Pena de muerte

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.

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.

I had never heard of this one until recently, but was definitely intrigued by the involvement of "Euro-Cult" exponent Grau as well as stars Fernando Rey and Marisa Mell. The sensationalistic English moniker suggests a Giallo or even a Gangster epic, but this is a relatively serious treatise of schizophrenia coupled with a plea against capital punishment (PENA DE MUERTE being the film's original title).

The plot is interesting: Rey is a stern ageing judge who goes on holiday, only to find the crimes of people he had sentenced to the guillotine years before literally coming back to haunt him!; Mell is the man's much-younger dissatisfied wife (also irritated by his OCD!) who eventually rekindles a romance with writer Espartaco Santoni, actually there to compile data for his next book – which just happens to revolve around her husband's illustrious career! The subsequent investigation into the multiple murders also takes in a local Police inspector, a girl whom Rey had befriended and who had connections to one of the latest crime scenes, and her actor boyfriend; both the latter and Santoni himself (being familiar with the trials of the original cases, of which we are given intermittent snippets, he is obviously knowledgeable of their killers' modus operandi) are among the initial suspects.

Still, the identity of the perpetrator of the copy-cat killings is not at all hard to guess; in fact, it is virtually a replica of the latter-day Boris Karloff vehicle THE HAUNTED STRANGLER (1958) sans face-twitching antics! As I said, the film makes little concessions to the sleaze and gore which typically exemplified the "Euro-Cult" style – perhaps the presence of Luis Bunuel regular Rey inclined the director towards a more level-headed approach here (though, to be fair, this was also true of the two other efforts of his I have watched so far, and his most popular, BLOOD CEREMONY [1973; whose viewing actually followed in quick succession to the title under review!] and THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE [1974]).

The English language title - "Violent Blood Bath" - is an unfortunate misnomer. It gives the impression that this as a splatter movie and yet the entire amount of blood shown in this movie was less than 1/2 bottle of Max Factor #5. The Italian title - "The Private Life of a Public Prosecutor" - is more descriptive but less grabbing.

This is a competently made movie: well acted by both Fernando Rey and Marisa Mell, a dark beauty. It is dubbed so well that it is hardly noticeable. It is beautifully photographed, for the most part, in some interesting, and very scenic, locations.

It has enough suspense, although you may guess who the real killer is before the actual denouement . Not a great movie; it is definitely above average and well worth a look.

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.