Pena de muerte

There's a rich history of rebranding well-made Italian and Spanish crime thrillers that had perfectly good titles with a sensationalised title for release abroad. Fulci's 'One on Top of the Other' comes to mind, presented in America with the tawdry title, 'Perversion Story'. In the case of 'Pena de Muerte' ('Death Penalty'), the English title, 'Violent Blood Bath', is so terribly inaccurate, it would have scared away the intended audience and attracted an audience who would have been severely disappointed with the content.

While 'Pena de Muerte' isn't exactly a Hitchcock-level thriller, it does have an intriguing premise I have never seen: a prosecutor well-known for successfully convicting murderers (and sending them to death) suddenly has a copycat murderer recreating the crimes of the cases he's prosecuted. Played by veteran actor Fernando Rey, the prosecutor has to help the cops unravel this mystery as the deaths get closer and closer to him.

Giallo regular Marisa Mell plays his wife, and really gets to show off her acting chops. The direction is above average and it moves along at a nice pace. Other than some minor quibbles with logic, the only major flaw for me was that the twist is pretty obvious. A couple of well-placed red herrings would have helped.

While it's not exactly a 'violent blood bath', to the disappointment of horror and giallo fans, 'Pena de Muerte' does live up to its original name, which makes a lot more sense by the end of the film.

A most misleading title English for a very fine film, which may be why it has become so neglected. Fernando Rey is great as the ageing judge reflecting upon his career as someone keen to make use of the death penalty wherever he saw necessary. Some of this seems to be coming back to haunt him and we see something of these terrible murders (hence the title, but still misleading, this is no stalk and slash). Instead we have a gripping tale with many twists and turns and if we see little gore or skin for that matter, there are other compensations. Not least the lovely Marisa Mell who puts in a sterling performance matching that of the great man himself. Good solid thriller with giallo undertones and a very good dub plus fine cinematography. Well worth catching if you can.

Seventh film of Jorge Grau that I watched, and it only confirmed he is one of my favorite filmmakers, a great auteur who, for some weird reason, has not received the attention he deserves.

Based on a work of Guy de Maupassant, the film is a breathtaking psychological thriller with one of the most intelligent plot twist I ever saw. Fernando Rey is superb as a magistrate that believes in death penalty as a way of protecting society. He is a troubled marriage, and his wife (played by the excellent Marisa Mell) is having an affair with a writer who opposes to Rey's vision and is determined to prove his thesis in a new book. Strange murders that imitate the ones committed by the criminals condemned to death by the magistrate starts to happen, and an investigation takes place. But, nothing is what seems in this sordid story written by Grau and Juan Tébar, and I can't reveal more to avoid spoilers.

Be careful with the title given to it in the USA, "Violent Blood Bath". Fans of gore may be seduced by this misleading title, and the fact IMDb puts "horror" as one of its genre doesn't help. There is no blood bath here, and the murders all occur off screen. This is the kind of movie where what matters is the character development, and it excells in this department.

Impecably shot, photographed, edited and scored, "Pena de Muerte" deals with a controversial topic without falling in the mere sensationalism or sounding preachy. It is not easy to say if the script is supporting or opposing death penaulty, and this is one of its merits. The last half hour will make you devour all your fingernails, in one of the most brilliant exercises in tension.

Thanks to Vinegar Syndrome for the excellent restoration of this masterpiece. I hope more works of the underrated Jorge Grau receives the same treatment soon.

I recently watched the Italian/Spanish 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 film Violent Blood Bath (1974) on Tubi. The story follows a district attorney with a long history of convictions - many of which led to death row. When a copycat killer emerges, recreating crimes from the attorney's past cases (all involving inmates who were executed), things take a dark turn. What's the killer's motive? And will the attorney become the next target?

Directed by Jorge Grau (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie), the film stars Fernando Rey (The French Connection), Marisa Mell (The Great Swindle), Espartaco Santoni (Death Will Have Your Eyes), and Nené Morales (The Night of the Executioner).

This is one of those films where you're waiting for something big to happen... and it never does. The acting is excellent, the women are gorgeous, and it delivers that classic giallo-style nudity. But the kills are underwhelming, and the twist at the end doesn't land with much impact. There just isn't enough substance here to make it truly engaging.

In conclusion, Violent Blood Bath has a promising premise for a giallo, but not enough execution to stand out in the genre. I'd score it a 4/10 and recommend skipping it.

Bloodless Soap Opera

This is by far one of the least bloody giallo out there. It is very slow to start. And slow throughout. It's filmed and acted in a manner reminiscent of a soap opera. There is little mystery about who the killer is. You'll figure it out quickly even if you didn't read the tagline.

There is one final twist in the last seconds of the film which I did not see coming, and I really appreciated it. That was the strongest part of the film imo.

Overall, I'd say to skip this lackluster effort.