La rossa dalla pelle che scotta

I saw The Red-Headed Corpse because somewhere down the line I'd heard it was a Giallo. Well, it's Italian and could be described as a thriller; although for me it certainly doesn't tick many of the 'Giallo' boxes. However, it's an interesting and surreal film that I would certainly rate as worth a look. The film plays up the surreal atmosphere as much as possible - and it's one of those where you're never really sure exactly what's going on, and whether what we're seeing is actually happening or just a figment of the lead character's imagination. Luckily, it's all rather interesting. The plot focuses on troubled artist John Ward. He's an alcoholic and suffering in the wallet department because nobody will buy his paintings. He meets a drifter in a park one night who gives him a mannequin (err...naturally?). John takes the mannequin home, and it promptly takes on a life of its own; in the sexy form of Erika Blanc, who proceeds to take over John's meagre life.

Erika Blanc is clearly the best thing about the film. The actress takes on the seductive central role and does really well with it. She's at her best when getting her claws into the various male members of the cast, and that happens often. However, I'm not sure if the version I saw was cut because I didn't see so much as a naked breast from her! (Other than the ones featured in her likeness on canvas). She is joined by Farley Granger, who is at home in his role as an alcoholic artist. The pair shares a good on screen chemistry, and it's their interactions with one another that provide the film with its most interesting moments. It's lucky they are so good too, because the film would have fallen flat on its face if it were forced to rely only on the central plot! It soon becomes clear with regards to the plot that it's easier just to sit back and let the film get on with it, rather than giving yourself a headache trying to work it out. In spite of that, however, this is still a stylish Italian film and I'm sure fans of this stuff will appreciate it.

My own copy of this boasts a wonderful box front depicting Farley Granger and Erika Blanc, the one currently shown here, was, I believe the video box and is terrible. So having reviewed the box what about the film! I really enjoyed it. I didn't really think all the, is she real, did she really, is it in his head, business really worked, although it was novel that the person who maybe crazy was not Carol Baker but the guy, Farley Granger.

I don't really rate Granger either so, on the face of it, my score looks rather high. Thing is Erika Blanc is on top form, seducing anything that moves and slipping out of one fantastic costume after another. Soundtrack is also fine, sweet sub Morricone and typical for the period. This is not a top notch giallo but if you love this sort of thing or Blanc or both then it is unmissable.

If you are a fan of Eurostarlet Erica Blanc, you will probably enjoy this movie in which Blanc plays a role very similar to the sexy succubus she played in "The Devil's Nightmare". Blanc plays an artist's mannequin come to life who starts out as a mute fantasy figure but soon turns into nightmarish femme fatale who tortures the artist with her increasingly blatant infidelities. The movie kind of reminded me of the later (and, of course somewhat better) Roman Polanski film "Bitter Moon" where a beautiful woman starts out as subservient to a shallow cad, but soon gains the upper hand to the point that you actually start to feel sorry for the guy.

The narrative is the typical Italian nonsense of the period where you're never sure if what is happening is real, supernatural, or a complete figment of the protagonist's imagination. Second-string Eurobabe Krista Nell is in the confusing prologue for some reason (only long enough to get naked, but I'm sure no one will complain). Blanc takes off her clothes a lot too, but compared to modern-day "erotic thrillers" (which it sometimes vaguely resembles)this movie is pretty tame. Unlike that garbage, however, this one does hold your interest beyond just the prurient, and even badly-dubbed, Erica Blanc and the male lead, American-expatriate Farley Granger, act circles around the performers of more modern-day erotic fare. This is pretty strange but worth seeing if you get a chance.

A depressed and alcoholic painter develops a relationship with a doll - does it come to life or are we watching something completely different unfold?

Farley Granger (who at this point did four memorable giallo thrillers in two years time - Something is creeping in the dark, Amuck, So sweet so dead and this one) stars alongside Krista Nell, Erika Blanc and other great stars from this period. This one is a surreal and odd film that to this day doesn't have a release worthy the film. I had an old American VHS release (really looking like something you'd rent in the adult movie department) before I upgraded to the Retromedia DVD (Eurofiends from beyond the grave) which is a raw transfer from what I presume would be a french or canadian negative and squeezed onto the same disc with the the movie Satanik so the resolution is not the best, but ok. Still I would love to see this movie in high definition as it actually is a better movie than many others in the genre but the current editions doesn't do the film justice. Also worth noting, this movie was released in a hardcore (inserts) version in europe, although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Really, hope to see Vinegar Syndrome pick this one up for their Forgotten Giallo series, and give it the treatment it deserves. 6/10 on my giallo scale.

"The Redhead whose skin burns" follows the torments of a failed and alcoholic painter living in Istanbul, John (Farley Granger, Amuck alla ricerca del piacere), who is tricked and deceived by his sumptuous girlfriend and model (Erika Blanc, La Notte che Evelyn usci della tomba), who bears no surname but appears to be The Woman in a Carmen or Bardot way.

The film is somehow hard to catch, the tormented John living out of reality in a very confused state of mind. Like Pygmalion he seeks to create the perfect wife, "better than the real", who "should not talk back and always wait", and dreams to give life to a mannequin (Krista Nell, Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale), "an angel who never asks for something" gift of a hippie. Be aware that the Italian and the English versions are not exactly mounted with the same sequences succession, the one or the other seeming at some moments to be more coherent. The scene with the girl Mala (Ivana Novak, Sette Orchidee macchiate di rosso) for example fits well near the end like in the Italian one, but the same with the dramatic scene between John and his girlfriend as in the English. Sometimes it looks like as if the director has been hesitating between making a giallo or a sentimental drama.

Nevertheless, John is only interested in the purity of his art, disdained by the merchants Suleiman (Erol Keskin, You can't win 'em all) and Omar (Aydin Tezel, Il Sesso del Diavolo). But his girlfriend, free-minded and voluptuous, all but an object, wants to fly away and grasp all the pretty things of life, and she multiplies her love affairs, the main with a hunter (Venantino Venantini, La Morte negli occhi del gatto), who happened to pass near their house. John becomes more and more jealous and threatens to kill her, becoming like the painter who could kill his models as in The Madonna's Secret. Could he sell to her his soul just in order to possess her body, as even a priest told her once?

Should John finally escape from falling into madness by finding artistic success? Should his girl find on her side the freedom and love she needs near the man who could suit her? Could a passionate drama be avoided among this game of cheating and neurosis? The Istanbulites watch evenly these foreigners leading their tumultuous and sulfurous life until its conclusion. (Watched the Italian 1h24 and English 1h18 versions.)