Eyes of Crystal

 

Eyes of Crystal

"Resin, nylon string, live bait, bullets... What for?"

Brooding young detective Giacomo Amaldi (Luigi Lo Cascio) and his veteran partner Frese (José Ángel Egido) are on the trail of a nine-fingered taxidermist-turned-serial killer who steals the limbs of his victims and replaces them with doll parts. Meanwhile, Amaldi is also helping college student Giuditta (Lucía Jiménez) track down her stalker. As the detectives get closer to the killer, the murders grow more and more gruesome. Could dying police detective Ajaccio (Simón Andreu) hold answers to the case? And what does the killer plan to do with all the body parts he's stealing?

Eyes of Crystal (Not to be confused with The Cat With Jade Eyes) is a decent modern take on the giallo genre, full of stylish camera work, gruesome murders and a well-paced mystery. The movie was obviously influenced by Argento, Bava and Fulci (especially Fulci) but also takes cues from David Fincher and American police procedural shows like CSI. While classic gialli had a more operatic, stylish use of blood, modern audiences have a taste for a more, shall we say, accurate and literal depiction of murder. 

• The film instantly gains giallo cred with the casting of superstar Simón Andreu, whom you will remember from classics like Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, Death Walks on High Heels and Death Walks at Midnight.
• There are lots of taxidermy animals in the film, but for purposes of the checklist above, only two are killed during the movie: the chipmunk at the beginning and the heron by the shipyard.
• I also didn't count Amaldi's girlfriend in the body count, because she died before the movie starts in an unrelated incident.
• The title refers to the taxidermy killer's use of glass eyes in his work.
• The climactic slow-motion fall from a high tower is filmed as an obvious homage to Don't Torture a Duckling, which ends with the same dramatic stunt.

What the Hell am I Watching?

The movie clearly takes place in an industrial Italian city (Turin maybe or Milan?) but the city library's Occult section only has books written in English.

Imagine how long it would take to decapitate someone using only a surgical scalpel. There's no way the killer could get in, kill someone, remove a head or a pair of limbs with a tiny (albeit sharp) blade, dress the corpse up with doll parts and get out in a hurry.

But the real craziness comes at the film's climax when the killer's gruesome puzzle of human parts appears to rise up from its bed on its own. There's a moment (but just a moment) where you question what kind of movie this even is.

Fashion Moment

This movie has a lot of plot to keep track of, so it's a good thing the clothes are dull and not distracting. Here's the sort of thing we're dealing with:

With his dark, shaggy hair, black trench coat and dark, solid-colored clothes, Amaldi is clearly the Goth Prince of the police precinct. He's not only in mourning for his girlfriend, but is so focused on work that he can't be bothered to consider his clothes.  Even in a relaxed setting in his free time, he's still dark and brooding.

The only relief from the drab blues and grays in this movie comes from Giuditta, who uses red as a signature color.

 

 

This not only makes her stand out visually, but communicates that unlike any of the other characters, she has a relatively bright, positive outlook on life. The only other significant use of red in the movie is blood, so this also foreshadows Giuditta as a potential target.

The Killer is One of Thirteen

The Killer is One of Thirteen

"Perhaps the game has gone too far."

Two years after Carlos Mandel died in a plane accident over the English Channel, his widow, Lisa (Patty Shepard) gathers twelve friends, relatives and acquaintances for a weekend at her remote estate. But at dinner on the first night, she reveals her true intentions - she believes that her husband was, in fact, murdered and that one of her guests is the killer. Accusations and whispers fill the next few days as the guests speculate. Was Carlos killed over money or revenge or jealousy? Could the killer be flirtatious playboy Harry Stephen (Simón Andreau), Arlen, the art forger ( Jack Taylor) or even Lisa's own aunt, Bertha (Trini Alonso)? As secrets are revealed and the killer becomes cornered, the guests start turning up dead. Can the survivors unmask the killer and escape before they're all killed off?

The Killer is One of Thirteen (not to be confused with The Killer Reserved Nine Seats) is another giallo based on the Agatha Christie model, much like The Weekend Murders, Nine Guests For a Crime and Death on the Fourposter. As far as gialli go, this one isn't a great entry - no nudity, very little blood, it's set in a large but frumpy mansion, and the murders don't start until nearly an hour in. But it does feature some favorite giallo actors including Simón Andreu and Paul Naschy.

