Die Nacht der rollenden Köpfe

Susan Scott of "Death walks at midnight" and "Orgasmo Nero" fame stars in this fairly unremarkable entry into the giallo genre directed by Maurizio Pradeaux. She witnesses a murder of a girl through a telescope, but fails to see the killer's face (who's dressed in typical giallo fashion). With the help of her boyfriend (Robert Hoffman from Umberto Lenzi's "Spasmo") she starts her investigation, while the killer proceeds to cut the witnesses' throats with a straight razor. There's nothing special about 'Death Walks With a Cane', it's a routine giallo with little originality about it. You've got all the usual stuff here: violent murders, weird characters,crazy plot twists, but there's still something missing. Firstly - suspense, the movie is pretty damn low on thrills. Secondly - sense of style. What kind of giallo is this without stylish locations? The story is supposed to be taking place in Rome, but the action mainly revolves in some un-photogeic back streets. No gorgeous architecture,just old shacks. The most upsetting thing about the film is the camera-work: flat and uninspired, with lots of pointless zooms and occasionally out of focus. Only during the murder scenes do the proceedings look a little more lively with some nice camera angles. The murders are gory and quite well executed. The score for the film composed by Roberto Pregadio isn't progressive or groovy or pounding or anything at all. Merely generic. There's a good deal of nudity in 'Death Walks With a Cane'. Robert Hoffman (who was just excellent in "Spasmo") and Scott do what they can with the material they're given, battling through some hysterically funny dialogue. The supporting cast includes Simon Andreu and Luciano Rossi who's always played demented creeps in westerns and police films. Sadly, this time Luciano Rossi is wasted as just one more red herring. The film isn't great, still worth a look for giallo fans but had a potential to be a lot better. If you want to see the same cast in a decent film, watch "Death walks at midnight".

The seemingly ill-fated Susan Scott (Nieves Navarro), once again, is the sole witness to a gruesome, shadow-slaked slaying, and the prototypically black-hatted hate monger's motivations prove more oblique than usual! I have always found the vivacious Susan Scott to be one of the most sympathetic protagonists, and, quite frequently, hoped that the said black-gloved lunatic would just leave her be! This crepuscular, enjoyably grungy Giallo features juicy jugular jackanapes, a great number of pleasingly familiar Gialli faces, with handsome Robert Hoffman's innate ambivalence being put to handsome use! Death Carries a Cane is considerably livelier than its moniker may suggest, while the formula text lacks the invention of Gastaldi, this gritty Italian/Spanish co-production is a sexified, murky, mean-spirited mayhem machine! Highlights include the moody score, slinky Susan Scott's crackerjack Scream Queening, and the satisfyingly meaty throat gorings!!!!!

One of the better Italian slasher flicks of it's time.

Interesting use of color and editing. The story is rather typical but it moves about quickly enough. If you enjoy the earlier Argento flicks, Bava or even Fulci's "Don't torture a ducking" you should enjoy this.

"Passi Di Danza Su Una Lama Di Rasoio" (aka. "Death Carries a Cane") of 1973 certainly isn't one of the many essential Italian Gialli from the time. However, Maurizio Pradeaux' film is still a creepy and stylish little film that my fellow Giallo/Italian Horror fans should enjoy. The Italian Giallo has brought forth many masterpieces; and while this film isn't one of them, it is nonetheless very enjoyable. This is not least due to the ravishing and wonderfully charismatic genre-beauty Nieves Navarro, who blessed quite a bunch of notable Gialli with her presence.

Overall, "Passi Di Danza...", which shares some features with Luciano Ercoli's "La Morte Accarezza a Mezzanotte" ("Death Walks at Midnight", 1972) is rather routine stuff. The when beautiful Kitty (Nieves Navarro) is looking through coin operated binoculars at a tourist observation point, she becomes witness to the brutal knifing murder of a girl. At first, the cops laugh her report off; when they actually discover the murder victim, they suspect Kitty's boyfriend Alberto (Robert Hoffmann). Bodies pile up as whoever could give hints for solving the crime ends up murdered...

As mentioned above, "Passi Di Danza..." is rather routine stuff, which, in case of a Giallo, isn't a bad thing. The murders are stylish and brutal (though not too spectacular by brutal Giallo-standards), the music is eerie and hypnotic (though nothing special by the high Giallo-standards), and the camera work and settings are stylish and elegant (though, again, nothing spectacular by Giallo-standards). Nieves Navarro (who is credited as Susan Scott) is, once again, great. The ravishing Miss Navarro is once again given several opportunities to take her clothes off, and makes a protagonist that is both very sexy and likable. The blonde Anuska Borova, who seems never to have appeared in any other films, is almost equally sexy in her double role. Robert Hoffmann is good enough in the male lead. The rest of the cast includes regular leading man Simòn Andreu, who appeared alongside Nieves Navarro on several other occasions including Luciano Ercoli's three Gialli ("Forbidden Fotos of a Lady Above Suspicion", "Death Walks With High Heels" and "Death Walks at Midnight") and regular creepy-man Luciano Rossi, who appeared as a super-creep in all sub-genres of Italian Cult-cinema.

Overall, "Passi Di Danza..." may not be offering anything new or particularly overwhelming, but it's a formula Giallo that offers style, suspense, sleaze and brutality, and that my fellow fans of the genre should enjoy.I recommend tracking down the Italian version, since the English dubbing is abysmal. My rating: 6.5/10

Ordinary Italian murder/horror/mystery fair. I found it to be visually spectacular with swaying camera work common to Argento and others.

The movie delivers the goods with naked drop dead gorgeous women and fairly graphic killings. The plot is too complex, but these type of movies really are more about style.