Director: Luigi Bazzoni
Year: 1971
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Giornata nera per l'ariete; Evil Fingers
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
After a rash of strange murders, an alcoholic reporter attempting to mend his relationship with his family finds himself drawn to solve the mysterious killer's identity only to discover that doing so may put more than himself into the target of the killer's rampage.
Review:
This is quite the accomplished if still slightly downbeat offering. When this one works, it's mostly due to the rather impressive and outright gorgeous technical work here, which rather than just being decorative is far more useful in the scope of the film. The first attack, where the killer strikes the couple in the deserted tunnel along the highway features some utterly impressive work of the lone figure walking inside being utterly dwarfed by the size of the opening being a tiny speck inside the massive structure and we follow them walking along inside to discover the body of the first victim, the elaborate scene of the drugged victim crawling on the floor attempting to reach a ringing telephone is a grand suspense sequence that features a strong pay-off where the killer strikes unexpectedly and the stellar stalking sequence of the lone victim in the park at dusk makes for an elaborate showing where the dizzying nature of the killer striking and leaving them disoriented which makes for an utterly chilling sequence.
The highlight stalking in the finale works as well with the idea of going after a child before going into the stellar chase which is what makes for a thrilling overall finale. What even makes this fun is the fact that there's more of this kind of work outside the stalking scenes as this gets carried over into the usually flat and functional dialogue scenes where we're treated to much more involved and elaborate setups for the scenes in his house talking with his wife or mistress, the fun of him threatening his bosses which is quite striking as well as the sensuous and charged scene set in the nightclub where the silhouetted bodies are seen first before the nude bodies are identified and they begin their lovemaking. This all helps to wrap this one up in a really elaborate package for a stellar murder- mystery that's far more engaging than it really should, bringing about some tense moments as he realizes the true nature of the culprit and tries to stop the rampage which does get somewhat confusing at times yet brings about a rather strong and engaging final half as all the pieces come together in fine form and injects some life into the proceedings.
These are what make this enjoyable enough to hold out over its few minor flaws featured here. The biggest issue is the fact that the films' attempt to make the killer somewhat hard to guess gives this some rather inane and illogical ideas to decipher, going from the idea of all the deaths taking place at the specified dates to the astrological connection and how it all ties together to make him unravel, making for a rather messy plot line here. Likewise, without a whole lot of violence or gory kills here, this one does become rather bland and formulaic when it doesn't have any kind of stellar deaths to focus on. However, these aren't necessarily crippling flaws overall and it does have a lot to like.
Overview: ****/5
A solid and highly enjoyable giallo effort, it features quite a lot to like about it which manages to hold this one up over a few minor issues that do hold this one back slightly as it’s just a notch below the upper tier for this reason. Give this a shot if you’re a fan of the style, are a massive Eurohorror fanatic, or are a fan of the creative crew while most others who aren’t into these factors should heed caution.
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