MY DEAR KILLER

MY DEAR KILLER (aka Mio caro assassino/1971. Director: Tonino Valerii.

Inspector Luca Peretti (George Hilton) is called in when a man named Paradisi (Francesco Di Federico) is beheaded by an excavator machine which he had rented to dig into a swamp. Peretti discovers that Paradisi was an insurance investigator, and had been assigned to a case where a little girl, Stefania, was kidnapped, with dire results. As Peretti tries to learn more about this case, there are a whole series of other killings, with the victims always being somehow involved with the kidnapping even in oblique ways. One teacher is attacked by an assailant wielding a portable saw. Peretti gathers the suspects together and confronts them with a surprise bit of evidence that the child herself was directly responsible for. 

George Hilton investigates

My Dear Killer is a complex, often fascinating giallo that seems a touch far-fetched at times but never goes completely over the edge. George Hilton [The Dark is Death's Friend] is fine as the detective, as is William Berger [The Murder Clinic] as one of the suspects. Both actors appeared in a number of international productions and horror films. Ennio Morricone's musical score is quirky and unnerving and adds much to the film's effectiveness. Director Tonino Valerii stages some sequences quite well and the film is undeniably creepy and suspenseful. Not quite on the Dario Argento level but interesting.

Verdict: Imperfect but effective giallo with some striking sequences and an interesting plot. ***. 

DEVIL FISH

Michael Sopkiw, Dino Conti, Valentine Monnier

DEVIL FISH (aka Rosso nell'oceano/1984). Director: Lamberto Bava.  

In Florida a very strange creature -- a forty-foot combination of shark and octopus with the intelligence of a dolphin, a six-foot fanged maw, and which reproduces asexually -- is attacking ships and people. Dr. Hogan (Dino Conti) and his associate Stella (Valentine Monnier) team up with shop owner and diver Peter (Michael Sopkiw) and biologist Dr. Janet Bates (Darla M. Warner) to track and capture the beast. Sheriff Gordon (Gianna Garko) quite sensibly wants to destroy the sucker. An added complication is that there's skulduggery at the West Ocean Institute where Dr. West (William Berger of The Murder Clinic), his faithless wife, Sonja (Dagmar Lassander), and her psychotic lover, Davis (Lawrence Morgant), are keeping secrets about the monster, secrets that get several people murdered. 

Gianni Garko

A low-budget dubbed Italian production with an international cast all speaking their own languages with no CGI or great FX shouldn't work at all, but somehow Devil Fish has enough plot and suspense to keep you watching. Some of the mechanical FX, such as those large wriggling tentacles, are well-done, and at least one attack on a boat and its occupants is somewhat exciting. It isn't quite clear if the creature is a "living fossil" as suggested, or something created to, as one character puts it, "protect an exploitable area," although there's no further explanation -- or motivation -- for this. The actors all seem competent, playing some interesting characters. Possibly due to the editing of the film, important characters who are killed go unmourned by their colleagues and bedmates. You never get a really clear view of the monster, although it is along the lines of a whale with a big, grotesque head and trailing tentacles. 

Verdict: Sadly, there have been much worse Jaws-inspired movies. **1/2. 

THE MURDER CLINIC

Francoise Prevost and Harriet Medin

THE MURDER CLINIC (aka La lama nel corpo/1966). Directors: Elio Scardamaglia; Leonello De Felice.

In 1870 Dr. Robert Vance (William Berger of Night of the Skull) tries to run a clinic for the mentally disturbed after being acquitted of the attempted murder of his sister-in-law, Laura (Delfi Mauro). Now Vance and his wife, Lizabeth (Mary Young), preside over a motley crew of patients and staff, including the psychotic Fred (Massimo Righi), pretty nurse Mary (Barbara Wilson), studly attendant Ivan (Germano Longo), head nurse Sheena (Harriet Medin), and mute Janey (Anna Maria Polani). But who is the strange person in the cape and hood who walks back and forth, back and forth, on the third floor? Dr. Vance thinks he has enough problems when an unknown person murders one of the patients, but then he has to deal with a blackmailing murderess named Gisele (Francoise Prevost). 

Coming to terms: William Berger and Francoise Prevost

With its intriguing back story -- told in flashback -- showing the tragedy in the past of the Vances, as well as the sinister developments in the present, the thoroughly unpredictable Murder Clinic emerges as a terrific Italian terror film. The score by Francesco De Masi, which can be both creepy and intensely romantic, almost operatic, adds immeasurably to the film's impact. The huge old building that serves as the sanitarium is practically another character. Austrian actor William Berger had a great many credits while this was the only picture for Barbara Wilson; Mary Young only had two credits while Prevost amassed quite a few. 

Verdict: Lurid and delightful -- this is not a clinic you would want to be admitted to. ***. 

NIGHT OF THE SKULL

The skull-faced killer 

NIGHT OF THE SKULL (aka Le noche de los asesinos/Night of the Killers/1974). Director: Jesus Franco (Jess Franco).

On a dark and stormy night in 19th century Louisiana, Lord Archibald Marian (Angel Menendez), originally from England, is buried alive by an assailant wearing a skull mask. Marian's wife, the vicious Cecelia (Maribel Hildago), is next, chained to rocks as the tide comes in. As the murders continue, all of them seemingly centering on the will and who will gain from it, there are numerous suspects: the weird servants, Rufus (Luis Barboo) and the ill-tempered Deborah (Yelena Samarina of House of a 1000 Dolls); Marian's two bastards, Rita (Lina Romay) and Alfred (Antonio Mayans); Baron Tobias (William Berger) and his wife Marta ((Evelyne Scott); Albert Pagan (Dan van Husen) and his wife. Inspector Bore (Vincente Roca) has just begun investigating when Major Oliver Brooks (Alberto Dalbes) from Scotland Yard arrives to take charge of the baffling case. 

getting ready to read the will

This is one of the prolific director Jess Franco's better movies, which, sadly, isn't saying much. The shame of it is that the film has atmosphere and a very good plot with an excellent twist, but the direction is as uninspired as ever.  Yet the picture isn't boring and has many intriguing aspects to it. Despite the credits, the movie has absolutely nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe and is not based on any of his writings, but apparently was ripped off from an Edgar Wallace novel. Made in Spain.

Verdict: A pretty good mystery story that would have been much better with someone other than Jess Franco at the helm. **1/2.