Director: Paolo Cavera
Year: 1972
Country: Italy/France
Alternate Titles: La tarantola del ventre nero
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
After a savage series of murders, a detective finds the clients of an upscale health spa are falling victim to a killer's strike with the poison of a deadly wasp paralyzing them in order to kill and must stop the rampage from continuing.
Review:
On the whole, this is one of the more impressive and enjoyable giallos in the genre. One of it's better features is the fact that this one manages to fully indulge in it's many lurid components quite well with many fascinating moments throughout here, which is where this one really holds up over time. The central murder angle here is accomplished quite well with the rather deft round of deaths centered on the central spa as the many frequent visitors and staff are roundly butchered in the centerpiece method of the paralyzing venom and the subsequent butchery all the while aware and obvious of the incidents proceeding around them which in turn leads to classic motifs including the obvious red herring, a series of blackmail plots against the many frequent visitors and the world-weary case getting to a hard-nosed detective all making up some of the common ground within this.
That suitably aids the action within this one as there's a lot of fun stalking about and chasing to be had, mostly a thrilling roof-top chase through the various equipment stored around there and a secondary car chase that makes for some rather fun times throughout here. As well, it knows how to work the suspense in here as well with the attack in a department store that gets continually halted by the mannequins strewn around the store as well as the several house-stalking scenes where the oblivious victims are all cut up and killed in lengthy, fun sequences. Added together with a generous helping of nudity delivered by those well-deserved to provide it and there's enough here to make this one of the most essential giallos along with a few minor flaws.
The fact that the mid-section of the film, right when the case should be getting it's most active focus, is dropped for a series of lengthy discussions between the detective and his wife about this furniture arrangement makes this slow to a crawl at a certain point, and this only highlights the lack of action at that particular segment of the film as hardly anything really happens. Also, the usual giallo trapping of not making the plot all that sensible and logical for the resolution again rears its ugly head, none of the clues provided meshing with the real killer and their motivation at that point, but it's dropped in favor of the shock revelation instead. Still, these don't upset the good points in here.
Overview: ****/5
One of the finest examples of the genre out there, there's not much that really holds this back from being one of the essential genre pieces as there's a lot to like with this one. Highly recommended viewing for anyone remotely interested in the giallo genre or European mystery/thriller fare in general, while those who aren't swayed by this entry won't find too many better examples to try in the format.
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