Wait for the DVD

lazarillo

Italian giallo are famous for two main things--virtuoso widescreen cinematography and beautiful (and frequently naked) European actresses. Unfortunately, the former is completely ruined and the enjoyment of the latter is seriously impaired by the horrible pan-and-scan print currently available on VHS. How bad is it? Well, they don't really even bother to pan too much. The camera stays right in the middle of the screen even when the only thing there is a blank wall between two people talking, and somehow they even managed to crop off the TOP of people's heads. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody (who was no doubt very drunk at the time) simply videotaped this off a movie screen. It is that bad. (For what it's worth though they did manage to keep the naked torsos of Edwige Fenech and other assorted Eurobabes on screen and relatively in focus).

As for the movie itself, it's hard to judge with this atrocious transfer. It makes a lot more sense than other Martino-Fenech collaborations like "All the Colors of Darkness" and "Gently, Before She Dies". It is not as sublimely ridiculous or flat-out delirious as these more highly-stylized later efforts, but it generates a good deal of suspense and has some genuinely surprising plot twists. Fenech plays the wife of an ambassador who is being stalked by her brutal ex-lover (Ivan Rassimov), which somehow leads her into an affair with the suave cousin (George Hilton) of one her hilariously promiscuous female friends. Meanwhile, a maniac is going around slicing up loose society women. The acting is all top drawer (for a giallo anyway)with the three leads each doing what they do best, but the unknown actress who plays Fenech's friend almost steals the show. "This maniac is really doing us a favor," she actually says at one point. "He's getting rid of all the competition." (I really wouldn't recommend watching this with your feminist girlfriend). But whatever you do for god's sake definitely wait for it to be released on DVD!

score /10

lazarillo 7 February 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1016164/