Director: Julio Pérez Tabernero
Year: 1973
Country: Spain
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Following the death of a client, a private detective investigating the true ownership of a popular comic book character becomes embroiled in a series of murders involving the crew of a movie being made by the people he’s investigating and sets out to find the culprit before it’s too late.
Review:
This was a decent enough if still watchable giallo. Among the film’s more enjoyable features is the rather fun storyline involving the search for the comics’ creator. The initial meeting to get to the bottom of the mystery involving the true beginning of creation serves this quite well, bringing him into the fold, and, after getting involved in the unraveling investigation, it is quite entertaining. Given the wide range of suspects involved and the different revelations that come about involving the backgrounds and double-crosses that emerge about everyone, it creates a fast-moving genre effort.
This is all enhanced by the film’s better-than-expected kill scenes. The opening murder is a highly entertaining shock ambush that comes out of nowhere with a gory payoff, while a later scene showing the killer sneak up on a victim and manipulate the body into a grotesque and cruel death is rather impressive. The highlight stalking scene of the killer leaving a poisonous snake in their room and being unaware of the creature adds immeasurably to the suspense present, and along with the brutality involved in the other kills, offers up enough positives to give the film a lot to like about it.
There are a few problems found in this one. The biggest issue here is the underwhelming manner in which the storyline tends to overlook a major factor of the ownership of the character, which started everything. This was a main feature of getting the detective involved and revealing that would’ve gone a long way towards figuring out the killer’s identity. Instead, the film turns into a rather pedestrian tale of a power struggle, empty threats of blackmail, and a lame subplot about the police chief being infuriated with him over the progress of his investigation that feels cliché and uninteresting due to this style.
As well, there’s also the factor of the finale, which features several big factors. The whole kidnapping and ransom demand is uninspiring and lackluster, thrown into the film in a belated attempt to add some suspense to the film, and fails miserably as the half-hearted attempt to do so is met with a similar lack of urgency to foil it. That means nothing compared to the comically ludicrous manner of confirming the killer’s identity, the inept brawling that constitutes the final confrontation, or the rather rushed feeling which makes for a genuinely underwhelming finale. These here really lower this one overall.
Overview: ***/5
A rather fun and enjoyable giallo that does have some issues with some troubling storylines and an underwhelming finale, overall, this ends up as a serviceable entry even though it’s not a standout genre effort. Give this a shot if you’re a fan of the genre or Eurohorror in general, although most others who aren't genre fans should look at better-received efforts first before attempting this one.
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