Death Will Have Your Eyes (1974)

Director: Giovanni d'Eramo

Starring: Marisa Mell, Farley Granger, Helga Line, Luciano Pigozzi, Francisco Rabal, Riccardo Salvino

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Love, lust and murder in the Eternal City

Plot: Louisa (Mell) is a young woman who comes to Rome and soon drifts into de facto prostitution in order to survive. She meets a misanthropic doctor and would-be poet, Armando (Granger), but soon falls in love with another man, Stefano (Salvino). Murder ensues and she soon finds herself being blackmailed, sexually and financially, by her husband's shady driver, Antonio (Pigozzi), who saw something he shouldn't have.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

#42 on 42nd Street Forever Vol. 1 (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

Considered a Giallo (Italian murder thriller), it's surprising lacking any blood or grisly kills. There are only a couple of kills and they are very tame but that's not why you watch these films. Oh, wait, yes it is...that and the stylish atmosphere. DEATH lacks that, too. There's nothing all that interesting regarding the stories or the characters. The biggest plot chunk of the movie has Antonio putting the squeeze on Louisa for blackmail money and sex. Unfortunately for him (and us), he lingers too long. After that order of business is done we're only minutes away from the tragic and anticlimactic ending. At first I was intrigued, as much as someone who still isn't sold on this genre can be, and then they lost me. There's not enough character development to keep it interesting. It hasn't turned me off of Giallo (yet) but I've got a long way to go before I give it up. There are a lot of quality titles on my stupendously long list of movies I need to see before I die.