The Killer is Still Among Us

 

"Some things... take a bloody long time."

Criminology student Christina Marelli (Mariangela D'Abbraccio) is writing her thesis on "The Monster," a serial killer who has been terrorizing Florence for the past 12 years, shooting and stabbing couples who park in lovers lanes. Through her investigation, Christina meets the handsome young coroner Alex, with whom she starts a romantic relationship. As the murders continue, Christina dives into Florence's seedy underbelly and even consults a psychic medium. But could her investigation make her the next target? And is the killer, who seems to have precise knowledge of human anatomy, closer than she thinks?

The Killer is Still Among Us (not to be confused with The Killer is On the Phone) is based on the real-life  "Monster of Florence," a serial killer who operated between the late 60's and the late 80's, whose case wasn't solved until the early 2000's. It's an unusual giallo in that it follows many of the tropes of the genre while also breaking some of the the rules (to say more would spoil the unusual ending). Overall, it's an artfully-made, well-acted film with interesting surprises and a bit of gore towards the end. Plus, the screenplay was written by giallo's greatest talent, Ernesto Gastaldi. A nice surprise entry to the genre.

• Each of the victims except one is said to be both shot and stabbed. It's not clear which of those was fatal in each case, so I included both on the list above for each of those murders.

• Be warned that in the theatrical version, the last murder scene includes shots of the killer carving up his female victim, including some gruesome genital mutilation.

• There are actually two giallo films based on the Monster of Florence case, both released in 1986. The other is called The Monster of Florence (Il Mostro di Firenze) and appears to adhere closer to the actual facts of the case. I hope to find a copy to review for a future post. It's a very famous case and was also the basis of an Italian TV mini series and several documentary films.

What the Hell Am I Watching?

After seeing a mime bar in Dario Argento's Sleepless (look it up) I'm not at all surprised when this movie takes us to a voyeur's bar. The patrons of Taverna del Diavolo (The Devil's Pub) are all creeps who meet up to coordinate their efforts to spy on couples necking in the back seats of cars, often using high-tech listening devices.

Christina trails one of the peeping toms to his office where he has a dual practice as a gynecologist and psychiatrist. Imagine those student loan payments.

Fashion Moment:

Christina stands out early in the film when she wears this eyeball-searing read sweater. Later, she wears it with an equally vivid red jacket.

When we first meet Alex, he drops his yellow gloves into the garbage bin. Later at home, Christina finds his bloody gloves in the yellow kitchen pail. All subtle color clues meant to throw suspicion on Alex.

Also, let's take a moment to appreciate some of the lighting choices. When power goes out in Christina's apartment, the room goes dark, lit only be a flashing neon sign, much like in Blood and Black Lace.

Similarly, at the seance, the contrasting colors are reminiscent of Argento's Suspiria.

A... for Assassin

A... for Assassin

You got what you deserved, John Prescott

  

When millionaire John Prescott is found stabbed to death in his palatial manor, he leaves behind an unusual audio-taped will. Because he hated and distrusted his greedy heirs, John stipulated that only three would share his fortune and only after living together in his home for a month - sure that they would kill each other off in pursuit of his money. And sure enough, as police Inspector Matt (Gilberto Mazzi) looks into John's murder, he finds that with the heirs eager to frame each other, details of their alibis don't line up. Is Adriana (Aïché Nana) really the ditzy bubblehead she seems to be? Is Angela (Mary Arden) really innocent? And was Giacomo (Sergio Ciana, credited as Alan Steel) really a loyal employee?  The Inspector will need to sort out the lies and find John's killer before everyone ends up dead!

A... for Assassin is another snappy early script by Ernesto Gastaldi that relies on gothic atmosphere and leans heavily on the classic Agatha Christie template. It also sets the stage for later locked-room gialli like The Weekend Murders, Nine Guests for a Crime and, most notably, Twitch of the Death Nerve.  The setting is appropriately creepy, the cast is effective, and there are even a few good fight scenes, including a suspenseful rooftop chase during a thunderstorm.

