Terror and Black Lace (1985) Horror Thriller

Terror and Black Lace (1985) - "Terror Y Encajes Negros" is what some call a Mexican version of a giallo. It is not quite that but it is a story that is heavy on moral message wrapped in a thriller. Isabel (Maribel Guardia) is a young wife of an older man, she is a kept woman safely ensconced in her penthouse apartment she longs to interact with the world. Her husband Martinez (Gonzalo Vega) likes to know where she is, to know what she is doing, as well as controlling her access to money. It is always great when a scene sets up a character without exposition about that character and there is a great simple one to show how Martinez thinks. He comes home and there is a service truck in front of the entrance, he gets out of his car and rips off the wipers from the van before it can speed away. When upstairs with his wife she is doting on him, calming him with a drink and dinner. She tells him she made him pork chops and rice. He says he already had something like that today and then proceeds to take her in the kitchen and explain how she will make him a "tortuga" totally ignoring the work she did in preparing him a meal. He is bit of a dick but it sets up both her and him. His overbearing behavior is going to drive Isabel to do things she probably not do. Of course the moral lesson is hers to learn and through her the audience gets the message.
Little do the residents of the apartment building know that there is a deviant in their midst. Cesar the instrument maker has a compulsion that will blow up into murder later in the film. The movie does a good job hiding his predilection with a bit of misdirection. The opening scene has the creeper Cesar (Claudio Obregon) in a mall following a woman onto an escalator. He stands really close to her and after he gets off we continue to follow the woman. Suddenly people notice that her dress has been cut up on the back. Did that creeper really just cut pieces off her dress in public? Later we see Cesar in the elevator of the building fighting the urge when women enter. He says to himself, not at home not where he lives. You get the picture from this that his urge is strong and it takes all of his will power to restrain himself. Still though it is surprising when you see what his real deal is. If you pay attention to his interaction with the cleaning girl Coquis (Claudia Guzman) you can figure it out but this viewer was a bit slow. We cut to scenes of Cesar and his mistreatment of women throughout the film. We really get the full picture of his fetish and know that at some point it will come into play with the main story.
That main story about a kept woman romanticizing about a different life is a bit mundane. It is well developed if not particularly interesting. Isabel decides to change her life by getting out more and in so doing she meets another man. The black lace outfit she initially thought would get her husband back to treating her like more than a useful piece of decoration is now a way to break from her boring life. She meets and flirts with Ruben (Jaime Moreno) on a few occasions. So her husband was right all along thinking that if he gave her too much freedom she would soon stray? She decides to meet Ruben at his apartment on a weekend when Martinez is going out of town Ruben for his part is thrill with the idea of finally getting this woman in bed and who wouldn't Maribel Guardia is a former Miss Costa Rica and a beautiful women. Ruben is exactly the reason Martinez is so protective of his wife. He is a single man who thinks nothing of trying seduce another man's wife. His smarmy coolness makes the viewer cringe and thus he is the perfect foil for the moral tale being told here. So when he gets Isabel to agree to join him at his apartment we are set up for the lesson.
Isabel for her part will have to make a decision before the night is out. She sees her husband off and gets ready for her night out at Ruben's. She knows what she is getting into dressing in the black lace outfit she is beautiful and then puts her blue dress over it and heads out. It is sort of a shame really what happens to her. Martinez with a chance to impress his boss and possibly get a promotion has some really bad luck. A flat tire and a bad car jack make him miss the opportunity of a lifetime. He heads home a broken man. His scenes are really played almost for comedy with every one of his reactions a real exaggeration. Isabel has equally bad luck, even after making her decision at Ruben's she is punished for even thinking about cheating on her husband. As she rides the elevator back to her apartment she has the misfortune of coming in contact with Cesar.
He has been having his own bad night and it has spun completely out of control. An argument with Coquis turns fatal and it is poor Isabel's fate to be in the elevator just as Cesar is trying to get rid of the body. This starts the rather good final sequence of the film where Cesar does all he can to get Isabel and make sure no one ever knows about his crime. It is a long sequence and Isabel has several very close calls in and out of the elevator, the roof and her apartment. When finally she manages to reach the apartment of the party and it seems she is safe, the moral lesson smacks her one more time. Her husband arrives home as she is being calmed on the balcony and from his viewpoint it is his wife in a black lace outfit surrounded by men. He is furious and refuses to listen to anyone pulling her out of the party and forcing her back into the elevator, the place of her trauma. As she cries in a ball in the elevator he walks up the stairs to see the door of his apartment hacked open, he realizes something more has happened and cries for forgiveness.
The lesson in this film is a rough one with Isabel even though she ends up making the right decision is a victim for just thinking about cheating on her husband. In a way the film presents her as young and naive and Martinez as her protector. This is a bit of a relic of a pre-feminism world maybe reflecting Mexican society at the time but maybe not even that. Reflecting on it with today's views Martinez comes across as more manipulative and Isabel is responding to his smothering personality. A women though who would cheat on her spouse becomes fair game for any psychopath lurking in the world. It does not matter if she follows through or not, if only she had listened to her husband and accepted her cage nothing bad will ever happen to her. Not the most modern of messages. Still the film was reasonably well constructed and the final sequence well done. So it will get a pass from Soresport movies. Oh and since you are wondering here is the toruga recipe
1. Open a roll and pull out most of the bread leaving a hollowed crust.
2. Refried beans spread on one side, avacado and chilies spread on the other.
3. In the middle Ham, slices of tomato, avacado, cheese, onions, and some chili peppers.
Eat and be merry!
Rating (6.1) 5.0 and up are recommended.

Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975)

Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) - Nude per l'assassino, Sometimes a film is way too on the nose and that is the basic problem with this killer movie. I would call it a Giallo but in that genre there is a mystery around the plot, there is no mystery at all in this one. The opening scene is a woman, Patrizia (Solvi Stubing) who appears to be receiving an abortion on a table with a doctor in attendance. Since he is all alone you get the sense that this is not an official visit but more of the back alley kind of abortion. When things go wrong and the girl dies of heart failure the doctor instead of reporting it calls Carlo and the two move the body to her apartment to be found and rules a home death. This is the incident that sets the killer off. How do you know? Well in the very next scene we watch the doctor as he drives home, when he arrives a killer in a leather motorcycle outfit and helmet runs up to him and stabs him to death. Like I said it is a bit on the nose. So really the story is not going to be about why the people in the film are being offed but more by who. The killer is completely covered head to foot so an identity can not be made. They are slight in build and can possibly be a woman, or is the film trying to mislead the viewer?
As we learn who the players are, models Lucia Cerrazini (Femi Benussi), and Doris (Erna Schurer) as well as those behind the modelling agency, owner Gisella Montani (Amanda) Photographers Magda Cortis (Edwige Fenech), and Carlo Bianchi (Nino Castelnuovo), Stephano (?) and Maurizio Montani (Franco Diogene) Gisella's husband and really sad sack the mystery is which of them is the killer. There are minor character, Gisella has a lover, a woman who is killed, There is a gay man who knows the killer who also is an early victim. From this we know the killer is definitely at the agency and the build of the killer is that of a woman. So ruled out of the equation is Carlo a built man and Maurzio a fat man.
Working through one killing to the next we quickly and without a lot of trying who the killer could be. Since Magda and Carlo are working together they are eliminated so it really leaves models or the shop owner. Like I said, it is a bit on the nose. Sure there are some side stories to try to throw you off. You learn that Gisella has a female lover who she likes to dominate. She smacks her and yells "You Bitch! You love it don't you." and "You're a big whore." There is connected to this a blackmail scheme that she has to be mysterious about.
You would think that misleading the audience would be the way to go but this film really sabotages this. Everytime someone is going to be killed there is a flash image of the girl in the bathtub. It's like the writer Massimo Felisatti and director Andrea Bianchi thought we forgot over and over again why the killing was happening. Instead of just reminding us though they took the tension out of the film by telegraphing when the murders were coming.
What also is on the nose is the product placement. Throughout the film you will see two products prominently place. First the is J&B Whiskey which is all over this film, then the other is Levi Jeans which appear in posters and advertising so much so that there is a poster for the product above a character's bed.
There are some memoriable bits of dialog in the film so here are a few gems, I liked when Magda was talking about coffee, Carlo wants her to put milk in his and she says "What, you can't ruin good coffee like that." ... "Milk in coffee is like water in wine, both are ruined. That's the truth."
Then there is poor old Maurizio who is constantly trying to get with the models. His pervy pursuits finally look like they are going to pay off when he wears one model down. Doris agrees to having sex with him but he can't perform and she leaves after his crying out. "Oh Mama, mama why does it always end this way." he walks into another room and gets a blow up sex doll to blow up. "Your the only one who can make it happen. The only one." So sad.
Later in the film the police chase a guy down a dark alley and I kid you not after a cursory look into the shadows the cop turns to another cop and says "Forget it he's gone. No way we can find him now." and the other cop says No, too dark." Noe that is stellar police work.
What this film does have going for it is some really beautiful women, I know we at Soresport Movies say that about many of the Italian Giallos, but it is true. Our lead Edwige Fenech is lovely and they spare not an opportunity to have her and the other actresses in this film to take their shirts off. It is part of the genre and the italians apparently like the look of a woman's breasts. So hats off to them at least when the movie is crappy there are beautiful women exposing themselves. I am sure this does little for the women in the audience but at least it is a distraction for me since I pretty much figured out this film about 2/3 the way through.
Whether you choose to watch this or not know there are better examples of the genre out there, Tenebre comes to mind. This film did not really do it for me although there are not many movies that end with a couple in bed where the man is joking about wanting to have anal sex.
Rating (4.8) 5.0 and up are recommended, in the Zombiegrrlz system I say SKIP IT!

