5 bambole per la luna d'agosto

Art direction and cinematography are as distinctive as any of Bava's other giallo films of the period, but the garbled script to what is essentially little more than a standard body-count movie really lets this one down. After a plodding and talky start, the film disintegrates into a total mess. Bava pulls off the odd visual flourish, but such scenes never gel together. Still, the mesmeric use of zooms, focus pulls, and tracking shots and the stylish use of colour ensures that, from an entirely aesthetic perspective, this film never becomes boring, and as an auteur piece, is well worth a watch. Now, if only I could work out what the hell happened in it...

"Maestro of the Macabre" Mario Bava directs this island-set murder mystery, which owes more than a little to Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. Although it has some of the hallmarks of giallo – a bevy of vixens luxuriating upon middle-aged sleazebags, ropey dubbing, and murder wounds that bleed peri-peri sauce – it isn't exactly a slasher. It's brief and bloody but not particularly brutal.

The opening starts like a fairy tale – albeit a very 1970s Italian one. Isabel (Justine Gall) prances through the woods like Carroll's Alice and comes to a house. Through the window she watches a forbidden party taking place. It appears that she witnesses a ritual murder – except it turns out to be a game.

But then a real corpse is found and the real game begins. On a remote island populated by self-interested, alcoholic, amoral millionaires ("Filthy swine from the same mould!"), everyone is a suspect.

The chief one initially is George (Teodoro Corra). He's brought a bunch of smug gits to the house to hammer out a business deal. They're all vying to purchase a secret scientific formula from Professor Fritz (William Berger). So when the professor cops it, the accusations start to fly and tensions start to fray. The bodies pile up quicker than you can say "Dario Argento".

Five Dolls wasn't a big release at the time and it's not a classic movie by any means (Bava himself disregarded it), but it's solid and reasonably tense. Naturally, once the murders begin everyone behaves like cogs in a movie narrative machine rather than a convincing human being, but that's par for the course. This is virtually a tech demo for Bava's craft – he's the Hitchcock of Italian cinema, as his choices of shots, focus, and fluid camera shifts show. And if nothing else you have a fantastic, unique jazzy score from Piero Umiliani, who even gives the bodies in the freezer their own jaunty piano theme.

Murder mystery fans will be frustrated by the film's pace, which sometimes gives us literally seconds between homicides. We're furnished with few clues to play with and the final twist is a dirty cheat. But let's not pretend there's no pleasure in watching these sharks eat each other; we're here to find out which of them makes it out alive, period.

Five Dolls is drenched in atmosphere and the production design gives a wonderful sense of the otherworldly – we could be on an alien planet. Silly and sexy, it's not an essential movie, but if you're interested in a macabre and hallucinatory curio from one of horror's most influential artists, look no further.

This 1970 rendition inspired by "Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None" regarding the known plot , as various people (William Berger , Ira von Fürstenberg , Edwige Fenech , Howard Ross , Mauricio Poli , Ely GalleaniIi) are invited by a mysterious host , industrialist George Stark (Teodor Corra) , to relax on his desolate island so that they can exploit the monetary value of one of the guests' revolutionary resin formula . As the group of investment speculators attempt to talk scientist Gerry Farrell (William Berger) into selling the rights of the new formula while they stand at the wild weekend retreat on the private island . But Farrel seems disinterested and tempers rise with the stakes . The wives and girlfriends along for the fun and erotic games feel the tension as their men stray , or attempt to get them to use sex to close a deal . Then a murderer within the group disrupts the proceeding . Once the killings start the possibility of anyone trusting anyone is left far behind . As someone begins to kill them one by one , choosing grisly methods to murder . Freely based on the popular novel Ten Little Indians and subsequent stage play by Agatha Christie about a unseen killer who sequentially knocks off the visitors . Agatha Christie tale of 10 people invited to an isolated place , hovering around mouthing chunks of exposition while waiting to get murdered . The guests discuss and argue each other , only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one . Just before the gripping climax of the film , you will be given some seconds to guess the killer's identity ! The film will pause and on the screen you will see clues to help you decide who the murderer is...but the person in suspect is always the person who is murdered next . There is no way for any of them to flee , so they set about attempting to determine who their hidden host might be and where he might be hiding . Island of terror!

