Director: Camillo Teti
Year: 1986
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: L'assassino è ancora tra noi
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Trying to investigate a case, a criminology student looks to begin assisting the police on a series of brutal attacks in the city involving amorous couples being stalked and killed by a masked gunman, but the longer she works on the case, she finds herself a target for the deranged madman.
Review:
This was a wholly underwhelming and not that impressive genre effort. Among the few likable factors to be had here revolves around the series of investigative tactics on display, trying to solve the mystery of the killer and why he’s going through the rampage. The central angle trying to use any figure and their skillset possible to help catch the killer and bring her and the professor on board as a means of extra help, which allows them to put her unconventional ideas that are somewhat helpful but aren’t completely useful at deterring the vicious killer. This one serves with a decent central idea. There’s enough to like here with the main stalking scenes showing the couples being stalked out in the middle of nowhere, as the series of interactions focuses on the graphic encounters of the vicious killer shooting his victims dead and mutilating their bodies, which helps to spurn her involvement in the case and gradually uncover the identity of the maniac at the center of everything.
However, beyond this factor, there’s not much going on with this one. The majority of this is due to the absolutely dull and banal setup on display that keeps the energy involvement to a low point, as there’s barely anything going on here that’s worthwhile. The repetitive nature of the investigation where she is constantly reprimanded for how to perform her duty and catch the killer, is at odds with her friends and other parts of her social life, including her new boyfriend, that it all just slows to a crawl with barely anything happening for long stretches, which ends up making this feel much longer than it really is. There’s also the immensely cliched and wholly unrealistic angle involving the gradual discovery of the boyfriend being the potential target of the police search, it doesn’t register nearly as much as it thinks it does, as the cliche is quite easy to guess, while the unsatisfying finale is yet another part here that ends up making the film come off poorly in the end.
Overview: *.5/5
An underwhelming at best giallo effort, there are a few worthwhile elements here, but they get overwhelmed and taken down by a slew of negatives that leave this one quite lacking in general. Those with an interest in this era of the genre or who are curious about it will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed extreme caution.
This review is part of our ongoing series of reviews for Italian Horror Month, every November on the site:
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