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) Mystery Giallo

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) - 4 mosche di velluto grigio (original title) This decent giallo by Dario Argento is one of his better pictures. Not as dark as but better than Deep Red, or as good as the wildly weird and superior horror of Suspiria, but certainly not close to the great (and Argento's best) Tenebre, but a solid effort not without problems but it keeps the audience engaged and guessing. The problems with the film are in plain view but they are not so bad that they make the film a dud. The first being the lead character Roberto (Michael Brandon). He is just not particularly likable. An introverted drummer in a rock band he is intense and not the most loving person in the world. In the end you find this is exactly why he is the main character and it is really good writing by Argento. Early in the film we see him plying his trade and in between, him noticing the same mustached man watching him from the distance. Annoyed by the man, Carlo Marosi (Calisto Calisti) always being around one night after a practice he chases the man to a empty auditorium and confronts him. He wants to know why the guy is following him. The man denies that is what is happening and tells Roberto to get lost. Things go horribly wrong when the man pulls a knife. Roberto grabs at the man and accidentally stabs him. He fall into the orchestra pit and looks dead. Roberto sees someone up in the balcony saw what happened and was taking pictures as it happened. What the hell? Here is the mystery, who was the person taking pictures? What do they want? Blackmail? This is the central theme of the film.
Roberto stews and worries about the incident but tries to go about his life. His wife Nina (Mimsy Farmer) wonders whether he should go to the police, but Roberto fears being in trouble. He is sure that being an angry guy and confronting and killing a stranger would not look good if the police were to get involved. The body is discovered but his wallet is not on him. This does not make anything easier on the drummer. Roberto and Nina continue there lives as if nothing happen, at least outwardly. They have a party, or have people over however you want to see it. During the gathering Roberto finds a photo print of his incident stabbing the man slid inside his albums. Now not only does he know that the picture taker knows who he is he also knows there are games afoot. It may be someone who is in the room at the party. Who in his group would want to make his life a living hell? Why?
Since this is a mystery I don't want to go too much into the specifics of the plot. The general direction is that the blackmailer, (even though they never make a request) continues to up the ante. There is home invasion, pet disappearance, and a murdered maid. There is a growing sense that the game may become dangerous and Roberto wants Nina to leave so she will not be in danger. Still Roberto does not want the cops involved. We the audience start to learn that Roberto is being set up for some mysterious reason. Mixed in are these scenes, flashes of a mental hospital and the voice of an angry dad. It is designed to lead the audience towards thinking Roberto had a bad spell in his life but after the big turn we learn this is not the case. Wait, have I already shared too much? Maybe not...
Roberto is not sitting around letting this happen, he gets some help from a friend of his Godfrey (Bud Spencer) they send "The Professor" (Oreste Lionello) to keep a watch on the house, and he also hires a private investigator Gianni Arrosio (Jean-Pierre Marielle). Unfortunately the entire film must play out the the big turn and by that time several people are dead, we know from the mental hospital flashbacks that who ever the person in there was, they were criminally insane and we know that Roberto is a bit of a dick. His wife is not away a couple days when he and friend Maria (Laura Troschel) end up in bed together. Did I mention that Nina and Maria are cousins. Mixed in are characters being murdered and who I will not say. There is this really strange part where pseudoscience is used to figure something out. After the death of a character the retina supposedly holds the last image seen before death. This happens to be four flies on grey velvet. It is such a contrived way of getting this information that it was annoying. Then that allows Roberto to make the connections he needs to for the big reveal. The end is just freaking wonderful and you come away feeling like this was a decent film. The music in the film is pretty grooving at times and some of the shots are quite well composed.
Rating (5.3) 5.0 and up are recommended in the Zombiegrrlz system Rent it!