Whodunit in which some guests have been invited by an entrepeneur , joining various colleagues and their wives , being key figure a brilliant chemist who has some investment ideas , when they are all gathered, they're distrusting to each other , while the competitors try to cheat one another with secret bids ; subsequently , the people are being killed off one by one . A psychological thriller in which a number of strangers are forced to come face to face with their sinister aims after receiving invitation to an isolated location off the civilization . Passable adaptation , though the script is unfaithful to the original Agatha Christie novel , being more an inspiration than a correct retelling . Excruciantly tense and so-so recounting with the usual suspicious characters , packing tension , thrills , chills , twists and turns , but being slowly paced . The whole cast overacts at times and playing cardboard roles against beach scenarios and a luxurious mansion . The cast of connivers is interchangeable , though there's a few familar faces such as : Edwige Fenech , William Berger , Maurice Poli . However , being hard to keep straight and in some cases more easily identifiable by their now-hideous 1970 fashions than the faces .

This medium-budgeted picture is a really slow with some interesting elements , being professionally directed by Mario Bava ; but it sticks little with the original and classic version . Allegedly a professional assignment given Bava with just two days' notice, the movie is a fair murder mystery in which even this filmmaker's visual tricks can't sustain interest enough . It packs an evocative cinematography by Antonio Rinaldi and Mario Bava himself , being shot in Anzio, Rome, Lazio, Dear Studios, Rome, Lazio, Tor Caldara, Lazio where in the Sixties were filmed lots of Peplums . Atmospheric and intriguing score by Piero Umiliani , including lounge sounds and catching songs by Alessandroni . The flick was nicely shot by Mario Bava who made decent horror films until his death .

This is one of the innumerable versions based on Agatha Christie famous novel . The best version (1945) resulted to be the classic by Rene Clair with Barry Fitzgerard , Roland Young , June Duprez , Mischa Auer , C Aubrey Smith , Judith Anderson and Richard Haydn ; furthermore , 1965 version set in Austrian Alps by George Pollock with Hugh O'Brian as Hugh Lombard , Shirley Eaton , Fabian , Leo Genn , Stanley Holloway , Wilfrid Hyde-White and Daliah Lavi. ¨Ten Little Indians¨ (1974) by Peter Colinson with Charles Aznavour , Maria Rohm , Adolfo Celi , Elke Sommer , Stephane Audran , Alberto De Mendoza , Richard Attenborough , Teresa Gimpera . And 1989 rendition ¨Ten little Indians¨, switching from an isolated island to African landscapes located in the sabana , it was shot in South Africa by producers Avi Lerner and Harry Alan Towers directed by Alan Birkinshaw , most actors are mediocre and unknown , though there are three important players as Donald Pleasence , Brenda Vaccaro and Herbert Lom who had acted in a previous remake playing the doctor . Furthermore , a Russian version (1987) by Director: Stanislav Govorukhin with Russia Stars: Vladimir Zeldin, Tatyana Drubich, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy .

One of the few films directed by Italian horror maestro Mario Bava that I hadn't seen, as well as a film starring my latest object of cinematic lust, Edwige Fenech, 1970's "Five Dolls for an August Moon" was one that I eagerly popped into my DVD player at home. And it turns out that it was well worth the wait. In this very interesting giallo, a group of businessmen convenes, with their wives, at an ultramodern beach house on what looks to be a lonely Mediterranean island, with the purpose of convincing a scientist to sell them the formula for his new industrial resin. Before long, though, "Ten Little Indians" style, the group's members start to be killed off one by one, and, in a nice, eerie touch, are kept hanging in plastic wrap in the house's meat locker. The plot here is complex enough without being ultimately impossible to understand or swallow, although one or two points do not withstand logical consideration after the movie is done. Still, Bava's direction is typically stylish, with some memorable set pieces (dig those bouncing marbles!); a chic, jazzy score by Piero Umiliani aids immeasurably in moving things along (what a terrific soundtrack CD this film could have!); and the picture, though not as graphically violent as, say, Bava's "Twitch of the Death Nerve" (1971), still provides some grisly moments. And Edwige? Well, whether doing a frenzied dance number in gold lame bell-bottoms and matching brassiere or strutting around in various states of undress, this luscious Eurobabe does not disappoint. She is easily the hottest of the "five dolls" here; whotta knockout! My thanks to Image Entertainment for this great-looking DVD of a film never released theatrically here in the U.S.