Das Geheimnis des gelben Grabes

let's start to say that this movie is not available in Italy (neither DVD or even VHS). It's incredible if you think that this is an Italian movie and in Italy you can find all the sort of American z movies! (even the Americans realize z movies).

By the way this is a nice giallo, well directed and well acted, I like very much Alex Cord (he looks like the young Chuck Norris, but Cord seems much more athletic and stunning then Chuck). I think this one has a lot in common with Friday the 13th (the plot, some murders, motivation of the killer...) but it came out almost 10 years before Jason.

If you like slashers and gialli , you will like this one

Amando Crispino's L'ETRUSCO UCCIDE ANCORA aka. THE ETRUSCAN KILLS AGAIN is an interesting and somewhat unusual Giallo from the greatest Giallo-year 1972. 1972 was the year of several of the greatest genre masterpieces including Sergio Martino's YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY, Fulci's DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING, Massimo Dallamano's WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE and Emilio Miraglia's THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES. While L'ETRUSCO UCCIDE ANCORA is not as essential as these aforementioned titles it is highly interesting and creepy as the sight of this Giallo's mandatory murder series is an ancient Etruscan burial ground, which gives this particular Giallo a supernatural atmosphere.

The American archaeologist Jason Porter (Alex Cord) is head of a team that has discovered an ancient Etruscan burial ground including fascinating and mysterious pieces of mural art. Shortly after the discovery, a young couple is murdered in the same manner as depicted in the Etruscan tomb, which had not been opened for 2,500 years. It seems as if someone is trying to point out Jason, a womanizer with a drinking problem, as the murderer. Is the culprit one of the eccentric people in Jason's surrounding, or has an Etruscan fiend risen from tomb to perform his bloody deeds? As in most good Gialli, almost every character in the movie is a suspect.

L'ETRUSCO UCCIDE ANCORA is elegantly filmed in nice Northern Italian locations and accompanied by a very good and intense score from the great Riz Ortolani. The murders are quite bloody and well-made, most of them being Giallo-typically filmed from the murderer's perspective. The female cast members are all lovely to look at, especially Samantha Eggar and Christina Von Blanc, who is known for her mostly exhibitionist roles in some of the Spanish Exploitation-icon Jess Franco's movies. Besides Alex Cord, the cast includes several other well-known actors including John Marley (THE GODFATHER) as a sadistic elderly orchestra conductor and the always-sinister Horst Frank who plays a flamboyantly homosexual designer here.

Overall, L'ETRUSCO UCCIDE ANCORA may not be an outstanding Giallo-masterpiece, but it is definitely an elegant and creepy specimen of the genre that should not be missed by my fellow Giallo- and Eurohorror fans. My rating: 7.5/10

This movie was so obscure, and the picture on the video box was so lame, that I didn't expect much. It was a nice surprise to have it turn out to be suspenseful, complex, even scary. Many weird characters, weird settings, and plot twists got me involved and created a creepy feeling. It appears to be a routine film in the first ten minutes, but things keep developing, strange characters and subplots appear, flashbacks, etc. It was worth it.

Jason Porter (Alex Cord) is an alcoholic photographer working on an archaeological dig in an Etruscan tomb from the 5th century bc, he has a history of mental illness and violence which seen him locked up in a New York mental hospital, but now he's trying to get some normality back in his life, so when after a rainstorm at the dig he discovers the mutilated bodies of an amorous couple, the police naturally regard him as the main suspect. Some articles recently stolen from the site are found beside the bodies of the victims the only clue to who might be the killer. Porter has his suspicions as to who that might be, but the police interference is hampering his own investigation, added to that, Porter is also distracted by the fact that his former lover Myra Shelton (Samantha Eggar)is now married to a sadistic older man, Nikos, a sadistic old man and music conductor for a local theatre, where there are a number of suspicious characters.

Right from the start this plays like a horror film, we the viewer are led to believe that the killings are being done as an act of vengeance from a recently disturbed demon god with breathing difficulties, There is some great location work within the Etruscan tombs that adds to the atmosphere, the murals on the walls of the tombs showing the depictions of the actual murders before they happened, but Giallo experts will soon see that there are no supernatural forces behind these atrocities. The film also plays like a classic slasher in that sexual liaisons seem to herald the death of those involved, this is an unusual plot point for a giallo but then this is an unusual film. Riz ortolani provides a decent operatic score, the dubbing on the film is a real low point though, not the actual voices but the editing of them is beyond abysmal, this is still a film I believe would benefit immensely from an official release, considering the settings within the film a glossy new print would certainly bring this to a new audience

This is a good but poorly paced Italian thriller from the 1970's. The plot concerns a series or murders occurring to people connected to a recently discovered Etruscan burial sight. One of the repeated shots is the face of the Etruscan demon god that was found on the wall of the tomb. As the police investigate the lives of everyone involved are revealed and wee see that not everyone is as innocent they would like us to believe.

A good, but not great mystery with supernatural overtones this movie is graced with good performances across the board. Better is the fact that the characters are very complex with no real clichés in the bunch. The film also keeps you off balance with some interesting camera work and music. The only thing that I'm not a fan of is the fact that the pacing is a bit to slack. There are several times when I would have liked them to move things on and not take a quiet contemplative moment. I'm probably over reacting but the desire to speed things up knocked down the rating a couple of points on this good thriller.