Friday, October 28, 2011

Delitto d'autore (The Author's Crime)



Although I've had the film for a while now, it wasn't until recently that I had the chance to check out Mario Sabatini's fairly rare giallo. Unfortunately (but perhaps not unsurprisingly) it wasn't the lost gem I had hoped for. Generic and instantly forgettable, the film featured to some locations that could (and probably would) have been used to better effect in the hands of a more competent director than Sabatini. Not even the presence of Sylva Koscina, Pier Paolo Capponi, Luigi Pistilli and Krista Nell can save this below average giallo.

No info on who's responsible for the poster art, but you got to love that amateurishly added underwear.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Delitto al Circolo del Tennis (The Rage Within)

A quick look at Franco Rossetti's imdb page shows that he's got writing credits on films like Django, Texas Adios and Zabriskie Point, but his directing career seems fairly unremarkable and after seeing this it's easy to see why. Delitto al Circolo del Tennis doesn't really make me want to seek out any of his other films. The weak plot revolves around a blackmailing scheme and I found it quite plodding and lacking any suspense. The sole redeeming feature is the look of the film (which is unsurprising considering it's shot by Vittorio Storaro), but not even that is enough to save it. I'm quite fond of the poster art by Ciriello though.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Il Mostro (The Fiend)

Luigi Zampa's 1977 giallo/drama doesn't have the most inspiring poster art, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got a chance to see with fansubs last month. The story centers around a newspaper reporter who receives a letter from a killer and starts exploiting the fact to his own advantage. The traditional giallo elements aren't kept to a minimum, but the direction is competently handled and the ending is really quite powerful.

Friday, October 7, 2011

I Vizi morbosi di una governante (Crazy Desires of a Murderer)


There’s little about this Filippo Walter Ratti directed giallo to make me recommend it. Since the film is set in a castle, there are a few scenes with a somewhat gothic touch to them that I liked, but it’s a slow moving story filled with uninteresting characters and a minimal amount of suspense. There’s an eyeball removal scene and a fair amount of nudity to liven the proceedings but that doesn’t compensate for the fact that is a rather lacklustre effort.

The poster has been quite difficult to find, but when I finally came across it, I ended up with two copies within a week. Artwork by Crovato

Saturday, October 1, 2011

La Sindrome di Stendhal (The Stendhal Syndrome)


I first saw La Sindrome di Stendhal at the Stockholm Film Festival in 1996. Dario Argento was in attendance and I remember feeling underwhelmed by it at the time. I had seen Trauma at the same festival a couple of years earlier and while I wasn't particullary impressed by Argento's 1994 film, this was even further away from classic Argento territory. This was of course long before the likes of The Third Mother and Giallo, so while I've grown to appreciate it since that first viewing, it's still fairly low on my list of my favourite Argento films.


It took my surprisingly long to find this locandina. You'd think the poster for a relatively recent film like this would be easy to find, but it seems quite rare and I've only seen it for sale a couple of times. I was lucky enough to get my hands on this Immagine & Strategia designed poster in september.