Director: Dario Argento
Year: 1971
Country: Italy/France
Alternate Titles: 4 Mosche di Velluto grigo
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Working with his rock group, a musician who accidentally killed the stalker after him realizes a masked man photographed the incident and begins a rampage around the city murdering his friends and enlists the help of a private eye to figure out the culprit before it's too late.
Review:
This here was a really interesting and enjoyable giallo. One of the big things this one does right is that there's a rather inventive and creative storyline that this one plays around with. The fact that this one initially starts out with the killer merely blackmailing him only for the switch over and soon begin to target him actively to the point of taking out those who are around him, allows the beginning to be pretty creepy as it mainly centers around what the next phase of the torture will be. From the first encounter in the house where the killer appears and actively teases him about being on the loose to the instability it creates as he becomes more and more paranoid and attacks innocent people for no reason, the threat is well played-out here like most of the usual giallos.
That leads into another great factor which is the film's incredibly fun and creepy stalking scenes, from the first shot in the park where the victim waits to meet the killer inside a park unaware that it's closed for the night, allowing the killer to sneak up and engage in an all-out classic of a chase as the twisting and turning within the corridors where it becomes all the creepier when she arrives at a dead-end and a later one inside a bedroom that leads to hiding inside a giant cabinet where the light beams in reflected across the victim's face, leaving a memorable image, it really comes to foreshadow his great work to come later as the craziness of the images within create numerous memorable moments.
Others, from the opening attack in the theater that sets it off to the ambush in the private eye's study, there's plenty to like about these scenes and it all leads into the spectacular finale which is exceptionally shocking and engaging on numerous levels. As these cause the film plenty of great deaths and killing methods, it brings up an interesting possibility for pinning the killer's identity. An old wives' tale about eyes retaining the last image they see, like a camera, for a few hours following a death is brought up and used where a camera rescues the images from a corpse's severed head that leads to the fully-developed image of four flies in succession is revealed. It's a spectacular image and an ingenious use which comes from its creativity and ingenuity.
This here doesn't have many flaws, but they are somewhat important to the film. The biggest one is that there's a little struggle early on to get the film going. The slow pace is mainly accomplished through characters that have nothing to do with the story who are put there only to give red herrings. The more people we met with, the more they seem like potential suspects only this ploy instead just wastes time and drags the film's running time out. That is also taken up with the police detective angle, which has a lot more time in here using it to investigate the matter rather than the actual work being described, as for a giallo this one has a really low body count that does have an impact on this one. The ending is also a little confusing, mainly because the motives don't make any sense and the revelation doesn't make any logical rationale for what's going on, but that's a giallo staple and this one shouldn't be penalized too much for it. Otherwise, the main one is the slow pacing to it.
Overview: ****/5
A somewhat underrated effort that remains just below Argento's main output in his catalog, this one has a lot more going for it than expected making for a rather enjoyable time. Fans of his previous work, those who appreciate Giallo or Italian horror as well as those looking to dive deeper into the genre past the main entries will enjoy this one while only viewers who are turned off by the genre or approach should heed caution.
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