Who Saw Her Die? (1972)

Original title: Chi l'ha Vista Morire?

Director: Aldo Lado

Writers: Francesco Barilli, Massimo D'Avak

Composer: Ennio Morricone

Starring: George Lazenby, Anita Strindberg, Adolfo Celi, Dominique Boschero, Peter Chatel, Piero Vida, Jose Quaglio, Alessandro Haber, Nicoletta Elmi

More info: IMDb

Plot: A young girl is brutally murdered somewhere in France. Sometime later, the same thing happens to the daughter of a well-known sculptor. This time the parents (the sculptor and his wife) start investigating, and soon find they are in way over their head. Meanwhile, the body-count keeps rising as the killer now starts butchering all those who find out too much...

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Sweet!  George Lazenby starring in a Giallo (thriller) from '72!  Oh, wait, his voice was dubbed by someone else.  Damn it!  It's still a good flick.  Thanks to Ennio Morricone's unsettling main theme, this high body count whodunit set in Venice with a fine cast is more enjoyable than a lot of this genre that I've seen.  It's not a genre I'm fond of only because of the high rate of bad to mediocre films.  I'm getting picky with the ones I watch these days.  Anything with Lazenby is going to get shown in the Scorethefilm house.  Like a good Giallo, you get knifings, black gloves and nudity.  You also get a long list of suspects that get killed off one by one so you keep adjusting who you think the killer is until it's whittled down to a tight short list.  Don't look for greatness but you'll find a worthy entry into the genre.  Great score.  It's going to take a while to shake that reverb theme out of my noggin.

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

Original title: Il Tuo Vizio e una Stanza Chiusa e Solo io ne ho la Chiave

Director: Sergio Martino

Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Ernesto Gastaldi, Luciano Martino, Sauro Scavolini

Composer: Bruno Nicolai

Starring: Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli, Ivan Rassimov, Angela La Vorgna, Enrica Bonaccorti, Daniela Giordano, Ermelinda De Felice, Marco Mariani, Nerina Montagnani

More info: IMDb


Plot: The decadent and alcoholic writer Oliviero (Pistilli) has Oedipus complex and is the abusive husband of the submissive Irina (Strindberg) that is frequently humiliated. They live in a dilapidated mansion that belonged to Oliviero's mother and he likes to promote decadent parties for hippies that are camped nearby the real state. Irina is scared of his cat Satan that belonged to his mother. When Oliviero's mistress and former student Fausta (Giordano) schedules an encounter with him and is found dead, he becomes the prime suspect of the local police inspector.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

With strong characters and performances (especially from Pistilli, who plays a great bastard, Fenech and Strindberg), this Giallo has a lot to offer.  Pistilli wallows in the twisted Oliviero and he's so easy to hate on.  The locations, sets, camera work, story, everything is nicely done.  The score has an old world feel to it that fits nicely with the visuals and Nicolai also has themes that mirror contemporary Italian Gialli.  It's erotic at times and there's a lot of nudity but it's not excessive.  This isn't some cheap thriller thrown together to get buts in seats.  The filmmakers went that extra mile to turn out a good, interesting, entertaining thriller that has the added bonus of being somewhat based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The Black Cat.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  Giallo isn't a genre I'm fond of because it's got to be good for me to like it.  Spaghetti Westerns, for example, have different elements I can enjoy even if the movie isn't good.  I dug this film and I'm hoping to have better luck like this when watching others in the genre.

The Murder Clinic (1966)

Original title: La Lama nel Corpo

Director: Elio Scardamaglia

Writers: Ernesto Gastaldi, Luciano Martino, Robert Williams

Composer: Francesco De Masi

Starring: William Berger, Francoise Prevost, Mary Young, Barbara Wilson, Philippe Hersent, Harriet Medin, Germano Longo, Massimo Righi, Delfi Mauro, Anna Maria Polani, Rossella Bergamonti, William Gold

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Bloodletter! Bone-chilling! The thing is subhuman and it has a knife!

Plot: Patients and staff of an isolated mental hospital are being killed off by a hooded maniac who stalks the halls.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I don't think the Giallo genre is for me.  I've liked so few of them and the rest often have pacing issues.  This picture looks fantastic.  The period look rivals that of Hammer.  De Masi's score has some really nice moments.  The acting (I watched an English dub) gets a tad too dramatic at times but it was fine for what it was but I just couldn't stay engaged.  It took a few attempts to get through it.  On paper and considering that it looks like a high quality picture, I expected more...and that's while I'm watching it, thinking this is going to be good as it unfolds.  I'll say this much, they kept me guessing who the killer was and I reckon I wasn't disappointed by the ending so much.  Geez, this was slow.

