Director: Sergio Martino
Year: 1972
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave
Genre: Giallo:
Plot:
Content to wallow in his misery, a failed writer prone to violent blackouts when he's drunk grows increasingly alarmed at the rash of murders in a nearby village and sets out to prove he's not the culprit which draws everyone around him into danger when the killer strikes back.
Review:
This was quite the fun and highly engaging Giallo. One of the strongest and most engaging qualities about this effort is the fact that there's great work done here in getting the psychological aspects of the story alongside its traditional gialli tropes. Considering that he is both prone to blacking out and in quite a steep alcohol-fueled stupor allows him to worry that the concurrent crime spree that's taking place in the nearby village is his own handiwork when it appears that there's quite a large connection between him and the victims, 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, not only the inclusion of the beloved black cat that belonged to his mother but his jealousy protecting it while she utterly hates the creature, there's some great work to be had here with these elements in the first half as her attempts to catch and kill it provide some rather tense and gruesome sequences. Once it moves on into the later half, this one manages to come together with other great homages of his work with the stellar use of the wailing cat-cries inside the house driving her even further to the brink while also managing to utilize the concept of the walled-up bodies leading to their guilty conscience coming into play here to help bring up the fine attention that these parts of the story bring as there's a lot to like here as this builds its mystery.
Likewise, the few kills here aren't bad as their brutality makes for quite a shocking series of scenes out in the village and the stalking themselves aren't all that bad as there are some nice times to be had with the opening stalking in the town square or the attack inside the house where the multiple victims are targeted. The finale works in some solid Gothic work along the way in the basement where the true fate gets unveiled and the setting helps to add a greater atmosphere to the proceedings. Alongside the fine nudity from the performers, this has a lot to like here 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 are not a lot of typical set-pieces normally found in the genre beyond a few key scenes to move the story along. It still fits nicely in the genre here with the series of twists in the finale but those looking for a traditional body-count style of effort won't be really enamored with this one as it goes for the slow-burn approach more than some might like. 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.
Overview: ****/5
An overall strong if slightly flawed giallo that offers up quite a lot to like for the positives outweigh the negatives here, the film has more than enough to hold it up in the genre for the most part. Give this a look if you're a fan of the style, especially the more suspense/thriller side of the genre, Eurohorror in general, or fans of the creative crew, while others who aren't into these factors should heed caution.
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