El asesino está entre los trece

'The Killer is One of 13' is a competent yet effective Spanish giallo flick directed by Javier Aguirre with an interesting plot in a similar vein to Agatha Christie that weaves an intriguing murder-mystery element with some nice camerawork and solid visuals. But apart from these positives the movie's pacing is perhaps a little too restrained which should allow the story to build, but it never does and instead we get something that lacks tension or thrills without much pay-off.

The plot follows a widow Lisa Mandel (Patty Shephard) who invites 13 guests to stay at her rural mansion out in the country. She soon reveals to them that she suspects one of them of murdering her late husband and soon enough they are also getting killed off one by one.

While I'm not opposed to a slow-burn mystery, this flick fails to be engaging and not a lot happens until over the hour mark and then we just get a rather forgettable climax with predictable reveals and barely developed characters, I barely remembered any of them by the time the movie was over. Overall there's just not much more to say about this rather boring flick, instead that there's far better giallo's out there with a similar premise such as 'Nine Guests for a Crime' & 'The Killer Reserved Nine Seats'.

Skip this one you're not missing much.

This exciting film contains tension , thriller , drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense killing sequences especially in its final part , in a creepy denouement . Slowly paced flick with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story in which a killer series undergoes a killing spree by means of brutal executions . This thrilling picture concerns about some higher-class people are gathered by a widow , Lisa Mandel(Patty Shepard) , in an isolated mansion under mysterious circumstances and one by one they are murdered , each according to a peculiar relationship with Carlos Mandel , the formerly deceased husband by aviation crashing . The beautiful widow invites a number of guests to stay at her residence , these are the followings : Francis , widow's cousin (Eusebio Poncela) , his mother (Trini Alonso) , the playboy Harry Stephen (Simón Andreu) , Martin (José María Prada) and lover , Srta. Hoven (Dyanik Zurakowska) , the suspicious painter , Harlan (Jack Taylor) , Guillermo (Eduardo Calvo) , his wife Laura (Carmen Maura) , among others . Furthermore , there appears servants , gardener (Blaki) maid (Marisol Delgado) and butlers (Ramiro Oliveros , Paul Naschy) . Later on , the widow reveals that she knows that one of the group killed her husband and she is attempting to search for hubby's murderer . As he really didn't die by plane crash , but he deceased by a sleeping pill that caused the deadly accident when he was crossing the Mancha Canal . Before dying , the husband to withdraw money from the bank : 10.000 pounds , this cash is , day-present, missing . Soon they are being too murdered one by one . As they are being killed by cutting car brake line , slitting , garrotting , hanging , and stabbed in the chest . Meanwhile , at the mansion occurs the regular loving conflicts , including sexual scenes , as sex with butler , as sex with a maid , triangles , jealousy , and betrayals . As the guests are astonishing about the inexplicable deaths are happening . The premise is the following : who's the killer among the suspicious guests ?

The plot is plain and simple , regarding a group of wealthy people are invited by a widow and shortly after , realizing that they are being murdered one by one . This Giallo contains suspense , thrills , chills , intrigue and plot twists . Aguirre designs a mediocre thriller , including some regularly staged murders plenty of startling visual content with blood and gore , though was submitted to limited censorship in Spain . This is a customary slasher in which mystery , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . The picture packs atmospheric blending of eerie thrills and creepy chills combined with a twisted finale . It displays lots of blood but it seems pretty mild compared to today's gore feasts . The staged killings are the high points of the movie , they deliver the goods plenty of screams , shocks and tension . This "The Killer Is One of Thirteen" contains usual ingredients of the ¨Gialli¨ sub-genre : suspenseful intrigue , twisted killings , violence , sadism , physical abuse , and some female nudity . Based on a script by Alberto Insua , soon after Javier Aguirre adapted the screenplay . The main excitement lies in watching what new and amazing killing to be committed by a strange executioner , a black gloved killer . Sensationalist murder pieces , including by axe in the head , killed in shower , stabbing , asphyxiate , head bashed in , decapitation and grisly slashing . However , the film results to be slow-moving and extremely talking , for more of a hour , there happens nothing . The Giallo plot is mingled with the typical Agatha Christie mystery developed in her known novel ¨Ten Little Indians¨ that had several cinematic adaptations , such as 1965 rendition by George Pollock , 1975 recounting by Peter Collinson and 1989 retelling by Alan Birkinshaw . The cast is pretty good , plenty of known Spanish actors , such as : the gigoló Simón Andreu , Eusebio Poncela , Alberto Fernández , May Heatherly , Paloma Cela , Jack Taylor , Dyanik Zurakowska , Eduardo Calvo, Jacinto Molina , Ramiro Oliveros and several others .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Javier Aguirre and it has several flaws , gaps and failures . Javier Aguirre has filmed with all of the power and sensationalism at its command but in exploitation style . Father of director Arantxa Aguirre with first wife , actress Enriqueta Carballeira , being his second wife Esperanza Roy , both of whom usually play his films . Javier is a craftsman , expert on comedies such as : ¨El Astronauta¨, ¨Los Que Tocan El Piano¨ , ¨Locuras De Parchis¨ , ¨Los Chicos Con Las Chicas¨, ¨Soltero Y Padre En la Vida¨, ¨Soltera Y Madre En La Vida¨, ¨Rocky Carambola¨, ¨Martes Y Trece¨. Aguirre also made quite a few terror movies as ¨Gran Amor Conde Drácula¨, ¨Jorobado De La Morgue¨ , ¨Asesino Está En Sus Trece¨. In addition , he directed various ¨Avant Garde¨ films.

