Paranoia

Titled on my Blu ray as Paranoia, this is also known as A Quite Place to Kill which might be the better option as there is another Lenzi film made the previous year and also known as Paranoia. Thankfully, Umberto Lenzi himself is on hand on the disc to clarify the similarities and differences as well as how this ridiculous situation came about. Anyway the previous year's film, also with Carroll Baker is fine but this is probably even better. More original and more exciting, this is a crazy, colourful and involving gialloesque mystery involving fantastic clothing and furnishings, cars and telephones and lots of Carroll baker. She was nearly 40 when she made this but still strips down to order and looks great. Jean Sorell is as reliable as ever and always seems to give that look and twinkle those eyes as if to indicate love and hate at the same time. Marina Coffa appears around the halfway mark and really stirs things up. Apparently back in the day audiences would stand and applause, so stunned and delighted at the final denouement although she did very little after this for whatever reason. Very much of the period this has the music, fads, colours and morals of the time.

The engaging, jet-set jazzy thriller, 'A Quiet Place to Kill' (1970) aka 'Paranoia' is another visually resplendent, sinfully stylish Giallo from the playful master of sexual intrigue, Umberto 'Eyeball' Lenzi. Many Gialli fans share the opinion that this murderously Machiavellian Mediterranean outing is markedly inferior to his iconic, highly regarded, Martini-cool Giallo masterclass, 'Orgasmo' (1969), but maestro Lenzi's fizzy, cocktail-fuelled psychodrama, 'A Quiet Place to Kill' distils a no less intoxicating plot, as our emotionally fragile heroine, Helen (Carroll Baker) recuperates from a car accident, she fatefully reunites with her dashingly duplicitous ex-husband Maurice (Jean Sorel), and before you can say 'lashings of J&B-laced jiggery-pokery', increasingly fell deeds turn Helen's louche, seaside convalescence into a memorably murderous ménages à trois!

With its luxurious lounge-core soundtrack, ubiquitously labyrinthine plotting, glamorous vistas, sublime fashions, and a nuenced performance from one of the most delectably diminutive divas of Gialli, the golden-haired, sinfully skittish, glitteringly glamorous screen goddess, Carroll Baker. Sadly, poor Helen suffers greatly at the manicured hands of her scheming, beguilingly suave, cocksure paramour Maurice. This preternaturally gorgeous male, disingenuously clad in benign, pastel-hued v-neck sweaters, slyly harbours hateful plots against his significant others! Incredibly, Sorel's perverse preference for Val Donican's Christmas wardrobe does little to mute his sleekly manipulative portrait of a callous, languidly libidinous playboy on the make, thereby making the appealingly sin-dappled, breezily-paced, 'A Quiet Place to Kill' a scintillating, must-see Giallo for all Lenzi-Baker Gialli fans!

I recently watched the Italian thriller A Quiet Place to Kill (1970) on Shudder. The storyline revolves around a wealthy woman fed up with her husband's womanizing and leaching behavior. To be rid of him, she invites his ex-wife to help in her plan, creating a slippery love triangle where the stakes of life and death become uncertain.

This picture is directed by Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox) and stars Carroll Baker (Kindergarten Cop), Jean Sorel (One on Top of the Other), Luis Dávila (Mission Stardust) and Alberto Dalbés (Kiss Me Killer).

This unique Italian picture, predating the giallo boom, incorporates elements from that genre, engaging in cat-and-mouse games and keeping viewers guessing about who is playing whom. The kills are creatively executed, concealing motives until the end. Outstanding acting, particularly from the gorgeous Carroll Baker, adds to the film's appeal. Multiple twists at the end blend triumph and tragedy.

In conclusion, A Quiet Place to Kill is a well-written and executed slow burn, making it enjoyable to watch unfold. I would give it a 6/10 and recommend seeing it at least once.

Watched this on Tubi TV in March 2021. This is a great thriller with a beautiful looking cast, stunning scenery and a crisp transfer. The plot centers around two women who conspire to kill a man who has been a lover to both of them and then things go haywire. Great little thriller and the scenery and beautiful cast make this film definitely worth the watch.

It's about three people, and one of them dies, and then often ridiculous consequences ensue for the two left. That's the plainest way to summarize A Quiet Place to Kill, and though it's not too special, I think it's fairly entertaining for a sleazy and in-your-face movie of its age. It's now old enough that the sleazy stuff feels a little more quaint, so watched today, it's almost restrained, in a way? I wouldn't go as far as to call it classy, but if it had been made a little more recently, I think it could've overstepped certain things.

Anyway, it's still pretty much a soap opera, but it works if you're after something heightened, melodramatic, and pulpy. My mind wasn't on this 100% while it was playing, and I actually think that was the ideal way to engage with it, in all honesty.