's not his type!

christopher-underwood Very enjoyable and good looking giallo, even if the gloves are more a gold colour. Lots of modelling and nudity in addition to the frequent killings and attempted killings - drowned bound in the bath is a new one on me.Edwinge Fenech is lovely throughout, nothing new there then, and despite the dubbing everyone seems convincing - even the cops with their own little brand of humour.Bruno Nicolai's soundtrack jingles along seductively much in tune with the pop art feel of the picture. So, it looks good, sounds good and feels good. Shame about the title(s) though!