La peur au ventre

It's the 1970s, so everyone is having an affair. It's Italy, so all the women are hot. It's a giallo, so there's a killer on the prowl, and he's targeting all those unfaithful beautiful Italian wives, mutilating their bodies with a knife and leaving behind evidence of their illicit behaviour. Farley Granger plays Capuana, the inspector on the case, whose investigation ultimately leads to a shocking personal discovery.

Roberto Bianchi Montero's So Sweet, So Dead is a textbook giallo, with a plot that offers up several suspects (although it's not too difficult to work out the identity of the killer), a big subplot that goes absolutely nowhere (beautiful Bettina witnessing the murder of her father's mistress), plenty of opportunity to ogle the very attractive actresses in the altogether, a touch of gore, and a killer who shops at Psycho Italiano, the boutique of choice for all serious Euro-maniacs (where they stock a complete range of trench-coats, fedoras, and leather gloves, plus the latest in black stocking masks and switchblades). Hell, there's even a bottle or two of J&B on show, and it don't get more giallo than that!

Even though the story is fairly routine, and the film lacks the visual style of the likes of Argento or Bava, the numerous kills and frequent nudity (babes in the buff include Femi Benussi, Krista Nell and Sylva Koscina) should keep most giallo fans happy for the duration.

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for hilarious camp queen Cleopatra, for the surprisingly dark ending, and for having one of the longest Italian titles for a giallo that I am aware of (Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile - which is even longer than Il tuo Visio e una Stanza Chiusa e Solo io ne ho la Chiave AKA Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key).

One of the things I like in the gialli is their mixture of sex and crime - you can have your thrills and watch at the same time beautiful women with scanty or no dress at all being pursued and killed - their eyes bulge in terror, they scream, their beautiful arms try to defend themselves and finally they lie still .... so sweet... so dead! Very politically incorrect, I know! But we can't deny that we all have our darker side - personally, in real life, I don't like violence, but in my imagination many things can happen - I can even fly!

Other attractive thing in the gialli is their sense of improvisation - as they are made mainly on a low budget, many times, friends and relatives are called to act in minor roles, or to work in the crew. This is why "So sweet, so dead" (Rivelazioni di un....) transmits a feeling of spontaneity. Scenes like a party in a house, friends playing volleyball etc. feel natural. There are also some comic touches added here and there and Luciano Rossi gives us his usual dose of weird humor. Women are getting undressed most of the time, and some, as soon as they undress, get killed. I think you already know the plot: A serial killer is murdering all the unfaithful wives in a well-to-do circle.

The final scene is somewhat shocking! It seems to condone the killer's feelings, if not his actions. If you take the film seriously, you won't like it. Take the film as it is, with its fast and active camera work, lots of female flesh and thrills, and you can't go wrong.

Accuse the film of misogynistic or of whatever you want. Explain me just one thing: Why is it that beautiful women from all over the world went to Italy to get barbarically killed in the gialli? Just answer me that. Enjoy!

I love this movie. The first time that I saw it was when I was a little girl, around 9 or 10 years old. The storyline is great: a killer who targets women who have been unfaithful to their husbands. It is unfair that the killer does not target unfaithful men, but hey, this is a giallo after all. It's funny because I am pretty sure that I only like this movie because I watch it in Italian, and that makes it exotic to me. If it were an American movie, I would probably not like it as much. Farley Granger is quite handsome, even more so than in "Strangers On A Train". There is a red herring that I found predictable, but I've been watching horror films for most of my life, so I often guess correctly what's going on. I knew who the killer really was long before it was revealed. I found the ending quite sad though. It would have been nice to have a different outcome. At least this giallo doesn't have the graphic violence that some of it's contemporaries have.

'So Sweet So Dead' is an ultra-sleazy giallo flick directed by Roberto Bianchi Montero with a simple yet effective plot, good pacing, a lot of kills and tons of nudity. All the elements that you would expect from a decent giallo movie. But what holds this back from being a great genre entry is the lack of creativity within several elements of the kills and story, but it's still an enjoyable time.

The plot follows Inspector Capuana (Farley Granger) who is assigned to investigate the case of a serial killer who is murdering unfaithful wives and leaves compromising photographs of the women with their lovers at the crime scene.

I have heard good things about this and while I was certainly entertained throughout (mostly), it just feels like its missing that something special that could have really elevated this to classic status. Of the genre. The lead performance by Farley Granger was very uneven which is a shame as he's normally great in classics such as (Rope & Strangers On A Train), but here he just seems embarrassed to be here and feels very much phoned in. Not saying that this was bad or anything in-fact there was a lot to enjoy here such as the decent visuals with some nicely stylish shots, a good amount of tension and an awesome looking killer that will delight any fans of the genre.

Overall 'So Sweet So Dead' is good enough with a solid mystery, but the movie does lose its way in several areas and could have done with a bit more imagination and a stronger lead male performance.

Someone is the classic giallo uniform (hat, gloves, raincoat, stocking over the face) is murdering the adulterous wives of the upper classes and leaving pictures of their crimes at the scene. Try not to focus on the men in this situation getting off without punishment - just go with the flow.

A moustachioed Farley Granger is on the case, which quickly becomes a serial killer case when another unfaithful woman is stalked, in slow motion, on a beach, then slashed to death. Farley finds pictures scattered about that crime scene too, although the offending male always has his face scored out. Who could be putting paid to the pampered people of the pompous populace?

So everyone that's rich is knocking boots with each other, we find out as all the surviving ladies have a naked massage thing going on. Silvano Trinquili is having it off with his neighbour, whose husband is crippled, and when she's murdered, her husband stupidly falls down a flight of stairs and dies, which may be the most pointless random death in a giallo I've watched to date.

Oh, and there's the obvious red herring. Played of course by Luciano Rossi, this red herring is the guy who prepares the corpses - he loves running his hands over them and speaking to them and tells the policeman that they are at the most beautiful in this state. I think the character's name was Reddo Herringi.

Although it is packed full of naked women, the plot kind of plods along bumping off people here and there. The ending is a cracker however - one of those out of nowhere endings you get in Italian cinema (see Black Turin for another one I didn't see coming). This is one of those gialli that you'll get to once you've watched the more interesting ones.