La peur au ventre

This is yet another giallo helmed by a little-known director; the suggestive but actually deceptive original title, which translates to REVELATIONS OF A SEX MANIAC TO THE CHIEF OF THE MOBILE SQUAD, would lead one to believe that this is very low-brow stuff indeed – however, the end result (propelled by a pounding Giorgio Gaslini score) is not bad at all. Besides, there is a good cast on hand: the obligatory American 'star' is once again Farley Granger (looking remarkably more mature than in SOMETHING IS CREEPING IN THE DARK [1971]), but then we have what can best be described as cameos by "Euro-Cult" regular Silvano Tranquilli and three of its luscious starlets – Sylva Koscina (playing Granger's wife), Femi Benussi and Susan Scott; all the females are made to shed their clothes, with the latter two even involved in surprisingly explicit sex scenes! Incidenatlly, along with STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER (1975; also with Benussi), this was the most erotically-oriented genre effort I have watched so far; in fact, the movie under review was subsequently re-assembled and distributed as outright hard-core material under the moniker PENETRATIONS (but Granger understandably – and successfully – sued the producers over it)! The plot sees the traditional black-gloved killer targeting a small town's apparently unending population of cheating wives (leaving as calling-card photos of them caught in flagrante, albeit with their respective partners' face clinically erased); in this respect, it also emerges as one of the more moralistic giallo entries (at least, this time around one is spared the usual pursuit of the proceeds of either an inheritance or an insurance policy!). By the way, the film even foregoes the last-minute explanation of the killer's motives which concludes (unsatisfactorily) many a giallo – though, in view of just this unexpected striving for satirical relevance (which proves rather vapid nevertheless, given the sheerly exploitative elements by which it is surrounded), here was perhaps a case where one would have liked to know what made this particular person tick (a gratuitously deranged morgue attendant had been made to fit the bill all along, but the real culprit was not too far off the mark anyway)!!

The rap on this giallo is that it is especially moralistic and misogynistic; however,I found the first charge to be untrue and the other greatly exaggerated. A crazed killer is murdering unfaithful wives and leaving photographic evidence of their dalliances next to the bodies. This certainly SEEMS pretty moralistic. But the betrayed husbands don't come off any more sympathetically than the wives. Many knew about their wives' infidelities and/or were playing around themselves (one husband of a murder victim is himself having an affair with another murder victim). Moreover, the killer doesn't turn out to be motivated by vengeance. He is killing these women because he can get away with it, because their high society husbands will thwart the investigation of the beleaguered inspector(Farley Granger) at every turn lest they themselves be publicly exposed as cuckolds! This kind of deep cynicism is typical of later period gialli and Italian poliziani films, but there's nothing especially moralistic about it. Viewed in this way, even the final actions of the detective, which are certainly appalling and take away the only remaining likable and sympathetic character in the movie, are clearly more a final act of despairing cynicism than of righteous anger.

As for the misogyny charge, the raison d'etre of this movie seems to be to show a lot of attractive European actresses (Silva Koscina, Femi Benussi, Annabella Incontrerra, Nieves Navarro, Krista Nell) in various states of undress, and the filmmakers don't seem to care too much whether these women are alive, dead, or dying at the time. The movie lacks the flair, the garish delerium, and the stylized violence of better gialli, but it's not really all that different in it's attitude toward women--they're a decorative canvas for a painting of depravity and brutality. But just because the painting isn't very good doesn't make this film any more or less morally reprehensible than other gialli. In fact, the only really sympathetic character in the whole movie is the college-age daughter (Angela Covello) of one of the murder victims, who hilariously admonishes her boyfriend's "bourgeois politics" while he fumbles with the buttons on her blouse. The incompetent filmmakers, however, inexplicably drop this potential heroine halfway through. An appealing female protagonist would have done a lot to mitigate the lingering misogyny, but here this movie once again suffers from its own incompetence.

'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.

An interesting addition to the Giallo genre. Most commentators have concentrated on the apparent misogyny and gratuitous nudity as well as the unfortunate version with porno inserts (which I haven't seen). I'm not sure about the first criticism and as to the second aspect it's an integral part of Giallo. Why else would most of us sit through badly dubbed plodding dialogue and awful acting except for the occasional glimpse of the unadorned form of Babara Bouchet or Sylvia Koscina? To mind my far more interesting is the political undertone referencing the corruption of the upper classes in 1970s Italy which is in tune with "respectable" movies such as 'Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion' and 'Illustrious Corpses'. I wouldn't want to spoil the movie for those haven't seen it, but there are also definite similarities with later efforts such as 'Dressed to Kill' and 'Seven'.

In the Giallo catalogue, I'd put this up with 'Don't Torture a Duckling'. Not as flashy as Argento, but it has something. My DVD is I think a video transfer. Maybe time for a proper digital version?

I'm not sure I've ever seen this and had got a blu-ray of Code Red from the US and was pleased that I got it. It is not brilliant but rather good and the dead girls are very naked for their killings. And rather nasty knifings they are, the killer is certainly in the classic style with black coat, big hat and of course black leather gloves. Roberto Bianchi Montero made many different films but I think this was his only giallo and was 65 at the time. Farley Granger is impressive and the girls lovely especially Sylva Koschina and I always love to see Nieves Navarro (Susan Scott). It was an interesting idea that the naughty girls get it and the end is really good as we get to see Farley looking on!