• You may recognize bodybuilder Sergio Ciani, a.k.a. Alan Steel, who took a break from playing Hercules and Samson in a popular string of sword-and-sandal adventure films to make this giallo.
• The gothic trappings continue into the score, as an arrangement of Bach's famous Toccata in D Minor is used as the main titles music.
• Cinematographer Aldo Tonti had a spectacular resume, having worked with Fellini and, a few years later, John Houston.

What the Hell am I Watching?

Giacomo takes a bullet to the corroded artery before finishing his fight with Armando,walking downstairs and confronting and attacking Angela before passing out.

Fashion Moment

There's not a lot going on, fashion-wise in this movie, but Angela does stand out in this mod color-blocked dress.

 

And it's interesting to see how they dressed Sergio Ciani, who spent his career up to this point shirtless, bearded and coated in baby oil.

I'd say they made him look pretty good.

Libido

Libido

"Not like my father! My god! Not like my father!"

As a child, Christian (Giancarlo Gianni) witnessed his father kill a blonde woman before hurling himself off a cliff. Now, many years later, Christian has returned to the house for the first time, accompanied by his wife, Helene (Dominique Boschero), the caretaker Paul (Luciano Pigozzi) and Paul's ditzy blonde wife, Brigitte (Mara Meryl).  Christian's guests are all on edge, unsure weather his return will stir up dark, traumatic memories and slowly but surely, Christian seems to lose his grasp on reality. He sees ghostly figures in the dark, chases phantom footsteps and swears that his dead father is in the house. Is the manor haunted by Christian's father? Or is Christian being gaslighted in an effort to steal his inheritance? If so, who is mastermind behind such a devious plan? 

Libido (not to be confused with the crime thriller In the Folds of the Flesh, which is sometimes also known as Libido) is a very early giallo and one of the first written by Ernesto Gastaldi, the man whose credits read as a list of the greatest gialli ever made and who created the template for the slasher film with Torso.  Libido starts as a Psycho-style psychological thriller, introduces elements of gothic horror (thunderstorms, an old castle, muddy footprints, etc.) and finishes with a string of devious cons, double-crosses and mis-directs, ramping up the action all the way to the end. Gastaldi was clearly a fan of Mario Bava but also learned a lot from the French classic Diabolique.

• You may know Giancarlo Gianni from his roles in Casino Royale and A Quantum of Solace. Dominique Boschero would appear in several other gialli, such as Who Saw Her Die? And giallo superstar Luciano Pigozzi - the "Italian Peter Lorre" - was featured in the classics Blood and Black Lace and Naked You Die.
• This was the first directorial effort for both Gastaldi and co-director Vittorio Salerno.
• Please note that the 2nd death listed above - Christian's father - is one that's talked about but not shown.
• The movie opens with a Freud quote defining the concept of "libido" in clinical terms, but that provocative title doesn't really suit this mostly buttoned-up production.

 What the Hell am I Watching?

Libido may not be very well-known, but it turns out to be a highly influential giallo movie. If you're already a giallo fan, you will be shocked by the opening scene: Christian, as a young boy, is dressed in a short-pants suit with knee socks playing with a mechanical toy that plays a creepy sing-songy tune. He hears a scream and witnesses a murder, scarring him emotionally for the rest of his life.

Sound familiar? There's no way that Dario Argento didn't have this scene in mind ten years later when he wrote the beginning of Deep Red.

Also, the rest of the movie involves a psychologically unbalanced man named Christian who holes up in a cliffside mansion with a blonde woman, an older caretaker and the caretaker's bubbleheaded younger wife.  I'd say that's also a pretty good description of the middle third of Spasmo.

Fashion Moment

Brigitte is young, adventurous, and clueless about social cues, so her fashion sense tends to be a little daring. In one memorable scene, the camera leers as she dances the hula, wearing only black underwear and a feather boa.

Later, Helene's eyes nearly pop out of her head when Brigitte reveals this tiny pusstcat bikini.

But she does glam it up later with this elegant evening look.

As a side note, here's the musical toy that sets Christian off. He says it's Jiminy Cricket, but there's no way that's not Mr. Peanut.