La muerte ronda a Mónica

In Spain it appears that ladies keep their telephones in the shower and, when answering the door, have time only to put on a pair of shoes, but not a pair of grundies. Welcome to Death Haunts Monica, an old school giallo (the kind that involves a rich person and loads of untrustworthy people trying to get their money) that has an mid-seventies giallo mindset (loads and loads and loads of nudity).

Monica herself is a rich lady who is married to and stressed out by playboy Jean Sorel, who has used her money to set up a successful company along with friend Arturo (who is also ex-boyfriend of Monica) and Elena, who tells Monica that Jean is having an affair with Eve, who is also Elena's lover. Jean also has a bit of a dodgy past and that comes back to haunt him in the form of Diego, a man who tries to blackmail Jean and discovers it's really Monica who is holding the purse strings.

That's about as much plot as I'm willing to give away as this film relies on its many twists and turns for impact, and as it's looking back towards those late-sixties gialli (like Umberto Lenzi's Paranoia) it wouldn't be fair to spoil anything else that happens. The seventies archetypal black-gloved killer does show up eventually, but even then things aren't so straightforward.

This is a fine example of the genre with an almost complete lack of gore, although every single actress gets naked (and many others do to, just for the sake of it). Jean Sorel has barely aged a day since the last film I watched him in.

Monica (Nadiuska) is supposedly a rich woman who lives happily with her husband, Federico (Jean Sorel). Thanks to a friend of hers she finds out that he is cheating on her with another woman named Eva (Bárbara Rey). Things go from bad to worse when the company appears to be in trouble and former board members reappear. However, everything seems even more complicated with the appearance of Diego (Damián Velasco), a former adventure partner of Federico who has spent the last few years in prison due to a robbery and who also wants to get hold of the couple's assets, trying to get cold hard cash. The wealthy woman is then implicated in a series of murders. Other partners in this venture include the middle-aged bachelor Arturo (in his usual role as elegant playboy Arturo Fernández), who has a string of lovers throughout the city and used to date Monica herself, and the usually fur-clad glamorous Elena De Fuentes (Karin Schubert), who is a close friend of Mónica. At least that's what she thinks. Trusted friends are also few in the Giallo genre.

In 1976, Giallo was still influencing some directors, as in this Spanish thriller, whose intricate plot does not imply any development, nor due tension, nor an original outcome; however it does contain a few attractive elements. In short, the approach with which the director tries to drive one of the characters to madness is partially interesting. The film offers little more than gratuitous nudity, with a lesbian scene included, something very typical in the era of the "Destape" (ordinary nudist exposure of Spanish actresses in the seventies and eighties). As a trivia, we should add that the film received complaints at the time from certain viewers who had to be assisted in the same theaters due to the shock caused by some violent sequences. This film has a lot of dialogue and is somewhat slow, although it begins in an entertaining way and develops little by little, repetitively, spurred by a ridiculous ending, and not being filmed or directed with much style, but rather with a television aesthetic. Although it's called Giallo, it reminded me much more of a similar film, 'Diabolique'. The only thing you might not find in a television production is that there is a generous helping of female nudity here. All the actresses involved like Nadiuska, Karin Schubert, and Bárbara Rey, the latter more than once, as well as other women in smaller roles like Sandra Alberti, and Jenny Llada act to undress and then disappear. However, it's also worth noting that the scenes themselves are far from erotic. There is no sex here; just a lot of nudist scenes when the girls are showering, or making love, or coming out of the bathroom when the phone rings, or upstairs when they're in bed with their partners. Even a lesbian act in a nightclub is boring when filmed from afar.

