Demasiado bellas para morir

I hadn't really thought that this was going to be very much but I liked it, maybe I didn't expect too much happening. I had thought it had been, Nothing Underneath (1985) and that was a sequel but it is nothing like it at all. This director was early 30s and had written dozens of comic books and very famous TV commercials and made a couple of films but only this giallo. Of course it looks like and sounds something like MTV but as it isn't a wonderful thriller, the costumes and masks are great, the killings are splendid and the blades rather fun even designed by the director, Dario Piana. So this looks so slick but although it becomes rather silly at the very end it just about hangs together and for 90 minutes was thrilling.

A mostly predictable late-in-the-game giallo with some beautiful photography and a love of slow motion shots. There's only one or two standout stalk/slash scenes, but they're incredibly well done especially one involving an ill-fated model being trapped in a sound stage at night and having to run from the killer up the catwalks above the stage.

Sleazy talent agent Alex Conti (Giovanni Tamberi) pimps out his models for sex. At the behest of a powerful client, he arranges for unwary young beauty Sylvia O'Neal (Gioia Scola) to attend one of his shindigs, where she is held down by the other women and raped. Fleeing the party, distraught Sylvia drives off in Alex's car; her charred body is found hours later in a burnt out wreck. As the police try to discover what happened to her, someone begins to kill off those who were also present at the party, the murderer's weapon of choice being a multi-bladed prop created for a music video.

Set in the glossy world of fashion models, Dario Piana's Too Beautiful To Die is a slick and sexy giallo, full of stylish imagery, but totally vacuous, the director exploiting his female stars' gyrating hard bodies in raunchy video-shoots before bumping them off. I have no problem with the film's objectification of women who make a living from their looks, but I do object to the film's lacklustre death scenes, which are bereft of creativity and decent gore. This kind of film lives or dies on the strength of its kills, and the relatively bloodless and mundane murders in Too Beautiful To Die are instantly forgettable, making this a mediocre effort overall.

Sylvia O'Neal is a successful model working in Milan. After the final shoot for a big ad campaign, Sylvia attends a party with some of the other models. Sylvia doesn't realize it, but she has caught the eye of an older, powerful man. She's doesn't realize that he will also be at the party or the party's real purpose. She refuses his advances, but she's not strong enough to fight off the other models. While they hold her, the man rapes her. Distraught, she leaves the party in a hurry only to be found burned to death in a car the following morning. It looks like an accident until the others at the party start turning up dead. And when the police discover Sylvia was shot through the head before the car crash, it's obvious a killer is on the loose.

The 70s were the heyday for the Italian giallo. So it's always nice to discover one made in the 80s, nevermind the late 80s, that's actually good. Too Beautiful to Die is a solid example of a latter day giallo. An unknown killer, a fantastically gruesome murder weapon, artistic touches (tracking shots and blue lighting), a boatload of beautiful women, and plenty of atmosphere - this one has all the elements you expect to find in a giallo. Too Beautiful to Die also features some of the best (or worst) of the 80s. The music, clothing, and hair - all from the 80s. The ad campaigns and music videos the women are working on are incredibly reminiscent of a Robert Palmer video. It's a visual straight out of the 80s. In fact, much of the movie is a bit like watching a string of 80s-era music videos strung together into a film. Plenty of style. Another plus for Too Beautiful to Die are the plot twists and turns you expect to find in a good giallo. There are plenty of clues and red herrings sprinkled throughout that will keep you guessing to the end. With about 20 minutes to go, I was sure I had things figured out. And while I was partially correct, the movie had one more curveball up its sleeve. Very nice. If it weren't for the poor explanation of the killer's motivation, a couple of slow spots in the screenplay, and some questionable acting, I could have easily rated this one higher. Still, it's a nice giallo that fans of the genre should seek out.

When I first noticed this movie in a local video store, I did not know what to think of it. Remembering many Italian movies of the late 80s also did not help much, because most of them are quite crappy. So, when I finally dared to watch the movie, I was very surprised realizing this movie as one of the few well crafted Non-Argento-Soavi-Gialli of that particular time period. The photography is very stylish, and the murders are gruesome enough to satisfy everyone´s wishes. As I read in another publication, the director worked before as a special effects technician and a director for commercials and music videos. Something you can clearly see in his direction. The whole movie has a nice 80s touch with music of Frankie goes to Hollywood, Huey Lewis and the News and Kissing the Pink. So check it out if you can.