La peur au ventre

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.

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)!!

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!

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).

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?