I'll give him some credit for generating a bit of intrigue at the end and some well-executed scares, although it's pretty obvious that he's not very skilled at this particular genre. Some of the posters advertised this as an Agatha Christie adaptation, but it is not. The cast also includes the regulars of horror and European Giallo, such as the french Jean Sorel who played as a leading man in many films, standing out in the Italian Giallos, starring Nadiuska , famous as mother of 'John Milius's Conan' and in 'Último deseo' (The People Who Own the Dark,1979), Yelena Samarina and Luis Barboo as Monica's servants, the latter participated in a lot of horror/Western films, Bárbara Rey from 'The Cursed Ship' (or The ghost galleon), Sandra Alberti, who starred in the Spanish exploitation gem 'Satan's Blood' (1978). There has never been an official release for this title, although several outlets offered a faded, albeit widescreen print. The film was mediocrely directed by Ramón Fernández, although it has many deficiencies, cracks and gaps. This was the only Giallo genre film by this director, who made mainly comedies. Ramón was a prolific craftsman who directed all types of genres (but with a penchant for comedy), such as Thrillers: ¨Rueda de sospechosos¨, ¨7 minutos para morir¨; Westerns: ¨Las mujeres de Jeremías¨; Musical: ¨Las aventuras de Enrique y Ana¨, ¨A Tope¨. Being expert on Spanish comedies, such as: ¨Aquí están las vicetiples¨, ¨Cateto a babor¨, ¨Ahí va otro recluta¨, ¨Simón contamos contigo¨, ¨Sor YeYe¨ , ¨Margarita se llama mi amor¨, ¨ Los novios de mujer¨, ¨El adultero¨, ¨El donante¨, ¨Cuando los maridos iban a la guerra¨, ¨Doctor me gustan las mujeres es grave¨, ¨Matrimonio al desnudo¨, ¨El señorito y las seductoras¨, ¨El gran mogollón¨, ¨Aquí el que no corre vuela¨ and he made ¨No desearas al vecino del quinto¨ considered to be the Spanish's most boxoffice at the time. Rating: 6/10. Average but passable .

This outrageous Spanish thriller was distributed in the US as Death Haunts Mónica--an apt enough title until one realizes how much else is haunting the poor girl. Murder, mayhem, kinky Sapphic encounters, and risqué bathing behavior are just a few of the elements in Ramon Fernandez's off-the-wall Giallo.

It features no fewer than three European beauties: Nadiuska, Bárbara Rey, and Karin Schubert. All three are on full display for a significant part of the film. They are accompanied by several others who present brief glimpses.

The principal male, Monica's (Nadiuska) husband, is French actor Jean Sorel. I remember him in front of a firing squad in the original Day of the Jackal. Of course, Monica may be putting him in front of a firing squad if he doesn't leave his mistress (Bárbara Rey).

Elena (Karin Schubert) is plotting to steal the company, and stirring things up with Monica and her husband. But, things get twisted and you don't know who is fooling whom.

This film essentially begins with a young man by the name of "Federico" (Jean Sorel) who is married to a wealthy woman named "Monica" (Nadiuska) but is having an affair with another woman by the name of "Eva" (Barbara Rey). As it so happens, Federico works with a female colleague named "Elena" (Karin Schubert) who is romantically involved with Eva and is using her affair with Federico to gain control of his company. To make matters even more complicated, a man named "Diego" (Damien Velasco) has just been released from prison and the first thing he does is to blackmail Federico by threatening to reveal his past criminal history before he met Monica and became successful. Eventually, one thing leads to another and Monica soon discovers that she has become an innocent victim in a scheme by certain people so obsessed with money and power that they are willing to do anything to acquire it. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film derives much of its entertainment value by the mystery it manages to contain until the very end. That being said, this film managed to keep my attention for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

This is a Spanish psychological thriller with some giallo elements. It's about a woman in the midst of a dangerous situation involving her unfaithful husband, his mistress, her girlfriend and a shady criminal newly released from prison. Secrets from the past infiltrate the present and people start turning up dead. As is often the way with gialli, it has a somewhat convoluted story with various rich jet setting characters doing various unpleasant things to each other. It has shades of Les Diaboliques and it stars giallo regular Jean Sorel. Needless to say, I liked it!