• One of the eight murders listed above - Carlos's plane crash - occurs before the action of the movie starts.
• A better translation of the Spanish title might be "The Killer is Among the Thirteen."
• The title "sort of" makes sense because while the suspects include Lisa and her twelve guests, suspicion also falls on Lisa's butler, chauffeur, maid and gardener, bringing the list of suspects to seventeen.

What the Hell Am I Watching?

I am now more sure than ever that Paul Naschy refused to appear in a movie unless he got to be in a fight scene.

 After the first two guests are murdered it's revealed that the culprit also cut the phone lines and sabotaged all the guests' cars, so there could be no escape. Everyone is worried, but they agree to lock themselves in their rooms until the police show up. But how would the police know to come if the phone lines are down?

Fashion Moment

First, I want to point out this miniature study in fashion contrasts: boorish businessman Jorge seated next to free-thinking artist Arlen.

Next, I want to point out Mrs. Martin's wacky floral daywear.

 

But the real fashion star of the movie is Cecilia Paroli (Doris Coll). While most of the other women are decked out in bold, garish prints, she always keeps it classy with an understated yet elegant wardrobe. 

 

 

 

   

Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion

Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion

"He's crazy. He doesn't think like other people. There's no telling what he'll do next."

Minou (Dagmar Lassander) is a bored housewife who finds herself entangled in a web of sex and violence. While taking a nighttime walk on the beach, she is attacked by a stranger (Simon Andreu) who tells her that her husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) is a murderer. He lets her go untouched, but threatens to release the evidence against Peter if she doesn't meet him at his apartment. It's not money that he wants, but rather Minou's body. After things get all Fifty Shades of Grey, the Blackmailer continues to torment Minou and she turns to her best friend, Dominique (Susan Scott) for advice. She tells her husband the truth and, bringing in the police, they find that there's no evidence to back up her story. Is Minou going crazy? Is Peter really a murderer? What is it that the Blackmailer really wants?

Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is an unusual giallo in that the sexy scenes are used as an essential part of the plot, rather than as a break from the main action. Also, instead of a series of murders, the main action focuses on the mystery behind a single killing, which happens before the action of the movie even starts. Still, even though this is the least-trashy of Luciano Ercoli's gialli, it is the most coherent and has one of the best-written screenplays.

• When Minou enters the Blackmailer's apartment for the first time, there are plaster hand sculptures on the walls and a velvet curtain opens to a sensuous atmosphere. This scene is shot as an homage to Jean Cocteau's 1946 fantasy La Belle et La Bete, where the beauty first nervously enters the Beast's enchanted castle.
• It's not clear where the film takes place, but they use American dollars.
• The characters' alcohol consumption in this film is absolutely staggering. Try to keep up and you'll be floored halfway through.
• Enjoy another great score by Ennio Morricone.
• Minou's phone is white with a red dial. This does not qualify as a red phone.

What the Hell am I Watching?

Shall we talk about the soup-eating scene?  For a full minute, Minou, Peter, and Dominique sit around a table, silently eating soup and staring at each other. The camera pans in, close up, over and over as each character lifts the spoon from the bowl to their mouths. Over this, we hear ominous echoes of the Blackmailer's conversation with Minou.

Minou could have a pet cat like every other giallo character, but they decided to switch things up and give her a turtle. A turtle that roams freely around the house.

Dominique is totally into porn. Or, as she calls it, "erotic art from Copenhagen."

Speaking of, Dominique is one of my all-time favorite giallo characters. She's a strong, independent, liberated woman who prowls like an alley cat and takes what she wants. She's like a red-headed Samantha Jones. Susan Scott has played aggressive women in other movies, but there's always an element of tragic victimhood involved. Here, as the sassy sidekick, she really shines.

Fashion Moment

Homygod, you guys. Elton John had a yard sale.

Honestly, though, all the fashions in this movie are crazy.  In just about every scene you'll find yourself asking "what is she wearing?!"

Death Walks at Midnight

Death Walks At Midnight

"You told me a lot of facts. Too many facts."

