Omicidio per vocazione

Guilty pleasure of a giallo.

This is not a good movie, but I enjoyed it. It's written fairly well, and the mystery component is done well. However, the directing felt inexperienced. The acting was over the top... to the point of being campy. Some of these actors seem like cartoon characters. But that's all part of this films charm. It goes for it! Even the soundtrack is lively and unrestrained.

To enjoy the ride you will have to suspend your disbelief - particularly when the killer is revealed. There are also some moronic moments like when the character says, "I know who the killer is, but I can't tell you now. Meet me upstairs in 5 minutes."

For me, the fun energy and gusto won me over, and I wound up enjoying this film despite its many flaws.

this italian thriller, set in some french village, starts quickly with a man being overridden by a train; his three sisters all have some reason to want his death; the plot develops very unexpectedly, with a new turn about every five minutes; although many killings take place, the whole atmosphere is quite joyous due to the good rock-big band score by Torossi; just nice entertainment

Rating Breakdown: Story - 1.25 :: Direction 1.25 :: Pacing - 1.00 :: Performances - 1.00 :: Entertainment - 1.25 :::: TOTAL - 5.75/10.00.

Picture this: a lazy, rainy Sunday, a hot drink in one hand, a duvet in the other. That's the ideal setting for Deadly Inheritance (1968), a Giallo thriller that ambles rather than sprints, offering more tepid tea than spicy espresso.

Director Vittorio Sindoni takes a serviceable but uninspired approach, delivering a murder mystery with some pretty visuals but none of the noir-ish tension or pulse-raising pacing the genre can deliver. The plot-a family offing each other over an inheritance-unfolds predictably, though a late twist manages not to feel entirely telegraphed. Unfortunately, the characters are so two-dimensional they make cardboard seem complex. It's hard to care about who lives or dies when nobody's worth rooting for.

Tom Drake's Police Inspector offers a rare bright spot, but even he feels like he's performing at half-speed in a production that never quite shifts out of first gear. The pace is slow, the thrills muted, and the story basic enough that your average housecat could probably deduce the killer.

Yet, there's something oddly comforting about the film's unpretentious simplicity. Deadly Inheritance might not be a great Giallo, but for a rainy afternoon under a blanket, it's just intriguing enough to keep you awake-barely.

Deadly Inheritance takes the framework of your average Agatha Christie novel from 1930s upper class England and places it in 1960s working class France. Though it starts out a bit chintzy (a deaf man would feel the vibrations of the train on the tracks, just to let you know) Omicidio per vocazione unfurls into an engaging mystery with a couple of likable characters you may actually be sorry to see die.

The patriarch passes on and leaves an unexpected inheritance in his will, but the catch is that his adopted son - a disabled 18 year old boy - must be cared for by the family until his 21st birthday and only then will the money be split between them. Of course, all hell breaks loose.

Good film that starts off like some sort of 'reading of the will' film, then heads straight into Giallo territory by the wasting of the cast, then seems to wrap up business early before throwing every twist in the book at you while also giving you a loving kiss of rich cinematography, Italian babes and crappy dubbing.

Some rich railroad worker guy gets killed when someone switches the tracks and causes him to be run over by a train. His horrible kids gather together for the reading of the will and are horrified to find that no one will get anything until the handicapped, peeping Tom adopted son comes of age in three years.

Obviously that's not going to happen so when that son falls under a train, the cops are brought in and everyone's a suspect. Throw in loads of deaths (but just a little gore, this being 1968, but there's also a little bit of boob, this being the summer of love and all), and an avalanche of twists, some sixties fashions and some groovy music and everyone's happy.

Apart from the railway theme running through the film, I also liked how various characters seemed to interact with the soundtrack (like the first murder victim turning the music 'off' via his earpiece) - I'd never heard of this one and it was a nice surprise. I also burst out laughing at some of the really crappy dancing done in the night club.