Das Antlitz des Todes

Fabulously flamboyant Spanish filmmaker, José María Forqué dazzlingly conjurors up one of the more luridly louche offerings of the superbly slinky, perkily permissive 1970s, with his divinely duplicitous Giallo, 'In The Eye of the Hurricane' which eye-bogglingly remains an entrancing, diabolically devious, slaveringly salty, perkily psycho-delic, salaciously skin-drenched, tantalizingly twisted, irresistibly glamorous Giallo diorama for refined film hedonists of all ages!

The stylish, sensationally suspenseful, tremulously titillating, dreamy-delicious erotic thriller, 'In The Eye of the Hurricane' is also known as the far more mellifluous-sounding, 'La Volpe dalla coda di velluto' (1971) and is generously endowed with an abundantly sultry, appealingly sun-slathered sexiness, now all glamorously gussied up in fashionably freakadelic High Definition! This erotically charged, murderously overheated ménages à trois is a deadly-decadent descent into juicily jet-setting, 'Martini-minxes-gone-mad', aqua-netting Giallo doom! This exquisitely playful Costa-del-death' celluloid curiosity has an outrageously camp 'swans-in-the-bathtub' eccentricity that electrifies 'In The Eye of the Hurricane' with an arrestingly perverse quality, making the misbegotten machinations of these handsome protagonists all the more fascinating! Those estimable cult aficionados at 88 Films have once again lovingly restored another exotic, little-seen 70s Giallo gem to a remarkably pristine quality!

This is not a giallo. I want to get this out of the way immediately b/c it has effected some reviewers opinions of the film. There are no slashings and no body count here. There is no shadowy killer dressed in black stalking victims. There is no chase sequence. None of that.

Now for what this movie is. This is the movie Umberto Lenzi always wanted to make but never quite achieved. It's the wealthy woman in a dangerous world where a lover manipulates her, and you're not sure who to trust, but you're pretty sure everyone is motivated by money. The acting is great all around. But what makes this one stand out is a script that blessedly actually makes sense and a wonderful soundtrack by Piero Piccioni!

Go into it knowing this one is a slow burn psychological thriller, and you'll have a much better time :)

Despite being made in 1971, the big year for the classic-style violent murder-mystery gialli, this Spanish giallo is a throwback to the late 60's type which was less concerned with bloody mayhem and more with dangerous love triangles and deadly melodramas. Its story focuses on a woman who heads off to a seaside villa with her new lover who she has left her husband for; while there a series of dangerous incidents occur leading her to believe that someone is trying to kill her.

This one opens with a cracking credit sequence full of colour and beautiful drawings. It sure gets you in the mood for another slice of top quality giallo mayhem. Unfortunately, this one doesn't really live up to this promise and pans out as a fairly run-of-the-mill psychological thriller. It's not a bad film or anything, as it has some nice photography, a lush score from Piero Piccioni and benefits from its early 70's vibes. But its story just never engages as much as it needs to and it reveals its hand quite early on so for the last half of the film there isn't even a mystery to propel events. I think the story needed to be stronger as it is pretty minimalistic stuff in terms of characters. There are only really five of any consequence, including a couple of enigmatic individuals in the periphery - a male friend from 'the war' and a female seductress. In terms of suspense, we have a car hurtling down a mountain road with faulty brakes and an incident with a scuba tank with no air. Fairly slim pickings on this front in truth and there is no real violence to speak of either but there is admittedly a fair bit of sex and nudity thrown in to keep things more interesting. I think it may be other less plot-driven details which might be the most memorable though, such as any scenes involving the swan and all the underwater sequences. In summary, this is a nice looking yet slightly underwhelming example of a giallo, still well worth seeking out if you are an enthusiast of the genre though.

The polyvalent Spanish director José Maria Forqué tries to show in this Italian coproduction that he could also make for his part a giallo. He uses the codes of the style, notably taking inspiration from Lenzi's works, and convenes great giallo actors alongside famous Argentinian actresses. The film itself opens on credits including smart drawings combining Art Nouveau and pop style, upon a mixed theme of Leda and Swan Lake.

The swan girl in question is Ruth (Analia Gadé, Murder Mansion / Quando Marta urlo dalla tomba), a very wealthy woman who wants to divorce from her husband Michel (Tony Kendall, La Jena di Londra), because she is in love with the handsome playboy Paul (Jean Sorel, Paranoia). They thus leave together for a splendid area on the sea coast to live their perfect love. Here they meet Roland (Maurizio Bonuglia, Giornata nera per l'Ariete), a Paul's friend and former comrade-in-arms, who acts to serve their idyll, and Danielle (Rosanna Yanni, Cross Current / Un Omicidio perfetto a termine di legge), a strange girl who seems to watch them. In a spleen moment Ruth reminds herself that she has always been frightened "to have to grow old alone", but Paul comforts her saying: "you won't get old". And accidents are not long to start happening.

For giallo followers, the trick is rather simple, and logically the director chooses to reveal it for the middle of his film. But the main issue thus remaining is: how our swan girl will try to react to the plot? How will she handle the inquiry of the local commissioner (Julio Peña, Tre Notti Violente)? Will she manage to be sufficiently clever to get through the knots woven all around her? Or should a "third lion" be even smarter to snatch the bet? This giallo made in the classic way won't quite shake up the standards of the style. (Viewed in Italian 1h40 version.)

I was surprised but delighted to discover that although I had a copy of a copy of this somewhere, I have never actually ever seen it before. Doubly delighted to discover that this Blu-ray print is so wonderful and with a rather catchy song too, this is rather a fun film to watch. Nothing terribly violent or bloody and even the infamous skin shots are rather carefully shot but this certainly has a certain something and is a joy to watch. Jean Sorel is fine, much as he always is but the two girls are very effective and such is the storyline that we are genuinely surprised on more than one occasion. Very entertaining, made me gasp and smile.