Al tropico del cancro

The giallo universe takes the plane and lands in Haiti. A young faltering couple, Fred (Gabriele Tinti, La Morte risale a ieri sera) and Grace (Anita Strindberg, Una Lucertola con la pelle di donna), seeking for exoticism, goes on holidays in Haiti "expecting the heat of the tropics to rekindle their flame". But they come just in the middle of a perilous plot where is involved Fred's friend, Williams (Anthony Steffen, La Notte che Evelyn usci dalla tomba), an idealist doctor settled in the island, and inventor of a revolutionary aphrodisiac formula.

A bunch of unscrupulous businessmen lust for the new drug, from Peacock (Gordon Felio), an "ugly and fat man" found of young ephebes, and his greedy partner Garner (Stelio Candelli, La Morte scende leggera), to Prater and his violent henchman Murdock (Alfio Nicolosi), and all gather to the luxury hostel of Philippe (Umberto Raho, Sette scialli di seta gialla). And is Fred himself only in Haiti for vacation? Nevertheless, all those who track the marvelous potion become murdered through POV shot sequences by a mysterious killer gloved and shod in black, the corpses being found fully drained of their blood. Seeing she has been embarked in a very dangerous and deadlocked adventure, Grace seeks to flee away, but she might succumb to the call of the goddess Erzulie, mistress of "life and felicity", whom voodoo trances invite her to love.

The killer happening to be very ingenious, murders are always inventive and sophisticated. Unfortunately, the plot remains pretty confused, the motives of the murderer rather fuzzy, and the junction between the voodoo background and the pharmaceutic issue very wobbly, in spite of the fleeting appearance of the cursed Tetraodon fish of zombie poison. A very fine sequence full of reverie and eroticism with an Anita Strindberg under narcotics raises the level, but finally we stay much less far from Craven's Serpent and the Rainbow, not to mention Hitchcock's Capricorn other tropic. This movie shall however get attention from giallo addicts, and perhaps those interested in the Haiti under Duvalier, festal crowd sequences being put as "authentic in every details". (Viewed in the Italian 1h35 version.)

(1972) Tropic of Cancer/ Al tropico del cancro (In Italian with English subtitles) CRIME THRILLER

Co-written and directed by Giampaolo Lomi and Edward G. Muller that has Fred (Gabriele Tinti) and his wife Gracie (Anita Strindberg) Wright arriving to Port-au-Prince, Haiti for the intention of see their good friend, biologist and doctor, Dr. Williams (Anthony Steffen). At the same time Dr. Williams also possesses a particular hallucinogenic formula that is being sought after. And through the lens of the killer, he ends up murdering one of Dr. Williams assistant, Douglas, his other assistant, Crotz (Richard Osborne) appears to be missing. Two other businessmen by the name of Mr. Peacock (Gordon Felio) and Mr. Garner (Stelio Candelli) are collaborating to get the formula on their own. At this point Dr Williams friend, Fred appear to be neutral until he decided to ditch his own wife in search of the formula himself by going through Williams papers.

This is another one of those movies where the main bad guy can appear to be at so many places at once as well as know everything about everyone.

This is a combination of an Italian giallo and "black sexploitation" film. The latter is not to be confused with American "blacksploitation" films since these films weren't trying to "exploit" a black urban audience but rather the myth of "primitive" black sexuality for the delectation of white audiences. The giallo locale here is shifted to "primitive" Haiti. The plot is almost a "McGuffin". It involves various grasping characters chasing after a new drug a friend (Gabriel Tinti) of the the two married, vacationing protagonists (Anita Strindberg and Anthony Stefens) has discovered. This drugs and voodoo plot is somewhat similar to the later Wes Craven movie "Serpent and the Rainbow", but this is nowhere near as good.

Atypical for this kind of "black sexploitation" this film doesn't have any real black female characters (other than the ones involved in the typical sub-"National Geographic" topless tribal dancing scenes). The interracial thrills are delivered primarily in couplings of black men and white women. The one featured prominently on the poster is a standing sex scene between Strindberg and a Haitain voodoo priest which is actually the climax of a bizarre dream sequence (right out of "Coffin Joe" movie)that is probably the most visually interesting sequence of the film if you can get by the casual racism. The other, more gratuitous, scenes involve the Haitian police chief and his white mistress, but since this particular character is surprisingly three-dimensional and "civilized", these scenes don't quite fit the usual mold either.

The problem isn't that this movie is especially exploitative or racist as these kind of films go, but that it is not particularly effective as a giallo either. Aside from the exotic locale, there is nothing very interesting here. Whatever her charms, Anita Strindberg was not a great actress, and it doesn't help that she's paired with a stiff like Steffens. Speaking of stiff though, the best performance is turned by Gabriel Tinti, the future "Mr. Laura Gemser", who's most famous for having an obligatory sex scene with that exploitation goddess in practically ever movie she ever made (whether he was otherwise in the movie or not). I'm sure all these actors had a nice Caribbean vacation, but the resulting movie is no great shakes I'm afraid.

A scientist invents a hallucinatory drug. Interest of different dubious people in this new drug lead to betrayal and murder.

This rather underrated and lesser known Italian thriller certainly has its flaws, nonetheless it belongs to the most innovative films of its genre that was booming in the early 1970s. Thanks to its fresh ideas packed in a traditional Giallo plot, it really stands out of the bulk, even though 1972 is probably the most Giallo-intense year ever. The most remarkable moments include feverish dream sequences that are erotic and nightmarish at the same time. The dreams are induced by similarly feverish Haitian voodoo rituals that feature mondo-style animal killing (there is also a non-ritualistic animal killing shown in a slaughterhouse - traces of social comment, obviously).

The erotic moments are more frequent and sensual than in the average Giallo, and they are very well done (as already mentioned, especially the dreams). The body count is also above average, and in the second half, the movie boosts some murders as creative as they are brutal. It also delivers elements of the spy film genre - drugs can always be sold for big money. And the climax is not necessarily Giallo-typical.

The leading cast consists of genre regulars: Anthony Steffen plays the inventive scientist and Gabriele Tinti the "hero"; Anita Strindberg is Grace, the woman with the unnerving dreams. On the other hand, the two directors are barely known and none of them made another Giallo (Edoardo Mulargia shot a few Westerns and some Women-in-Prison stuff, but nothing really significant).

AL TROPICO DEL CANCRO is not a masterpiece, but it's a sleeper of the genre with enough original and surprising elements to make it highly recommendable to the fans of the genre.

Giallos are known to be a little incoherent at times without being a complete mess but this movie certainly is the latter. It's a real mess. Many scenes of the movie look spectacular, especially the outdoor shots in the Haitian streets with full of crowds. The movie's certainly got elements that could have made it into a much better film than it actually is. It's just too bad that the Italian sense for style doesn't always work and this time even the plot stank so bad that it should have been rewritten almost completely. In my opinion the main problem is that the film doesn't engage at all and the pacing is just lame. I didn't care much what would happen to the characters in it. It's a kind of a problem when i was supposed to sit down and keep myself watching the film for its entire length of one and half hour.

The dream sequence with Strindberg and the voodoo priest made me laugh really hard. It's really the moment that was supposed to be surreal and scary but ended up looking like a skit.

What really is disappointing is that how much better this film could have been. I can only recommend this film for giallo fans who don't care much if the film is good or bad.