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Francesco Barilli's Pensione Paura was on my want list for the better part of a decade. When I finally got my hands on it, it was a 16x9 DVD with english subs. Yet another fantastic custom job by Oli at Profondo Blogger. The film itself wasn't quite as fantastic as I had hoped, but they rarely are when you built up your expectations for such a long time. Like Barilli's The Perfume of the lady in Black, I can see why some people would hesitate to call this a giallo, but it's an atmospheric thriller that's well worth seeking out.
Poster art by Piero Iaia.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that Romolo Guerrieri's Il Dolce corpo di Deborah (which stars Carroll Baker and Jean Sorel) was inspired by Umberto Lenzi's early thrillers, but it is in fact made in 1968, before both Così dolce... così perversa and Orgasmo.
Luigi Pistilli, George Hilton and Evelyn Stewart rounds out the cast and with a soundtrack by Nora Orlandi and story by Ernesto Gastaldi and Luciano Martino, you know that you're unlikely to be disappointed. It's not my favourite of Guerrieri though. That honor goes to La Controfigura. Poster art by Renato Casaro.
Maurizio Lucidi's La Vittima Designata has long deserved a wider audience. This excellent Strangers on a Train inspired giallo stars Tomas Milian and Pierre Clémenti who both deliver wonderful performances. Fortunately 2008 has given us not only one, but two DVD releases of this highly recommended title. Germany's New Entertainment released it earlier this year and only a couple of few weeks ago, Shameless Entertainment released it in the UK. Make sure you pick it up. It's avilable at a very low price (under £6 at the time of writing) from Amazon.co.uk.
Poster art by Rodolfo Gasparri.
Made a couple of years after Carole Bouquet's role as Melina Havelock in the Bond film For Your Eyes Only. In Mystère she stars a call girl that becomes the target of a professional hit man when she gets her hand on some negatives that show a politician's assassination. The film itself is more of a political thriller then giallo and it's not as good as Vanzina's more well known giallo, Nothing Underneath (just released on DVD by Njuta films)
Ferdinando Baldi is primarily known for his westerns and as far as I know Nove ospiti per un delitto/Un Urlo nella notte is the only giallo he directed. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the films release history and the reasons for the alternate titles. The poster art above is by Morini and the one below by Piovano (Studio Paradiso).
Judge Oscar Bataille's (Fernando Rey) vacation with his young wife Patricia (Marisa Mell) is interrupted when someone starts copying murders where the killer was sentenced to death by Judge Bataille.
Since Vita privata di un pubblico accusatore is directed by Jorge (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) Grau, I had fairly high hopes the first time I saw the film but unfortunately it's fairly uninspired and predictable. Not even the presence of the normally reliable Rey and Mell makes it rise above the average Spanish thriller. Poster art by L. Crovato.
Set in an empty theater where the trapped guests are being picked off one by one, Giuseppe Bennati's L'Assassino ha riservato nove poltrone preceeded Michele Soavi's Stagefright by 13 years. Surprisingly enough the film has yet to receive a DVD release anywhere in the world. I assume it must be an issue with the rights, because I can imagine there are quite a few DVD companies that would be up for releasing this enjoyable supernatural giallo.
Umberto Lenzi directed some truly great gialli in the early 70's. In terms of style, 1974's Spasmo was quite a departure from his earlier films and Gatti rossi in un labirionto di vetro deviates even further from the earlier "jet-set" formula. And not in a good way, one might add. To me, this is Lenzi's least successful 1970's giallo and it's difficult to imagine that the man behind the great Paranoia and Il Coltello di ghiaccio is responsible for this mediocre thriller.
At least the dependable Renato Casaro comes through with a good looking poster.
The beautiful Daniela Giordano (Bava's Four Times That Night) stars alongside Raf Vallone, Karin Schubert and Rosalba Neri (playing a social worker) in William L. Rose's La Casa Della Paura from 1973. It's a low budget affair with a poor script, dodgy special effects and a painfully inappropriate score, but I still find it a quite charming affair and it doesn't outstay its welcome at 82 minutes. The two alternate posters for the film are both by Aller.
Francesco Barilli's Pensione Paura was on my want list for the better part of a decade. When I finally got my hands on it, it was a 16x9 DVD with english subs. Yet another fantastic custom job by Oli at Profondo Blogger. The film itself wasn't quite as fantastic as I had hoped, but they rarely are when you built up your expectations for such a long time. Like Barilli's The Perfume of the lady in Black, I can see why some people would hesitate to call this a giallo, but it's an atmospheric thriller that's well worth seeking out.
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