Ciak si muore

The title 'Clap, You're Dead' refers to the clapperboard used by the film industry, the world of movie-making the setting for this obscure semi-comedic giallo from director Mario Moroni. A maniac is killing the cast of the latest opus by eccentric film maker Benner (Antonio Pierfederici), suspicion falling on fired electrician Richard Hanson (Ivano Staccioli). The sacked sparky is blatantly a red herring, the real culprit glaringly obvious from the first moment he appears on screen, although Police Inspector Menzel (George Ardisson) remains oblivious to the very end.

This minor giallo lacks panache and looks as though it was made on a very meagre budget, with ugly cinematography throughout. The potential for a cool meta-slasher that plays with the 'movie in a movie' setup is squandered by Moroni who seems more intent on getting as much T&A on screen than actually doing anything remotely interesting with the story: the plot is extremely basic, lacking the clever twists and turns one usually expects from the genre, and the death scenes are uninspired. Only the last act shows any degree of ingenuity, a Hitchcockian finale in which the killer dons a Danger Diabolik-style costume (black body-suit and balaclava/hood) in order to sneak up on his next victim during the shooting of Benner's ultimate scene, the twist being that numerous extras are wearing identical costumes. It's too little too late to save the film.

3/10. There's a very good reason why this one is so obscure.

Camptastic rare Giallo here which might even border on post-moderism and be a bit of a piss-take. Kind of like Scream without all the annoying know-it-all characters.

A film is being made by an eccentric jerk director who seems to making it all up as he goes along, much to the annoyance of his scriptwriter. Most of the cast are annoying too, and one actress has just had a hissy fit and sacked electrician Hanson. Next thing you this girl has her throat slit and a tan-coloured gloved killer is on the loose. Uh-oh! Time to bring in those cops.

You'll be glad to know there's not much plot to be going on with, but the thanks to the director the cops have a clue: A shadow appearing in shot during the actresses' last scene. Things build up nicely as we have two witnesses to this, and plenty of suspects to choose from as the killer works his/her way through the cast. Do I need to even say that the director insists on continuing to make the film?

Suspects include the director and his assistant who seems to avoid the cops, the scriptwriter, the electrician and some posh babe, although I have no idea what her role was. There's not a lot of murders but there are many silly scenes, from an actress attacking sexism in the film industry while completely naked to a very drawn out dance sequence where the band follows an actress around while she dances. The director's various tantrums spice things up a bit and the policeman's sidekick comes in for a lot of abuse from his superior. There is also a huge amount of jump scares, from dangling feet to someone seemingly just throwing a cat at an actor.

The film is nicely paced for the most part, but then spends a huge amount of time on a chase sequence with the guy you is the red herring. This lasts about six hours but finally the film picks up things again as the director insists on every male cast member and staff getting dressed up in masked and running around the theatre which makes things go all post-modern as he becomes the focus of the last scene of the film, and the film within the film.

I think sometimes people take these things too seriously. This might not be the best giallo ever made, but it's a load of campy old fun. I liked it. So sue me.

Don't though, because I need that money for curry.

A sexy actress has her throat cut on a movie set with the cameras rolling and a shadow caught on film may be the murderer's...

This minor, low-budget entry in the giallo canon sounds better than it actually is and doesn't seem to take itself too seriously because the cast and crew of the film-within-a-film border on parody. Among the suspects and victims are an eccentric auteur, a disgruntled writer, some temperamental actresses and a few technicians with axes to grind and this insulated world gives the movie a claustrophobic feel -but breaking out in an extended chase sequence through the midnight streets of Turin only grinds the movie to a near-halt. The unusual finale takes place in a theater with everyone dressed as "Diabolik" -including the killer- but it's too little, too late. With only three murders and no gore, this threadbare thriller is reely nothing special.

I searched this extremely rare Giallo for quite a while, and now, after I have watched it, I understand, why it is that rare even for Giallo standards: It's simply not a good one. The budget must have been horribly low, and the film never succeeds to keep going. Even the climax at a theatre, where all potential killers are hidden under the same "Diabolik"-style masked dresses, doesn't really deliver the goods. A further problem is that the film often doesn't know if it wants to be funny or serious. Especially the role of the choleric director delivers some rather tiring jokes.

The plot itself is usual Giallo fare: A crew that is filming a horror movie is stalked by a mysterious killer who slays three of the beautiful young actresses. There is a main suspect (a crew member that got fired shortly before the first murder occurs, after he had an argument with the first victim), a police inspector that doesn't search for possible other suspects and a dose of sleazy sex. The violence is mostly kept on a low graphic level, except for a scene, in which a later murder victim gets attacked by the killer in a bathroom: he slams her head against the shower knobs (ouch!). But especially during this scene, the direction of photography is undeniably clumsy and hectic, so the scene loses its potential (the camera work is rather under par anyway).

All in all a disappointing Giallo without the cult potential of rare genre gems like the marvelous "Un Bianco Vestito per Marialè" or "Il Tuo Vizio è una Stanza Chiusa e Solo Io ne ho lo Chiave" to name but two. Interesting for collectors only. Rating: 3 out of 10.

The Giallo genre was at the end of its heyday in 1973 and ended up giving way to the more action orientated Polizi films towards the middle of the seventies. There were still a few Giallo's being made after 1973, but the genre never really reached the heights it did in the early seventies. Mario Moroni's "Clap, You're Dead" obviously takes influence from the later Polizi films; but retains enough of the common Giallo to still be considered a part of the genre. Aside from offering up a plot that includes murder and a detective story, the director has also seen fit to lampoon the film-making process...with largely mixed results. We focus on the production of some trashy horror movie helmed by a hack director. Things go awry when one of the actresses turns up dead and things get even more awry when things go wrong with the production and even more people end up dead. The police begin to suspect Richard; a man sacked from the production, and mounts an investigation into the crimes.

The film actually gets off to a fairly intriguing start; the first murder comes fairly early on and although the director leads us to believe that the film is going to be bloodless; it does at least promise a possibly entertaining mystery plot. Things heat up a bit after the first murder and the film appears to be keeping a good pace; until about the half hour mark when the focus shifts more towards the police investigation, and then things quickly become less interesting as the pace slows down. There are a few murder scenes in the film; although as mentioned they are mostly bloodless and that is a shame. The movie set is actually a fairly good place for it all to take place and while the parody doesn't exactly hit the mark, the film does at least provide some interesting characters. It all boils down to a 'showpiece' ending that gathers up most of the surviving cast and provides a nice conclusion to the mystery. Overall, this is decent enough for a single watch; but I'd only really recommend it to seasoned Giallo enthusiasts.