Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio

One of the better Italian slasher flicks of it's time.

Interesting use of color and editing. The story is rather typical but it moves about quickly enough. If you enjoy the earlier Argento flicks, Bava or even Fulci's "Don't torture a ducking" you should enjoy this.

A photographer named Kitty (Nieves Navarro) observes a brutal murder through a telescope. When she goes to the police, they're dismissive of her claim. Soon, a black-gloved maniac begins stalking and slashing those who may have witnessed his grisly deed.

TORMENTOR (aka: DEATH CARRIES A CANE) is a fairly typical giallo with the expected madman, murders, red herrings, and copious nudity. However, it's quite enjoyable, and they did attempt to add a novel aspect to the killer's persona, as evidenced by the title...

"Death Carries a Cane" does a pretty good job in misleading and misdirecting you. So you never know who the killer is until the ending. But the motive given for the killer doesn't make any sense. With much more effort that could have made this movie into a classic. Also some scenes did not make sense at all. Like there were scenes cut out that have to give a logical explanation for what they are doing in the scene. This giallo might be a tad sleazy for some but in a healthy way. Because the women in this move are pretty attractive. Especially Nieves Navarro (or Susan Scott). There is something about this woman that screams sophistication. All the more hilarious later on when she is being made fun of towards the end. Overall not the most impressive giallo still a good one for a rainy Sunday.

This is a rather mediocre giallo, yet another one co-starring Susan Scott and Simon Andreu; though not a Luciano Ercoli film, it would place somewhere between his two DEATH WALKS titles.

The backdrop for the mystery this time around is a dance academy - hence the original title, which translates to DANCE STEPS ON A RAZOR'S BLADE; the English one, then, refers to the fact that the killer is ostensibly lame. Among its roster of artistically-oriented(!) characters is a photographer (Scott), her special-effects technician boyfriend Robert Hoffman, a musician/producer played by Andreu and Anuska Borova as a scoop-seeking female reporter (who has a twin sister, a former dancer whose colleagues are being brutally murdered!). George Martin(!), who plays the Police Inspector, also co-wrote the script with the director; his face seemed oddly familiar to me but, looking at his filmography on the IMDb, I only recognized the fine Spaghetti Western THE RETURN OF RINGO (1965) - which, incidentally, also featured Scott (under her original Spanish name of Nieves Navarro)!

The film provides plenty of red herrings throughout, but the final revelation is so abruptly presented as to be practically unintelligible! As was the case with THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION (1970), Scott is decked out in some horrendous 70s fashions (worst of all an over-sized cap like the one Jack Nicholson - in The Joker's guise - would wear in BATMAN [1989]!). Besides, the film's overall visual style is pretty uninspired (apart from the stalkings, done from the killer's POV), with its eye squarely on the narrative's exploitable elements - witness the numerous wholly gratuitous sex scenes, and even featuring a dance pirouette that culminates in a striptease! The dubbing, too, is among the worst I've had to sit through for this type of film. Roberto Pregadio's score is pretty nice, though - whose main theme, in keeping with the musical elements of the plot, is turned into a recurring motif.

The seemingly ill-fated Susan Scott (Nieves Navarro), once again, is the sole witness to a gruesome, shadow-slaked slaying, and the prototypically black-hatted hate monger's motivations prove more oblique than usual! I have always found the vivacious Susan Scott to be one of the most sympathetic protagonists, and, quite frequently, hoped that the said black-gloved lunatic would just leave her be! This crepuscular, enjoyably grungy Giallo features juicy jugular jackanapes, a great number of pleasingly familiar Gialli faces, with handsome Robert Hoffman's innate ambivalence being put to handsome use! Death Carries a Cane is considerably livelier than its moniker may suggest, while the formula text lacks the invention of Gastaldi, this gritty Italian/Spanish co-production is a sexified, murky, mean-spirited mayhem machine! Highlights include the moody score, slinky Susan Scott's crackerjack Scream Queening, and the satisfyingly meaty throat gorings!!!!!