Autopsy (1975) by Armando Crispino

Director: Armando Crispino

Year: 1975

Country: Italy

Alternate Titles: Macchie solari; Sunspots; The Victim; Tarot; The Magician; Frissons d'horreur

Genre: Giallo

Plot:

After a bizarre series of suicides, a would-be pathologist trying to figure out the crimes is soon turned onto the idea that, instead of an abnormal reaction to sunspots, the suicides could be murders carried out by a maniacal killer triggered by ultraviolet rays through the sunspots, and he must try to stop their rampage.

Review:

This was quite an intriguing and enjoyable genre effort. Among the finer aspects here is the strange and original setup that has a lot to like about it. The whole setup involving the series of murders taking place during the solar activity depicted, which drives the unnatural behavior, is a fantastic premise, initially making it seem like an invisible force is behind it all, as the supposedly supernatural storyline is soon turned into a more grounded and realistic one. This idea of the concept driving the killer to have the cover for his crimes, even with the ulterior motive behind it all, makes this come together nicely as the intriguing elements are explained.

That also serves up the potential for the film to rely quite heavily on the secondary storyline, involving the character study, it turns out. The gradual personality shift that occurs here, with the initial starting point painting her as the backward-thinking, shy introvert who’s got her head in her studies to the point of either forgetting social manners or her boyfriend, is a fine charge that signals a genuine evolution of her, the longer the film goes along. The way she interacts with those around her and the gradual change that this highlights is quite intriguing, with the psychological impact it showcases how the case has transformed her.

However, while this setup allows for an immensely well-detailed storyline, this does have the side effect of focusing on the characters to the detriment of the slashing. The very deliberate pacing goes heavily on how the interactions with those around her or how the murder spree has started to intermingle her and the boyfriend is based quite heavily on understanding the psychological implications of everything, but the low body count suffers as a result. As there are fewer than half a dozen of these scenes and not much in the way of genuine stalking here, this one comes off as quite weak in the sense of wanting the body-count style of genre effort.

As well, there’s also the film’s reliance on cliches for the killer and their motivations. The whole concept of the motivation being based on the procurement of greed feels way too convenient here, as if it’s an expected hope more than an aspect of the story that’s been designed and integrated into what’s going on by way of the reveals that come about. Instead, this setup is quite lackluster as it comes off rather expectedly and isn’t that big of a shock as a result, especially since that also means the killer comes off quite easy to guess with all sorts of nonsense to come about having to believe the murders are played as they are. All of these end up bringing the film down.

Overview: ***/5

An enjoyable psychological character study if a middling giallo, this one serves more of a secondary function as a psychological character study around a weak giallo that does have an admittedly impressive setup for all its worth. Those who aren’t mindful of the issues or are hardcore Eurohorror fanatics will have the most to like with this one, while most others out there should heed caution.

This review is part of our ongoing series of reviews for Italian Horror Month, every November on the site: