SMILE BEFORE DEATH

Silvano Tranquilli and Rosalba Neri

SMILE BEFORE DEATH (aka Il sorriso della iena/1972). Director: Silvio Amadio. 

After her mother Dorothy's supposed suicide, teenager Nancy Thompson (Jenny Tamburi) leaves school and comes home, where she meets her late mother's photographer friend, Gianna (Rosalba Neri of The French Sex Murders), and her stepfather, Marco (Silvano Tranquilli of The Slasher ... is the Sex Maniac). The housekeeper Madga (Dana Ghia) knows that Dorothy (Zora Gheorgieva) wanted to divorce the greedy, philandering Marco and had taken a lover of her own (Hiram Keller of Fellini Satyricon). Nancy develops an attraction for her stepfather which he does nothing to discourage, and then seems to make a play for Gianna. Nancy tells Gianni that she thinks Marco murdered her mother and may be trying to kill her as well ... 

Dana Ghia and Jenny Tamburi

Smile Before Death has a twisty and interesting script and some good performances but is nearly done in by very listless direction and a score that could best be described as hideous. The first half of the film is relatively uneventful and tedious, but there are clever developments in the second half. The main twist at the end of the film is kind of silly, but there's a highly satisfying coda afterwards. As usual, there's a brief lesbian love sequence. At least the script is fairly unpredictable.   

Verdict: Half of a good movie. **1/4.