Fashion model Valentina (Neves Navarro, credited as Susan Scott) agrees to take a new hallucinogenic drug called HDS so reporter Gio Baldi (Simón Andreu) can write an article about its effects. But her trip takes a dark turn when she has bloody visions of a man in a vacant apartment across the street murdering a woman with a spiked iron glove. At first, with no evidence, no one believes her, but Valentina later discovers that a woman really was murdered in that apartment, in the same manner she witnessed... six months ago!  And before long, she finds that the killer is stalking her and that she is right in the middle of a mystery involving murder, drugs, and revenge. Who can she trust? Why won't the police help her? And who is the mysterious killer in the sunglasses? It all leads to a devastating twist you won't expect!

Death Walks at Midnight (not to be confused with You'll Die at Midnight) is Luciano Ercoli's best giallo. It's certainly the most coherent, but is far less salacious than his other entries in the genre. It may be similarly titled, but this follow-up to Death Walks On High Heels isn't a sequel, even though it features most of the same cast filling similar archetypes: Susan Scott as a strong but victimized leading lady, Simón Andreu as the roguish love interest, Claudine Lange as the mysterious older woman, and Carlo Gentili as the police inspector, just to name a few. Ercoli has developed his own troupe of players, making him the Christopher Guest of giallo.

• I have no way to substantiate this theory, but I suspect that Frank Wolf (an Ercoli player from High Heels) was meant to play Stefano but, after Wolf's tragic and untimely death in  December of 1971, the boyfriend role went to Pietro Martellanza.
• It's a great title, but it doesn't really apply here. Most of the murders take place around mid-day.
• Speaking of the title, the original Italian title is La Morte Accarezza a Mezzanotte. But "accarezzare" doesn't mean "to walk" – it means ""to stroke" or "to enfold." A better translation would be Death Caresses You at Midnight.
• References to Mario Bava's gialli abound in this film. The spiked iron glove is an obvious homage to the one used in Blood and Black Lace and Valentina apparently witness a murder that happened a long time ago – just like Nora in The Girl Who Knew Too Much.
• Valentina's boyfriend, Stefano (Pietro Martellanza), is a sculptor and his work is really cool.
• Ercoli did a good job of giving this movie balance. It has blood, a variety of kill scenes, some good action, and touches of humor from the supporting cast. The only thing it's lacking is a steamy love scene.
• The film culminates in a well-choreographed rooftop brawl, which shows off Andreu's physicality particularly well.

What the Hell Am I Watching?

During the investigation, Valentina follows Verushka (Lange) to an insane asylum full of dangerous crazies and soon finds herself left alone, attacked, and then abandoned as Verushka speeds off in her Rolls. Super not-cool, Verushka.

For some reason, Stefano is taking care of his neighbor's toddlers while their mother is out of the country... and it doesn't take long before he leaves them home alone while he goes out and gets drunk. This is the first sign that he's not the nice guy he appears to be.

The crazy, giggling hit man dressed in a yellow plaid waistcoat doesn't get many lines, but he turns out to be one of the most memorable characters in the movie. When his face is covered in lye at the end and his eyeballs are bleeding, his resemblance to Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight in uncanny.

Fashion Moment

When Valentina goes clubbing, she wears this crazy aluminum wig.

 

Also, here's a shot of the spiked iron glove (just because). This one looks like it could do a lot more damage than the original one in Blood and Black Lace.

Death Walks on High Heels

Death Walks on High Heels

"And one day it dawned on me that every one of my questions meant listening to an answer 

and every answer led to a disappointment."

Nicole Rochard (Nieves Navarro, credited as Susan Scott) is a successful nightclub dancer in Paris but her life isn't all glamor. For one thing, her boyfriend Michel (Simón Andreu) is jealous and frequently drunk. For another, her father (a notorious jewel thief) was recently murdered. And to top it off, she's been harassed and attacked by a masked stranger with piercing blue eyes who demands to know where her father hid millions in diamonds. When Nicole finds blue colored contact lenses in Michel's medicine cabinet, she seizes the opportunity to skip town with a married middle-aged doctor (Frank Wolff) to set up a love nest in the English countryside.  Unfortunately, she gets caught up in her new lover's drama, complicated by the sudden appearance of Michel. Who will live to the end? Who is the mastermind behind these dangerous games? And what does any of this have to do with the diamond heist?

Not a bad giallo, though it's light on blood and scares, focusing mainly on the byzantine plot. The film relies heavily on flashbacks, as it unfolds from different points of view. This can be intriguing but also confusing. Especially since Nicole and Robert's wife Vanessa (Claudie Lange) look very similar – both are petite redheads with high cheekbones and their makeup and clothes are similar. You might be tempted to think that there's a Vertigo-esque double-role plot twist or an identity-switch scam afoot but they are, in fact, just two similar-looking actresses playing two different roles.

