The Cast of the Scorpion's Tail-
Director: Sergio Martino
Year: 1971
Country: Italy/Spain/United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: La coda dello scorpione
Genre: Giallo
Review:
This was a solid if somewhat flawed giallo. This is at its best with the usual exploits of the genre by weaving together a generally fun and engaging central mystery. The emergence of the monumental life-insurance police and the resulting greed by the various sundry characters wanting to get their hands on it plays a prominent role here in tying together the disparate plotlines as it switches focus to the different girls. Upon realizing what’s happening with the numerous deaths around them and how the clues come together, there’s a great storyline here featuring the hunt for the missing money and how everyone fits together in the end, working in some fantastic chasing scenes featuring the victims being confronted and attacked which is not only quite enjoyable but features some surprising revelations as well to have a lot to like. It does have a few problems, namely a series of obvious and unnecessary enhancement scenes that just spread the pacing and tempo of the film out far longer than needed, from useless travelogue sequences and detective investigations that throttle the pacing down considerably. As well, the jarring and somewhat scattershot storyline which plays out with the main character switch-up that has no real logic for the shift of characters being thrust into the spotlight, just dropping the characters into the story randomly and then going from there. It’s not a big issue but does lower it somewhat.
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key-
Director: Sergio Martino
Year: 1972
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Il tuo vizio รจ una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave
Genre: Giallo
Review:
This was quite the fun and highly engaging Giallo. One of the strongest qualities is that there's great work done here in getting the psychological aspects of the story alongside its traditional gialli tropes. Given his constant alcohol-fueled stupor and is prone to blacking out alongside the concurrent crime spree that's taking place in the nearby village, this helps to move the first half along quite nicely as well as setting up the rather fun and engaging connections in the storyline about the classic tale. By working in plenty of elements from that story, there's some great work to be had here with these elements in the first half, and as it moves into the later half this one manages to come together with the stellar use of the wailing cat-cries inside the house or the walled-up bodies. These work on building her guilty conscience which combines nicely with the brutal kills and gothic atmosphere to kill this a lot to like over the minor flaw. Since this one tends to focus more on the psychological aspects of the storyline more than the actual stalking and slashing, there's not a lot of typical set-pieces normally found in the genre beyond a few key scenes. It still fits nicely in the genre here with the series of twists in the finale but those looking for a traditional body-count effort won't be really enamored with the slow-burn approach. It's not a huge detriment but it does crop up here and really prevents this from being in the upper echelon of the genre.
The Suspicious Death of a Minor-
Director: Sergio Martino
Year: 1975
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Morte sospetta di una minorenne; Too Young to Die
Genre: Giallo; Politziotteschi
Review:
Overall, this is a rather fun and fascinating hybrid of giallo and politziotteschi. The initial exploits of the film, focusing on the series of crimes being committed and how they eventually come together in the eventual exposing of the crime ring involving the teenage schoolgirls is a lot of fun, featuring the depths of the corruption going on and his attempts at bringing them down give this a full-on setup worthy of the genre. As well, the film's attempt at kills are accomplished more with car chases and other high-energy action scenes which are kinetic and rather exciting, moving throughout the city in various impressively filmed scenes that provide a bit of graphic gore to the equation which goes along with the fast-moving comedy to give this a lot to like. There are a few minor drawbacks, which stem from the films' disparate elements coming together somewhat oddly here, with this seeming to transition from sordid crime-thriller to brutal giallo and then running through slapstick comedy and recurring jokes as gags that aren't that well-integrated together. Featuring some other problems in the films' overall familiarity to numerous other films out there not only with this one homaging but outright including other genre efforts which can make for a somewhat redundant time here and lowering this one just enough.
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