Il coltello di ghiaccio

Fourth joint Giallo by Carroll Baker and genre master Umberto Lenzi

After three Gialli together, the two had had enough of each other before they decided to try it out again two years after "Paranoia" (1970). The budget of this film, originally called "Il coltello di ghiaccio", was considerably smaller. So this time you had to at least leave the sophisticated world of the super-rich from the three previous films behind you, which was good for the production. This time it was shot with a Spanish co-producer, so the locations were near Madrid and in the Pyrenees. The film was released in Italian cinemas on August 24, 1972.

It all starts in a bullring. Martha (Carroll Baker), who has been mute and severely traumatized since a tragic train accident, receives a very welcome visit from her cousin Jenny (Ida Galli), who is now a successful singer. Together they visit their uncle Ralph (George Rigaud), who lives in the country with his housekeeper (Silvia Monelli) and chauffeur (Eduardo Fajardo). At night, charming Jenny hears a strange noise in the garage. When she looks, she is "butchered" out of nowhere in the most beautiful slasher style. Now there is of course great horror, especially since a similar act has already taken place nearby. Martha's uncle and Inspector Duran (Franco Fantasia) fear that the mute Martha could also fall victim to the insane assassin because she is as beautiful as the previous victims. Various people come under suspicion, including Dr. Laurent (Alan Scott), who devotedly looks after Martha. A Satanist is also targeted by the police. But things get much worse. More murders happen...

The year 1972 was the golden year of the Giallo genre, which can also be seen in the motif of Satanism that plays a role in many successful Gialli of that year. In "The Colors of the Night" with Edwige Fenech and in "Don't Torture A Duckling" by Lucio Fulci, dark Satan disciples end up in the circle of suspects. Ever since "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) by Roman Polanski, the topic has simply been in the air. And William Friedkin was still busy filming "The Exorcist" (1973).

By the way, a knife made of ice doesn't appear in the film at all. The title of the film refers to the quote: "Fear is a knife of ice which penetrates the senses down to the depth of conscience", which should sound a lot like the classic horror master Edgar Allan Poe, but was probably invented by Umberto Lenzi himself .

Genre master Umberto Lenzi (1931-2017) is best known in German-speaking countries for his horror films "Eaten Alive" and "Großangriff der Zombies / Major Attack of the Zombies" from 1980. He has been at home in every genre of ItaloCinema for decades. Historical films like "Catherine of Russia" (1963) with the great Hildegard Knef or Hildegarde Neff, as she was known internationally, peplum films like "Sandokan" (1963) with alpha muscle man Steve Reeves, Edgar Wallace-Gialli mixtures like "Das Rätsel des silbernen Halbmonds" (1972) with Uschi Glas and GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Antonio Sabato and of course his police masterpiece "Der Berserker / The Berserker" (1974) with Tomas Milian.

All four Gialli, which Umberto Lenzi shot with Carroll Baker, indulge in cruelly beautiful images and are absolutely worth seeing. Do not miss!

The third Lenzi giallo I've watched after having attended screenings of ORGASMO (1969; incidentally another of his collaborations with star Carroll Baker) and SPASMO (1974) during the Italian B-movie retrospective at the 2004 Venice Film Festival; they're not the best examples of the genre by far, but neither are they among the worst.

I recall ORGASMO being pretty complex, while SPASMO was weird without being especially compelling (though I did watch it as part of an all-night marathon that ended at 8:00 and where the screening of Lenzi's film was interrupted a couple of times because of trouble with the print!). As for the film in question, it's basically a retread of Robert Siodmak's noir-ish masterpiece THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946) - which Lenzi himself had singled out as his favorite film during one of the many Press Conferences he gave (along with colleagues Sergio Martino and Enzo G. Castellari) during the Festival: Baker plays a mute, the main setting is an upper-class household in a small rural town, the climax occurs during a thunderstorm and, of course, there's a serial killer on the loose! The narrative also takes in drug addiction and devil worship, but these emerge as mere red herrings.

Still, for a giallo, it's pretty bloodless and, to be honest, its attempt at psychology - demonstrated by frequent abrupt cutting in which Baker has flashes from her past, as well as the various victims at their moment of death, and the possible perpetrator - is not only unconvincing but becomes a repetitive device with little purpose (given the final revelation)! As a matter of fact, this particular twist was re-used in SPASMO; still, the obligatory explanation offered here is a little weak but, then, this form of coda seldom worked within the confines of the giallo subgenre! Besides, the score is undistinguished and the casting merely okay: Georges Rigaud (as Baker's ageing uncle, who has a heart condition which he ultimately uses to his own advantage!), Eduardo Fajardo (as a sinister-looking chauffeur), Evelyn Stewart, etc.

