excellent giallo, that had been made to look poor previously by poor quality videos
I first saw this movie on videotape, Alpha Video's pan and scan, cut version under the title Next! So generic was this release that it had a primitive painting on the cover pretty much unrelated to the movie.No Shame has put a DVD of the movie out which is uncut and widescreen, with the original title. It's much better. To my mind, anyone complaining about the camera-work or lighting in the movie was really complaining about the bad pan and scan job, and the bad print quality. It looks really good on the DVD. There is some somewhat unusual camera-work, as when at a party, the camera bumps around a bit like the POV of one of the partiers. When someone is shot later on, the picture is again POV, going out of focus and dropping.
Mrs. Wardh is married to a diplomat (or stock broker? or diplomat who plays the stock market?), and it's a pretty bland marriage. She has an ex-lover named Jean who had really dominated her, and they had fairly violent sex (in one flashback, he uses a broken bottle for foreplay). She's glad to be done with him, and is disturbed when he tries to start things up again.
She also starts a new affair with her cousin George. He, at least, seems to be a decent guy and a good lover.
Meanwhile in the city, there is someone slashing women. And then Mrs. Wardh gets a note from a blackmailer. This is a really very good giallo movie, which gets very twisty at the end. The cinematography is in fact quite good, and there are a number of colorful locations, like a park that makes for a rendezvous with the blackmailer. The park scene is (coincidentally?) similar to one in Argento's 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971). Martino's direction compares pretty favorably with Argento's.
score 8/10
FieCrier 8 July 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1124642/35618
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