Le Sourire de la hyène

Judging by the plot and the fact that it's directed by Silvio Amandio, I feared that this Giallo would be a lot like the director's earlier success 'Amuck!', but despite similarities between the pair; Smile Before Death is a lot more than merely a retread of the earlier work. This film adheres more closely to the Giallo tradition of stylish and bloody murders than the earlier movie, but still finds time to ensure that the plot always revolves around the central situation. In fact, it's a miracle that Amandio has managed to keep his script from becoming a complete mess; as aside from this new flair for murders, and the central situation; Smile Before Death is also a twisty little thriller, which manages to pull several things out of the hat before boiling down to a superb and unexpected conclusion. The plot follows the death of a woman named Dorothy. The police declare it suicide, but it's not long before Dorothy's daughter, Nancy, makes her way to her mother's house; where she meets the seductive Gena and her stepfather, Marco. However, things turn sinister when the housekeeper divulges some information that means Dorothy's death may not have been suicide...

The film starts off slowly, and aside from some lush photography that makes good use of its female leads, the film doesn't really commence until the half way point. Amandio keeps the tension bubbling throughout, and sex is always at the forefront of the action. Roberto Pregadio provides a suitable catchy jingle, which accompanies nearly every scene in the movie. The tune is typically Italian, and fits the movie well; but I'd have preferred it if it was played a bit less often, as it soon starts to get old, and the overall impact is lessened. The movie benefits, as Amuck did, from a great leading performance from Rosalba Neri, who is joined by the stunning Luciana Della Robbia. The pair doesn't share any scenes together that are as great as those between Neri and Barbara Bouchet in Amuck, but Silvio Amandio obviously enjoys filming lesbian scenes; and when they're this good, I enjoy watching them! The film is rounded off by an isolated atmosphere, which provides a pressure cooker for the lead characters to roast in. This is a rare Giallo in that, by the conclusion, most aspects of it make sense and while Smile Before Death is hard to track down, I recommend making the effort!

From the director of the better known "Alla Ricerca del Piacere" (aka "Amuck!") comes this stylish thriller that involves not only a confusing web of love affairs and relationships, but also - towards the climax - a bundle of twists that are guaranteed to surprise every viewer without becoming implausible at any moment.

And this is the big plus of this movie: The twists all work. The first half moves on relatively slow (similar to Silvio Amadio's above mentioned earlier Giallo), but the viewer already gets enough information to know that the plot isn't as simple as it seems. In the second half the film becomes a roller coaster ride of red herrings, plot twists and other surprises, which makes it decisively superior to Amadio's earlier effort.

The acting is also thoroughly convincing, which is especially important once the film is finished and the viewer gets the whole story. But the most remarkable thing in this intriguing Giallo is the lush, ear-catching main theme that will never let one go after being heard for the first time.

Smile Before Death, originally titled Il sorriso della iena, is an overlooked and underrated giallo that mixes elements of a psychological thriller with inspirations from the drama genre and a touch of softcore pornography that underlines how experimental, liberal and progressive filmmaking was in the early seventies while it has become significantly more conservative, prude and repetitive these days.

The film revolves around a boarding school student who decides to stay with her stepfather and her mother's best friend after her mother's tragical suicide. What starts as a lighthearted vacation in a lush mansion beside a magnificent lake takes a sinister turn when the three characters start plotting intrigues against one another. These tensions increase dramatically and lead to a breathtaking finale with several interesting twists and turns.

This movie convinces on several elements. First of all, the plot is quite clever and comes around with a few interesting twists in the closing stages that will keep viewers on the edges of their seats. Up next, the tension between the three distinctive lead characters is quite palpable and increases the movie's uneasy atmosphere. The acting performances are very credible, decent and expressive. Especially youngster Jenny Tamburi shows incredible talent and has her breakthrough performance in this movie. The locations have also been chosen with care and offer colourful, elegant and sophisticated elements on the pulse of their time. The fact that most of the movie takes place in the mansion adds a claustrophobic vibe as it makes the beautiful place feel like a golden cage.

This film however also has several flaws that keep it from being an excellent genre film or even a masterpiece. First of all, the soundtrack is repetitive, dull and at times nerve-firing. Up next, the main intrigue of the movie is quite by the numbers and easily predictable until the final fifteen minutes offer a dramatic turn of events. This final series of events might be entertaining but is also quite overwhelming as the screenwriters are pulling rabbits out of their hats.

At the end of the day, fans of the giallo genre and anyone who likes the vibes of the late sixties and early seventies should certainly appreciate this movie that deserves more attention, recognition and praise. Despite its nostalgic vibe, the film is overall rather entertaining. However, it lacks the depth to leave a lasting impression and stand the test of time as a genre classic.

'Smile Before Death' is a fun little Giallo flick directed by Silvio Amadio who also made 'Amuck' which I enjoyed very much and this effort is also decent with its stylish visual set pieces, twisted sleaze and a well-executed narrative that maintains just enough tension to keep you engaged throughout.

The plot = After the death of her mother Nancy (Jenny Tamburi) arrives back home from boarding school to find her stepfather Marco (Silvano Tranquilli) living with another woman Gianna (Rosalba Neri), but in typical Giallo fashion nothing is quite as it seems.

The movie does open with a bang, which lays the foundation for the events that follow and after that the movie does become a little slow-paced with not much happening, but as the plot develops you can see the threads of intrigue and mystery being set up and the movie as well as the 3 main leads does a good job of keeping you invested, especially when things comes to a boil towards the last act with twists and turns that don't make much sense, but still creates a fascinating viewing experience. Although my only complaints is that this really could have done with a bit more excitement during the first act and that some of the flashbacks could have been better integrated into the plot. Also this does lack some much needed atmosphere and the limited amount of kills weren't staged very well, other than that this is still decent.

The performances were really strong in this with Jenny Tamburi providing a solid performance as the vampish sex kitten daughter and almost steals the show. Silvano Tranquilli gives a strong performance as the stepfather and Rosalba Neri is simply excellent as ever with an amazing screen presence and a fantastic character that simply upstages everyone else.

Overall 'Smile Before Death' is a solid Giallo but more middle tier than top of the pile.

The sinfully slinky 'Smile Before Death' aka 'Il Sorriso della iena' (1972) remains a bizarrely under scrutinized, salaciously saucy slasher from cult Italian film-maker, Silvio 'Amuck!' Amadio. This deliciously deviant, unjustly obscure, sublimely sexy, full-bloodied, sensuously soft-bodied Giallo features that deliciously divine brunette Rosalba Neri, the wickedly sultry queen of B-Movie scream and hellaciously hunky, Hiram Keller as a voluptuously-villainous duo plotting to do most grievous harm to the stepdaughter of Hiram's resolutely ill-minded character.

Bravura genre director Silvio Amadio's breezily stylish and frequently raunchy follow-up to "Amuck!" is fulsomely engorged with giddy plot twists, plentifully lurid stalk an' slash, and is busily replete with the ubiquitous "shock" ending rabid Gialli/thriller fans so ardently crave! 'Smile before Death' is most certainly guaranteed to amuse and bemuse in equally confounding measure, and remains an entirely worthy entry to this most histrionic of iconoclastic, bombastic film idioms. This gorgeous Giallo's relative rarity is wholly undeserved and one sincerely hopes that eventually it will soon get a glisteringly-restored Italian language, UK-friendly, feature-loaded DVD/Blu-ray release that this tremendously exciting thriller so earnestly deserves!