¨Il Coltello di Ghiaccio" also titled "Knife of Ice" or "Silent Horror¨ deals with a thirteen year old named Martha Caldwell who witnessed the death of her parents in a deadly railway crash . Barely surviving the tragedy herself, Martha was struck mute due to the shock . Now an adult, the still dumb Martha (Carrol Baker) lives with her uncle Ralph (George Rigaud) at a mansion in Spanish countryside . Later on , Martha's cousin Jenny (Evelyn Stewart or Ida Galli) , a prestigious singer , arrives to be with the family . There appears a sex maniac roaming the countryside and committing several murders . Meanwhile , Inspector Duran (Franco Fantasia) and Vice-commissioner (Lorenzo Robledo) are investigating the killings of pretty young girls but case results out to be far more difficult than it would first seem . In the little town live various usual characters : the doctor (Alan Scott) , the priest (Jose Marco) , the judge (Angel Menendez) , the pharmacist , the local junkie (Mario Pardo) and the chauffeur (Eduardo Fajardo) , all of them seem to be suspicious people . The already traumatized Martha seems likely to be the next victim when take place strange events .

This is a right Giallo where the intrigue, tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . This suspenseful movie is plenty of thrills, chills , high body-count and well staged murders . This exciting film follows the American wake from classics as ¨The Caracol staircase¨ (Robert Siodmak) , ¨Wait until dark¨ (Terence Young) , ¨Blind Terror¨ (Richard Fleischer) in which a mute or blind girl is stalked or harassed by a series killer . The movie belongs to Italian Giallo genre that was invented by Mario Bava (Mask of demon ,The Evil Eye, A bay of blood) along with Riccardo Freda (Secret of Dr. Hitchcock, The ghost , I Vampiri) , they are the fundamental creators . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color with shining red blood, usual zooms, originally staged crimes , use of images-shock and a lot of plot twists . Later appears Dario Argento (Deep red, Suspira,Inferno), another essential creator of classic Latin terror films . Umberto Lenzi's so-so direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and more inclined toward violence and lots of killings . It's a co-production Italian- Spanish for that reason appears Italian actors such as Ida Galli , Franco Fantasia , as Spanish actors such as Lorenzo Robledo , Mario Pardo , Jorge Rigaud , Angel Menendez and Eduardo Fajardo ; most of them usually played in Spaghetti/Paella sub-genre. Colorful and adequate cinematography by Jose Aguayo who photographed splendidly Spanish outdoors . Thrilling and suspenseful score by Marcello Giombini.

The picture was well directed by the prolific filmmaker Umbert Lenzi . Talented and versatile writer/director Umbert Lenzi has made a vast array of often solid and entertaining films in all kind of genres as horror, comedy, Western, and science fiction in a career that spans over 40 years .Umbert Lenzi used the pseudonym Hank Milestone and Humphrey Logan . Umberto made his directorial debut with ¨Queen of the Seas¨ (1961) . Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with ¨Pirates of Malaysia¨ (1964) starred by Steeve Reeves, which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood , Catherine the Great, Zorro , Sandokan and Maciste . He subsequently directed a ¨Fumetti¨ titled The mask of Kriminal (1966) . After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns," Lenzi turned to the Giallo genre with ¨Orgasmo¨ (1969). During the 1970s, Lenz filmed a number of Giallo and thrillers , among them : ¨So Sweet, So Perverse¨, ¨Seven Blood-Stained Orchids¨ and ¨Eyeball¨ . Lenzi turned to the police thrillers called ¨Polizieschi¨, which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity . Titles like ¨Almost Human¨ , ¨Free Hand For a Tough Cop¨ and ¨Brothers Till We Die¨ were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers . Lenzi is an expert on wartime genre such as he proved in ¨Desert commandos¨ , ¨Battle of commandos¨ , ¨From hell to victory¨ , ¨Young Lions¨ and ¨Bridge to hell¨. Prior to the Polizieschi, Lenzi directed ¨Man from Deep River¨ , which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre . Later on , he directed two very gory jungle cannibal features , ¨Eaten Alive¨ and ¨Make Them Die Slowly ¨which was banned in 31 countries, made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre . Then Lenzi directed ¨Nightmare City¨ (1980) , a zombie flick , and ¨Iron Master¨(1983) . In the 90s his films were extremely low-budgeted and failed at box-office .

