La Sonrisa de la Hiena

16-year-old boarding school student Nancy (Jenny Tamburi) arrives in town after her mother commits suicide. She is taken in by her stepfather Marco (Silvano Tranquilli), who has already moved in his mistress Gianna (Rosalba Neri). Things get a bit strange when Nancy begins to suspect her mother didn't commit suicide and puts the moves on both of her hosts. This is a nifty little thriller from Silvio (AMUCK!) Amadio with enough twists and turns to keep you interested. The main mystery isn't too hard to guess, but there is a nice extra twist at the end and, of course, another one for good measure. Tamburi and the gorgeous Neri spend a lot of their screen time nude and that certainly helps too. Quite possibly the best thing about the film is a theme that is so catchy with Amadio using it at every opportunity. You will definitely be humming it for days after watching this one.

Well the characters here do oblige - so no pun intended obviously (and once again). This was one of three movies I was able to watch from a box set from Arrow video, who really knows how to find gems, that I might not have been able to see - same goes for many other people I assume.

That all being said, the movie is quite contained, with a start that may feel missleading. The movie is not full of violence and blood as the start may suggest. It is filled with nudity more than violence - though nothing too ... well you probably have seen more in other movies. Don't forget this is the early 70s though.

There are enough twists and turns to make this interesting and maybe even warrant more than one viewing. Or were you able to decipher clues better than most?

This obscure giallo was made after director Silvio Amado's excellent "Amuck" (his only work to get a decent DVD release so far), but before his tepid melodrama "So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious". It actually shares elements with both, but I'm pleased to report it is much closer in quality to "Amuck". Visually it is not as stylish (although that might just be due to the crappy available prints), but it has the same interesting plot twists and excellent acting.

After a her mother's suspicious suicide, a pretty teenage girl (Lucia Della Robbins)shows up at her Italian villa where she quickly discovers that her new and recently widowed stepfather (Hiram Keller) is having an affair with her mother's sexy photographer friend (Rosalba Neri, also in "Amuck"). The villainous pair plot to do in the precocious youngster, but it turns out she has her own sinister agenda as she has sexually insinuates herself between the two of them (bedding the stepfather and doing nude photo sessions with Neri). The ending is genuinely a surprise.

Neri is good as always (although she isn't quite as exciting shooting photographs as she is shooting a shotgun in a bikini). I initially thought the teenage girl should have been played by Gloria Guida (who was later in "So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious"). Robbins wasn't a sex bomb like Guida perhaps, but she turns out to be a much better actress going from wholesome innocence to sexual precociousness to scheming malevolence, where Guida could really only have pulled off the middle one very convincingly. Special mention should also be made of the catchy, cooing score, which somehow later made its way into a 1990's American car commercial (go figure). It's even more memorable than the "Sexual!" song from "Amuck". It's not a perfect movie perhaps--it suffers from having only one brief scene of Neri getting naked (made up somewhat by frequent scenes of Della Robbins getting naked)and, of course, it looks pretty crappy. Still with a restored print and a legitimate DVD release it could be a minor classic of the genre.

From the director of the better known "Alla Ricerca del Piacere" (aka "Amuck!") comes this stylish thriller that involves not only a confusing web of love affairs and relationships, but also - towards the climax - a bundle of twists that are guaranteed to surprise every viewer without becoming implausible at any moment.

And this is the big plus of this movie: The twists all work. The first half moves on relatively slow (similar to Silvio Amadio's above mentioned earlier Giallo), but the viewer already gets enough information to know that the plot isn't as simple as it seems. In the second half the film becomes a roller coaster ride of red herrings, plot twists and other surprises, which makes it decisively superior to Amadio's earlier effort.

The acting is also thoroughly convincing, which is especially important once the film is finished and the viewer gets the whole story. But the most remarkable thing in this intriguing Giallo is the lush, ear-catching main theme that will never let one go after being heard for the first time.

Smile Before Death, originally titled Il sorriso della iena, is an overlooked and underrated giallo that mixes elements of a psychological thriller with inspirations from the drama genre and a touch of softcore pornography that underlines how experimental, liberal and progressive filmmaking was in the early seventies while it has become significantly more conservative, prude and repetitive these days.

The film revolves around a boarding school student who decides to stay with her stepfather and her mother's best friend after her mother's tragical suicide. What starts as a lighthearted vacation in a lush mansion beside a magnificent lake takes a sinister turn when the three characters start plotting intrigues against one another. These tensions increase dramatically and lead to a breathtaking finale with several interesting twists and turns.

This movie convinces on several elements. First of all, the plot is quite clever and comes around with a few interesting twists in the closing stages that will keep viewers on the edges of their seats. Up next, the tension between the three distinctive lead characters is quite palpable and increases the movie's uneasy atmosphere. The acting performances are very credible, decent and expressive. Especially youngster Jenny Tamburi shows incredible talent and has her breakthrough performance in this movie. The locations have also been chosen with care and offer colourful, elegant and sophisticated elements on the pulse of their time. The fact that most of the movie takes place in the mansion adds a claustrophobic vibe as it makes the beautiful place feel like a golden cage.

This film however also has several flaws that keep it from being an excellent genre film or even a masterpiece. First of all, the soundtrack is repetitive, dull and at times nerve-firing. Up next, the main intrigue of the movie is quite by the numbers and easily predictable until the final fifteen minutes offer a dramatic turn of events. This final series of events might be entertaining but is also quite overwhelming as the screenwriters are pulling rabbits out of their hats.

At the end of the day, fans of the giallo genre and anyone who likes the vibes of the late sixties and early seventies should certainly appreciate this movie that deserves more attention, recognition and praise. Despite its nostalgic vibe, the film is overall rather entertaining. However, it lacks the depth to leave a lasting impression and stand the test of time as a genre classic.