Director: Sergio Bergonzelli
Year: 1970
Country: Italy/Spain
Alternate Titles: Nelle pieghe della carne
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
After being released from prison, a criminal intends to blackmail the family of a suspected murder he witnessed years earlier, only to find the family a far more demented bunch than he expected, while a mysterious killer complicates his quest and forces his plans to change.
Review:
This was quite an interesting yet silly giallo. Part of the film's appeal lies in the dual nature of the film, which starts right at the beginning with such a goofy and nonsensical setup. In order to buy into the film in general, the utterly contrived storyline at the heart of the film has to be taken into account, and that presents this with a daunting challenge off the bat by being forced to accept this idea. This setup does spring forth plenty of typical giallo fun, so it does have a lot of worth with the way it brings this together in order to fulfill the genre requirements, which is what makes for a decent enough time here.
The constant shadiness and general air of sleaziness usually found in these films is in full effects here, from the madness and paranoia at the beginning over what the body being buried really means, the childhood trauma at the center of the rampage and the remaining scenes of just outright odd behaviors they all indulge in that ranges from the dancing and incest just combines together into one utterly odd effort. This makes what happens in the end, when the efforts of the family finally get revealed, a series of utterly ludicrous setups that attempt to explain the actions of the plot, which piles on more twists and surprise reveals than an entire season of a regular soap opera. It is clear that these various twists and turns are meant to come as a complete shock which is only because it's downright incredible that anybody would ever see them coming, as the material is so haphazardly put together this never comes close to jelling into a whole.
That these manage to drive the film away from being a typical giallo with the incredibly overwrought sequences found within that just don't make any sense, with all the different revelations being brought out in the endless series of flashbacks that reduce the kill-count significantly by having dispatched the killer earlier in the film. That this spares us having to watch more of the utterly atrocious special effects is perhaps a blessing, with the film running through such a truly atrocious series of special effects work that is completely comical rather than shocking due to the painfully obvious mannequin heads. Although there's some brutality to mention in there with the intent behind it, these here are what hold it down somewhat.
Overview: **.5/5
An immensely silly but somewhat enjoyable giallo, this has enough to be a watchable take on the genre even though the flaws on display here are quite heavy and keep this from being where the upper echelon of the genre winds up. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre fare, who are curious about it, or who are fans of the creative crew will have a lot 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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