RINGS OF FEAR (Alberto Negrin, 1978) **1/2
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).
score 6/10
Bunuel1976 18 September 2007
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1732264/34995
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