5 Dolls for an August Moon (1970)

Original title: 5 Bambole per la Luna d'agosto

Director: Mario Bava

Writer: Mario di Nardo

Composer: Piero Umiliani

Starring: William Berger, Ira von Furstenberg, Edwige Fenech, Howard Ross, Helena Ronee, Teodoro Corra, Ely Galleani, Edith Meloni, Mauro Bosco, Maurice Poli

More info: IMDb

Plot: A small group of people come to an island to relax but soon find themselves trapped on the island with a murderer in their midst.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Here's another Giallo that Netflix has categorized as horror.  I'm not complaining because I knew what this was before I watched it and it's been on my mental list to see for a while.  It's OK.  The occasional humor helps like when the bodies are put in the freezer as they're discovered.  There's a little nudity but not much.  The mystery isn't all that interesting but Bava makes good use out of the villa and the island because that's where we are the entire time and at least that and the mod decor kept it a little interesting on the eyes.  The music is half annoying and half good.  Umiliani has a main theme that starts out good and then goes cheesy but I can still dig it.  It's currently streaming on Netflix.

Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970)

Original title: Il Rosso Segno Della Follia

Director: Mario Bava

Writers: Santiago Moncada, Mario Bava

Composer: Sante Maria Romitelli

Starring: Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander, Laura Betti, Jesus Puente, Femi Benussi, Antonia Mas, Luciano Pigozzi

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When you chop, aim well! Don't slip! And just make sure She doesn't drip!

Plot: A bridal design shop owner kills various young brides-to-be in an attempt to unlock a repressed childhood trauma that's causing him to commit murder.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

I'm not a huge fan of the Giallo (70s Italian murder thrillers) genre although I've seen some I dig.  A problem that plagues many is the slow pacing.  This one could stand to lose a few minutes overall but it's still a pretty good thriller.  It takes a while to get into this one as the first hour drags but once you get to the point where John (Forsyth) starts to lose his shit and sees things, it gets much, much better and it's got a great ending, too.  Forsyth's performance grows on you.  I really dig how fucking ballsy this character is in coming right out and telling people (who always think he's kidding) that he kills people.  The music feels awkward sometimes as if the cues were written either for another film or without the composer watching the scene before writing the music like the director just gave him an idea of what the scene is or something.  If you digs you some psychological thrillers of the old school then give this one a shot.  It's currently on Netflix streaming and I also noticed the full film on YouTube.

Amuck (1972)

Original title: Alla Ricerca del Piacere
AKA: Hot Bed of Sex

Director: Silvio Amadio

Writer: Silvio Amadio

Composer: Teo Usuelli

Starring: Farley Granger, Barbara Bouchet, Rosalba Neri, Petar Martinovitch, Dino Mele, Umberto Raho, Nino Segurini, Patrizia Viotti

More info: IMDb

Tagline: He kidnapped beautiful women, forcing them to do what he wanted...AND HE WANTED EVERYTHING!

Plot:  Greta Franklin, a beautiful American blonde, arrives on an island near Venice and rings the door-bell of Richard Stuart, a famous novelist who lives in a beautiful house with his wife Elonora. She manages to be hired as Richard's new secretary, the former one having disappeared without a trace. What Richard and Eleonora do not know - yet- is that Greta has a secret motive for taking the job: not only did she know Sally, her predecessor, but she was her lover.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm not a huge fan of the Giallo (Italian murder mystery) genre.  Maybe it's because I haven't seen that many good ones.  The kills are usually cool and they're stylish but the pacing is generally slow and that can be a deal breaker if the picture doesn't have much else going for it.  AMUCK is different and I appreciate that. Barbara Bouchet always brightens up a any picture she's in and back in the 70s you could pretty much count on her getting naked so that's a plus.  By the way, there's a lot of nudity in this picture.  The love scene flashbacks are in slow motion and that's not a bad way to do it.

Teo Usuelli's score is all kinds of groovy.  I was totally diggin' it and the slower tracks felt an awful lot like Ennio Morricone so I was surprised seeing Usuelli's name in the credits instead.  The picture has some nice moments and a reasonably good finale but the highlight is definitely Bouchet.  The movie isn't nearly as exciting as the poster below suggests, as great as the poster is.

Deep Red (1975)

Original title: Profondo Rosso

Director: Dario Argento

Writers: Dario Argento, Bernardino Zapponi

Composer: Goblin, Giorgio Gaslini

Starring: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Meril, Eros Pagni, Giuliana Calandra, Piero Mazzinghi, Glauco Mauri, Clara Calamai, Aldo Bonamano

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When was the last time you were REALLY SCARED!!!? PSYCHO? The EXORCIST? JAWS? Now there's DEEP RED.