Deep Red (1975) - Suspense Giallo

Deep Red (1975) - If you can get past the main conceit of this film it is very an enjoyable suspense thriller. That conceit is that the main character Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) is a musician who witnesses a murder, he on his own not only investigates but solves it and other murders. He does not go to the police nor do they, the police seem involved or engaged in the investigation of the crimes. Why not?
With that said there is so much good about this film, Dario Argento wrote this with Bernardino Zapponi and Argento directs it with style and skill. Argento has put some real shit on the screen but here he seems to have his act together. The opening scene shot from the floor of an apartment, we hear an argument and see the shadows of what appears to be a stabbing, then a bloody knife falls onto the floor and we see what appears to be the legs of a girl step up next to the knife. This is a really well done scene and the perfect opening.
The introduction of our main character we see him playing Jazz music with a group of youngsters Marc is a teacher at the music conservatory. That is it though at this point.
Our catalyst victim is introduced in the next scene, Helga Ulmann (Macha Meril) is presenting at a conference She says she is a psychic who can see images and feel thoughts of people around her. She does a demonstration on an audience member. Then she gets some disturbing thoughts from an audience member we don't get to see. "You have killed and you will kill again." she shouts. We get a point of view of the killer leaving the auditorium. No one has gotten a good look at the killer as the stage light blinding Helga enough she could not make the person out.
We see a closeup of the eye of the killer, but not even enough of a look to tell if man or woman. The POV from the killer watching Helga so we know what is coming and can feel a bit of dread for her. We get images of children's drawings of the killing we saw in the first scene?
Helga hears children's music and starts to get jumpy in her apartment. The doorbell rings and as she reaches for the door senses the danger, too late, the door is kicked in and a cleaver wielding killer starts chopping at her. Of course the lighting does not let us see who the killer is.
Outside Marc and his fellow piano player and friend Carlo (Gabriele Lavia) are discussing life. Carlo is drunk and a sad sack. They hear the scream and see the poor victim as she is impaled on the broken glass of the window. Marc who also lives in the apartment rushes upstairs to see if he can help. He has a bit to explain when the police arrive. They are callous about the murder and it is real obvious they are not going to be in the movie much. I think the scene is really there to introduce the female reporter Amanda Righetti (Giuliana Calandra) who will travel the path to the killer with Marc.
Because of the nature of this film it is unfair to continue to give too much detail about the plot. Marc continues working his way through the story, and developing a relationship with the reporter. There is a image on the wall of Helga's apartment sticks in his head a an important revelation later on. The police are basically missing while Marc discovers important pieces of information and closes in on figuring out who the killer is. It takes a good deal of time to do this and there is the strangest thing with the copy of the film I got from Netflix. The dialog repeatedly and often went from Italian with English subtitles to dubbed English and then back again. I tried to find a pattern in this but could not, seemed random. Oh and what the fuck was the scene with the fucking weird robot? Marc eventually gets to the killer for a final confrontation. It is a pretty good little film is you can ignore the flaws. I thinking I was so smart thought I had it figured out halfway through but I was wrong which raised the score for this movie.
Rating (5.8) 5.0 and up are recommended, in the Zombiegrrlz rating system I say Rent It!

Tenebre (1982) Horror

Tenebre (1982) - Dario Argento wrote a great murder mystery in 1982 and it is worth the time to watch and enjoy. In this wonderful movie we have author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) going to Rome to promote his latest book Tenebre. Quickly he is questioned by the police because a murder has taken place following the description of one in his book. We are left to puzzle at who the murderer is and I have to say through the movie I had several suspects. This movie is more complicated than average and my guesses were wrong. The camera angles are really well done and the killing scenes tense and brutal. There was this one strange sequence where we get an external view of a cubist house the second murders will take place in but we spend way too much time covering the outside of the house. weird? When the murderer is revealed more twists ensue. In the end I was just delighted that I could be so wrong and that the plot was so well put together. It is rare to have such a well filmed and plotted movie from this era. I purposely did not give anything away because anyone who reads this blog should go out and get this movie.

Rating (8.8)