A recently widowed woman invites thirteen people to her secluded mansion. At dinner, she reveals that she suspects one of them murdered her husband and she intends to find out who. Before long, in grand giallo tradition, a black leather gloved assassin starts picking people off.

This film is part of the sub-bracket of films known as the Spanish giallo. Unfortunately, this one also emphasises a Agatha Christie style whodunit element over giallo mayhem. The result is a movie where there is simply too much talk and not enough action. There is a seemingly endless conversation at the dinner table where the hostess points out the underhand nature of various characters. Its hard keeping up with all of this and you do sort of wonder, even when its happening, if its honestly going to be worth the bother, as its pretty obvious that most of the guests are too obviously shady to actually be the murderer in a film like this. Pleasingly, things do definitely perk up a bit latterly when the murderer pitches up and starts knocking off a few cast members, although it is a little late in the day when this happens. Because two thirds of the runtime is chat-heavy, it does mean the pacing is pretty poor overall. The cast is half decent, with regulars from Spanish genre flicks Jack Taylor and Paul Naschy appearing in small roles and giallo regular Simón Andreu once again appearing as a smarmy playboy character. So, there are some things to enjoy in this one but its really only going to appeal to fans of the genre who are looking for obscure deep cut examples of the giallo.

This is Javier Aguirre's only giallo. It's not bad as these films go. However, it is slow. The first murder does not occur until over an hour into the runtime. The body count is also lower than you would expect from one of these films.

Patty Shepard, Simón Andreu, and Paul Naschy all appear in the film. Some of them have smaller roles than you would expect. However, I will say that the quality of the acting and dialogue is generally better than many of these movies.

The mystery component was handled pretty well. While the story was obviously inspired by Agatha Christie, it does not copy from her.

At the end of the day, you won't go wrong by watching it, but I can't recommend it for anyone who is not already a fan of these things.

Look, I've seen over 200 gialli, so I'm used to plot holes and lapses in logic, but whoever wrote this one really dropped the meat in the dirt. I've seen some people comparing 'The Killer is One of Thirteen' to Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians', and let's just put a knife in that right here. Other than people showing up to a house and dying, the two aren't even in the same universe.

In short, the story is about a wealthy woman who invites a bunch of friends (?, more like acquaintances) to her home after her husband recently died in a plane crash. She then accuses them one by one of having a possible reason to want her husband dead. Eventually, the killer strikes again.

First of all, it would have been wise to limit the characters so we could follow who's who. There's a reason it's 'TEN Little Indians', 'The Killer Reserved NINE Seats' and 'SIX Women for the Killer'-so we have time to process who the characters are and get to know them.

The reality is, we might have had a shot at understanding the characters and their motivations if the screenwriter didn't distract us with sneaky affairs and dumb romance subplots that contribute zero to the plot or character development.

It's a shame, because the cast is decent. Yeah, the soundtrack is off with some strange cartoon and game show sound effects. The wardrobe and lighting are lame. But it's really the script that sinks this Titanic mess. Despite all the backstories and attempts at red herrings, I guessed who the killer was in the first half hour.

My advice is, if you're in the mood for a good whodunnit, pull out René Clair's version of 'Ten Little Indians', 'And Then There Were None' from 1945. It's creepy and clever, holds up well and is one of my favourite films.