Director: Duccio Tessari
Year: 1974
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: L’uomo sensa memoria; Man without a Memory
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Awakening from a coma, a man learns he has developed amnesia and tries to regain his memory with the help of his estranged wife, but the more he tries to develop a relationship with her, the more figures from his sordid past creep in, wondering how true his state is in their search for the truth.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly fun if somewhat flawed genre effort. One of the better elements within this one comes from the immensely effective and intriguing storyline that paints this one as a generally unconventional entry. Starting off with the idea of the guy trying to recover his memory, stricken with an amnesia case so bad he can’t even recall his own wife or son, much less anything else from his past, there’s a lot to like here that is generated from their reconnection and burgeoning romance that sparks as they spend more time trying to regain his memory. These scenes are touching and endearing, making the situation mean a lot more than just a simple case of memory loss, as this makes them all the more sympathetic to the situation.
With one of the obstacles to his recovering his memory also coming in the form of a savage killer associate of his trying to find stolen drugs he hid away that he can’t remember, the film nicely starts to move into more overt genre territory. With the whole thing being designed to try jogging his memory to the point of using psychological warfare or more physical torture tactics to try getting the drugs, this gibes everything the kind of dirty, sordid air that the genre dwells heavily in that’s made all he more impressive that the action here is quite fun with multiple chases, brawls, and a satisfying conclusion due to the fun action presented in how it deals with the revelation of his past but also how he deals with the situation to clear everything up. These all provide a lot to like here.
There are a few slight issues to be had here. The biggest factor with the film is the highly uninvolved pace on display, where the film is more concerned with the psychological implications of his condition than with dealing with the more traditional genre elements. Rather than focus on the exploits of the killer going around trying to implicate him for the murders or kill others off to force his hand, it’s all handled more by way of threats as he tries to make his point regarding how to jog his memory to regain the lost information. This is all done at the expense of the more familiar stalking and other forms of genre content that might make this one a bit difficult to get into for those looking for more straightforward stalk-and-slash with this approach. There’s also the outright silly and just plain unconvincing special effects work that makes the few instances of bloodshed look far faker than they should, being the drawbacks that bring this one down.
Overview: ***.5/5
An intriguing if somewhat slightly problematic giallo entry, this one is fun enough for what it is, even though it being such an unconventional entry in the genre might mean this is a bit of a struggle for some to get into. Those who are hardcore fans of the genre, appreciate this different approach to the format, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like, 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:
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