Plot: A musician witnesses the murder of a famous psychic, and then teams up with a feisty reporter to find the killer while evading attempts on their lives by the unseen killer bent on keeping a dark secret buried.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Featured on Stephen Romano Presents Shock Festival (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

It's been many years since I saw this flick and what stayed with me were some fantastic imagery and an incredible main theme.  I didn't remember much about the story, the characters or the ending.  To me, that's Dario Argento in a nutshell.  He's a master of color, light and composition.  It seems as though that's often the case with him, style over substance, something I have no problem with (sometimes).  With this picture, though, he's got both, which makes this one knockout of a picture.  I recently saw this in a theater on a giant screen and it was magnificent and hearing Goblin's fantastic score in that setting just made the night.  You really get to absorb yourself in it when you see movies blown up like that.  Remember that scene where the mechanical doll shows up?  I completely forgot about it and it freaked me the fuck out.  It couldn't be more out of left field, bizarre and have no bearing on the story or even make the first lick of sense but having it provided a very powerful moment that I can't imagine this film without.  It was batshit nuts and I loved it.  I really dig this flick and I have a renewed appreciation for it.  I'm looking forward to seeing it again, especially if there's a special edition DVD/Blu-ray out there with lots of extras I can delve into.

Pieces (1982)

Original title: Mil Gritos Tiene la Noche

Director: Juan Piquer Simon

Writers: Dick Randall, Joe D'Amato, Juan Piquer Simon

Composers: Carlo Maria Cordio, Librado Pastor

Starring: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Brana, Edmund Purdom, Ian Sera, Paul L. Smith, Jack Taylor, Gerard Tichy, May Heatherly, Hilda Fuchs

More info: IMDb

Tagline: You Don't Have To Go To Texas For A Chainsaw Massacre!

Plot: Young co-eds are being cut up by a chainsaw killer on a college campus. The killer is attempting to put together a human jigsaw puzzle made from body parts.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? I doubt it.

Featured on Stephen Romano Presents Shock Festival (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

This feels like a down the line cross between a slasher and a giallo and it works as both.  There are a few grisly chainsaw deaths (the only form of killing in this picture) which are all fun to watch.  And like most 80s horror you get some nice nudity from time to time.  It was neat seeing Paul (Bluto from POPEYE (1980)) Smith, who could be the killer.  The motivation of the killer is never explained well, I mean, at least you don't know why he's suddenly killing after all these years.  It's not that important, I guess, that we know but it would have been nice if that had been thought out.  But who comes into these pictures wanting a great story, right?  Just bring on the fun, gory kills and some boobs every once in a while and give us 90 minutes of fun and this one does that.

A Blade in the Dark (1983)

Director: Lamberto Bava

Starring:  Andrea Occhipinti, Anny Papa, Fabiola Toleda, Michele Soavi, Valeria Cavalli, Stanko Molnar, Lara Lamberti, Giovanni Frezza, Marco Vivio

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When the lights go out, the knife goes in.

Plot: A film composer hires a country house to write the soundtrack for a horror B-movie. There he discovers something about a mysterious girl called Linda and suddenly people around him begin to be killed. Maybe the solution is in the final scene of the movie he's working on.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? Nope.

I'll give them this much, there are barely any movies that deal with film composers and this is one of them.  This is Lamberto "son of Mario" Bava's second picture, his first being MACABRE (1980) which is the other film on the DVD I have (soon to be 'had').  That one was worse than this but better in that it was 18 minutes shorter.  Either way you lose.  The story on this one is inventive and it's got a neat little ending (love the brick to the head shot) but it soon loses it when one guy has to explain everything to another ala the ending in PSYCHO (1960).  The score by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis helps but not enough.  There isn't a composer out there that could salvage a near two hour leisurely paced thriller.  I guess I have something else positive to say after all...Bava did get a little better on this second outing.  Maybe I should skip the rest of his pictures and watch the 34th and most recent one.  At this rate it should be a damn fine film.

Macabre (1980)

Director: Lamberto Bava

Starring: Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse, Ferdinando Orlandi Fernando Pannullo, Elisa Kadigia Bove

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Prepare yourself for the Shock of a Lifetime!

Plot: A middle-aged woman, traumatized from the death of her adulterous lover, moves into a room at a New Orleans boarding house where the blind landlord becomes suspicious to her activities of continuing her affair with her dead lover.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? Nooooo.

This late entry into the Italian Giallo (murder thriller) genre is the debut feature from Lamberto "son of Mario" Bava.  It takes place in New Orleans and being how this is the English dub, the Southern accents are laughable.  That aside, as a lot of giallos go, it's slow and tedious.  There's lots of lurking and searching of rooms which feels like padding (it's only 89 minutes but it feels like two and a half hours).  The only thing remotely interesting (besides the lovely naked Italian beauties) is the absolute last moment in the film.  SPOILER ALERT...YARRRRR!  The blind dude is feeling his way across the top of a bed.  What we can see (and he cannot) is a severed head with no other body parts keeping it company.  Right when he gets up next to it the head ferociously rushes to his neck.  End of story.  WTF?  It didn't make any damn sense whatsoever. Whatever.  It's hardly a payoff for such a dull film.  To make matters worse, the DVD I have is a two-fer with Bava's second feature effort, A BLADE IN THE DARK (1983) which is only slightly better.  What's that?  Can't wait to see this?  Wait no more...