Cats in Gialli

Watching Your Vice Is A Locked Room... the other night and it occurred to me that not only is the cat, Satan, a character in the film, it is an important and pivotal character and not just a prop of a plot device. She is the wronged woman. She is the femme fatale burning with vengeance, the man she loved now dead and she is intent in bringing justice to his killer. She is not a lady to be trifled with. The killer knows how dangerous this cat is and tries to kill it, and if she had succeeded, her nemesis would not have been there to spoil her plan.

The cat in a giallo is symbolic of the giallo femme fatale. Lovely to look at, sweet to hold, but capable of sinking her claws in if the fancy takes her.

(In the picture The two leading ladies of Your Vice Is A Locked Room And I Have The Key: Satan and the ever delectable Edwige Fenech.)

Bloody Moon (and Bloody Vipco)

Jess Franco's 1981 slasher opus is a mixed bag. Suffering from the usual dubbing problems that can render even the best film laughable, the main problem seems to be that Franco is not working with complete control. The main sticking point for me was the awful hatchet job done by the fools at Vipco. Practically all the gore is missing, includinhg the infamous beheading by a giant stonesaw. And it's not the first time Vipco have been guily of this. Struggling to be fair, oit may be that this is the only print they are allowed to release in Britain but somehow I doubt it if you think about what other films you can see in their entirety. So what we're really looking at here is a 79 minute version. Would the added gore have added anything to the film? Well, yeah I think so. Without it you are left with all the padding without the rewards.

Set in a Adults Language School (filling in for the more usual campsite) someone is going about killing the ladies. Is it the disfigured Miguel, recently released from an asylum after a similar killing? Is it Antonio, the randy tennis coach? Or what about the weird gardener who only shows up right after a killing? There's many suspects but anyone familiar with slasher films will have no trouble guessing who is behind them. But that's okay, 'cause we're here for the gore. Oh no, wait. Vipco aren't showing that. Bastards. Now, I'm a big Franco fan and I believe that had this been 100% his film we would have had something better, but everytime a Franco-moment seems about to happen the action just stops and moves back to the female lead wandering about being scared which hampers the flow big time. This is an inherent problem rather being down to Vipco. It just doesn't have that Franco feeling. Shame, because it would be real interesting to see Franco do a routine slasher film, but his way. Franco would have made so much more of the incestual relationship between Miguel and his sister Manuela and their feelings towards the invalid mother. the pace may have slowed, but I think Franco does slow paced movies better than most (with the exception of the great Jean Rollin) and I would have loved to see him build a bit of suspense up slowly.

Sorry if the above seems a bit chaotic. I was looking forward to this one and I feel slightly cheated by not getting a chance to see the picture as a whole. I will try and rectify this, although I have the suspicion that it will remain a lesser Franco flick, purely because he seems like a hired hand.

Mark Of The Wolfman (1968)

Or Frankenstein's Bloody Terror as it is called here, making it the American drive-in version. Not that there's any sign of Frankenstein, which is explained away right at the beginning saying that Frankenstein changed his name to Wolfstein! The first Waldemar Daninsky movie is a fun romp woth watching for fans of Paul Naschy and cheesey horror flicks. Naschy's movies would improve a lot when he got into the 1970s, his 60s movies being somewhat tame. Good fun is to be had here though as the wolfman battles the evil vampires bent on using him for thier own nefarious purposes.

Timber Falls (2008)

Yet another variation on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this time the twisted locals are religious freaks who want the doomed campers to produce a child for them. Pretty grisly and well made, but the feeling that you've seen it all before hangs over the proceedings constantly. Still, for what it is, it's watchable enough.

Death Walks On High Heels (1971)

Highly enjoyable giallo and only one of three that came from the helmsmanship of Luciano Ercoli. After a jewelry robbery one of the perpetrators is killed in his train compartment. His daughter (Susan Scott) is warned that the killer may be looking for her while trying to track down the missing jewels. And this is precisely what happens. But who is terrorising her? Starting in France, the action then moves to the south coast of England and the locations are a definite boon for the film. The denouement, while complicated, makes perfect sense and you are left thoroughly satisfied. There's even room for some humour from the English (sic) detective and his sidekick. Nice one.

Short Night Of The Glass Dolls (1971)

Aldo Lado's directorial debut is a classy and slightly convoluted giallo-ish thriller that begins with the body of the hero being found in a park. After being pronounced dead we then hear narrate the film as he isn't really dead, or is he. A series of flashbacks tells the tale of how his girlfriend, Barbara Bach, goes missing without a trace and how he tries to track her down. The film is a slow mover, but Lado has the confidence to tell his story slowly and does so with style. If I have any problems with this film (and they are very slight problems) is that the supernatural element that arrives at the end doesn't fit snugly, even though you may be heading your guesses this way at the end. The final scenes at the live autopsy are well done and prove a fitting finale to an enjoyable flick.

All The Colors Of The Dark

A quite delirious cross between giallo and Rosemary’s Baby, all wrapped up in that comfortable Martino/Fenech/Hilton team that brought us The Strange Vice Of Mrs Wardh. Fenech, as ever, is beyond any kind of reproach and the rest of the cast are as required. It probably lacks a certain something in the plot department, or maybe a mite too hysterical at times, but hey, this early 70s Italian exploitation cinema. A good solid, enjoyable film.