The great Umberto Lenzi is undeniably one of the most versatile and multi-talented Italian genre directors, having contributed to almost all (sub-)genres of Italian cult-cinema. While he is probably best-known for his notoriously brutal Cannibal movies MANGIATI VIVI (EATEN ALIVE BY THE CANNIBALS, 1980) and CANNIBAL FEROX (MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY, 1981), his greatest films (in my opinion) are those from the 70s. For my money, Lenzi's greatest films are his Poliziotteschi, above all the gritty and brutal masterpiece MILANO ODIA - LA POLIZIA NON PUÒ SPARARE (ALMOST HUMAN, 1974), followed by his Gialli, most notably the great and incredibly elegant SETTE ORCHIDEE MACCHIATE DI ROSSO (SEVEN BLOOD-STAINED ORCHIDS, 1972). While Lenzi's films have the just reputation of being among the grittiest and most uncompromisingly violent ones in Italian cult-cinema, this is not necessarily true for his Gialli. The great Giallo-genre is generally a violent, sleazy and often sexist one, and while Lenzi's genre-contributions do employ sleaze and violence, they are comparatively tame withing the Giallo genre. Especially this IL COLTELLO DI GIACCHIO aka. KNIFE OF ICE (1972) is a convoluted and plot-based Giallo which is practically sleaze-less and rather low on brutality.

Caroll Baker, the star of Lenzi's early Gialli ORGASMO (1969) and PARANOIA (1970) plays Martha, a woman who was traumatized and left mute after witnessing the death of her parents at age thirteen. She lives with her uncle in a mansion in the Spanish countryside when her cousin is stabbed to death by a maniacal killer. What first appears to be the deed of a sex-maniac turns out to become a series of attacks with everybody involved being a possible suspect/victim...

1972 was probably THE golden year for the Giallo-genre with several of the greatest genre-masterpieces being released (e.g. Sergio Martino's IL TUO VIZIO È UNA STANZA CHIUSA E SOLO IO NÈ HO LA CHIAVE, Lucio Fulci's NON SI SEVIZIA UN PAPERINO, Massimo Dallamano's COSA AVETE FATTO A SOLANGE?, Emilio Miraglia's LA DAMA ROSSA UCCIDE SETTE VOLTE, etc). While KNIFE OF ICE is not one of the absolute highlights of this great year of the Giallo, it is a good and very suspenseful one. As usual for the genre, the film is elegantly filmed and supported by a good (though not exceptional) score. The film has a gloomy atmosphere, and many the protagonists are likable, which makes the easy to root for. The fact that most of the murders are off-screen is one of the major letdown, especially for fans of the Giallo-typical elegantly gory murders. This is one of several Gialli that touch the subject of Satanism, even though it isn't as important as in some others (such as Sergio Martino's TUTTI I COLORI DEL BUIO). Caroll Baker is good in her role, as are most of the other actors. Overall, this isn't one of my favorite films from Lenzi, but it is a more than decent Giallo that my fellow fans of the Genre shouldn't miss.

This early 70's giallo by Umberto Lenzi is certainly among the best in his filmography and also in the whole genre. Personally I think Lenzi's best films are the funny cartoon-turned-film Kriminal, the stylish giallo Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, the explosive Napoli violenta and this. In the eighties he did plenty of film trash in form of Eaten Alive, Hitcher in the Dark or Black Demons, all of which are ripping something off and/or very dull and slow moving. Knife of Ice came when the giallo boom was at its hottest and the result is convincing.

Technically the film is superb, containing great cinematography in the beginning when we learn about the main character's trauma towards trains. From this point on, Lenzi shows us his ability to benefit the widescreen and, for example, the bicycle ride near the forest is genuinely beautiful! This scene also shows Lenzi's ability to build suspense, very slowly but meaningfully. After all, there aren't so many murders in the whole film, only the suspense circulating around the murderer's identity.

One suspect is a devil worshipper which brings new aspects to the mystery. Since the final scene takes place in a church, one can wonder if Lenzi wanted to comment on something, maybe the hypocritical morale of church and superstition. The main character (Carrol Baker) is mute which demands a lot from her face and eyes. The actress works very well, giving us a believable performance circulating around the emotions of fear and mental pain. The other actors are good, too. The finally, however, may not give too positive a sight about female sex since they all are expressed rather negatively in the film, one way or another. Still this is easily among the most noteworthy in the genre, not as bloody as the Argento films, for example, but equally suspenseful and visually also interesting.