Die Nacht der rollenden Köpfe

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.

This movie has all the elements of a good giallo, but it somehow manages to fumble every one of them. All gialli have ridiculously convoluted plots, but the plot of this movie could best be described as random and meandering, and it never succeeds in developing any real tension. While looking through a viewfinder in a park the heroine (Nieves Navarro) accidentally spots a woman being killed by a man with a cane and a straight razor. Suspicion falls on the heroine's boyfriend (the incredibly bland Robert Hoffman)even though his girlfriend is the only witness or potential witness(including a street vendor, a blackmailer, and a prostitute)who is NOT immediately murdered as well. Meanwhile, as the boyfriend is forced to investigate the murders to clear his own name, the killer also continues going after his main targets--pretty young women associated with a mysterious dance academy.

There are way too many characters in this story (even a minor female journalist character has an identical twin sister for no good reason)and almost all of them carry a cane. (Be careful though because this is the kind of movie where even the cane itself might be a red herring). The final revelation of the motivation of the killer is always enjoyably ridiculous in gialli, but here it is just plain dumb. The only thing that might recommend this movie is the gratuitous nudity. EVERY woman that appears on the screen in this movie finds a reason to get naked (including a memorable scene where a ballerina suddenly decides to go topless during her routine). Even this becomes a liability, however--Nieves Navarro is actually a pretty good actress and I'm sure no one will complain about her two gratuitous sex scenes, but does she really need to stand out around bare-ass naked when all she's doing is discussing the case with her boyfriend?

In its favor this movie DOES have some amount of visual style, and it will probably be looked on more favorably when it is released on legitimate DVD (which shouldn't be too long--THREE Nieves Navaro gialli have been released in the last six months). OK, not great.

"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

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.

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!!!!!