• The props department must have had a good deal on telephones, because the same distinctive two-tone model shows up in the Paris police station, the London police station, Nicole's house, the local tavern, and Robert's cabin.
• Frank Wolff appears in The Cold Eyes of Fear which, though it's not technically a giallo, is worth checking out.
• Apparently, everyone had a good time making this movie because Ercoli gathered a lot of the same cast and crew the following year for a follow-up, Death Stalks at Midnight. Though the films have similar titles, Midnight isn't a sequel. Though it is a trashier, scarier, and better movie.

What the Hell Am I Watching?
There are a few good jaw-droppers in this movie, starting with the sexy-eating scene a la Tom Jones. It's meant to be erotic, but it's just nauseating.

Then there's the extended eyeball surgery sequence. We watch in extreme close-up as a knife cuts into an eyeball, removing a cataract.

What about that last shot, where the two detectives talk about how the high-heeled killer could easily have been a man and then share a knowing, pursed-lipped glance? Are we meant to assume that they're actually a gay couple?

But most astonishing of all is the blackface dance routine. For her first nightclub act, Nicole dances in a beaded g-string bikini a boa, and a short, dark wig, and at first it just looks like the lighting is weird. She's against a white background, which maybe possibly could make her skin look a little darker.  But then, Michel visits her backstage looking for some naughty time. He offers to help her remove her body makeup and he actually says "I like you when you're all blacked up."  YIKES!

Fashion Moment
There's a montage where Nicole is trying on clothes and for a brief second we see her in a mod orange and black mini-dress and the titular thigh-high boots. Or there are her cabaret costumes: the aforementioned beaded bikini and, later a metallic gold wig like the one that shows up in Death Stalks at Midnight. That's pretty cool, but my favorite is Vanessa's all-purple outfit with a leopard-pattern coat.

Death Carries a Cane

 Death Carries a Cane

"You know, Kitty, I think you read too many detective novels."

While showing relatives the sights in Rome, photographer Kitty Hoffman (Neves Navarro, credited as Susan Scott) witnesses a brutal murder through an observation point telescope. Though she can't make out the killer's face, she does notice a few important details  – including the fact that the killer walks with a cane. As Kitty and her husband Robert (Alberto Marosini) are working on a musical revue with composer Marco (Simon Andreu), she continues to follow the case as more young women and witnesses to the crimes are murdered. Inspector Merughi (George Martin) and Marco's girlfriend, reporter Lidia Arrighi (Anuska Borova) are also keen to solve the case. What do the victims have in common? Does he know that Kitty was a witness – and if so, is her life in danger?

Death Carries a Cane is a classic-style giallo with several bloody murders, a twisty plot, a black-clad killer, a little humor, and lots of completely gratuitous sex scenes. I only wish it had a better resolution. The opening is a clever take on Hitchcock's Rear Window, though. It should be noted that Anuska Borova plays both good-girl reporter Lidia Arrighi and her twin sister, the petulant Silvia Arrighi. Most of the time, Lidia wears glasses, but sometimes it's difficult to tell who we're looking at.

• The original Italian title is Passi di Danza su una Lama di Rasoio, which literally translates as Dance Steps on a Razor Blade.
• The clues lead to a Russian dance academy, which I'm counting as an "All-girl school."
• Though we don't see it, the murder of an Australian ballerina occurs before the action of the movie starts. It's included in the body count above.

What the Hell am I Watching?

Two words: glitter bewbs.

In one completely baffling scene, Marco is distraught over the death of a dancer from his show and he mournfully plays her song on the piano. Things turn weird when Lidia arrives and the two start making the sexy eyes at each other. Nakedness ensues.

The film's big comic moment comes when Kitty agrees to lure the killer out by pretending to be a hooker. When a suspicious cane-wielding John picks her up the police swarm in... only to discover that the man is the Chief of Police.

What kind of grown-ups use the word "toodle-oo" to say goodbye?

Before (and during) a break-in at the dance academy, Kitty takes a pee-break. And we just sit around and wait until she's done. There is no reason for this to have been included in the movie.

Fashion Moment

This purse turns out to be an important way to lure the killer out of the shadows.