La lama nel corpo

"The Murder Clinic" (1966) is a fairly obscure Italian-French Gothic that first aired on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1979, and repeated only once four years later. It was also part of a notorious triple bill that frequented drive ins in the early 70's (under the name REVENGE OF THE LIVING DEAD), shown with CURSE OF THE LIVING DEAD (Mario Bava's KILL, BABY, KILL!) and FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD (Amando De Ossorio's MALENKA, NIECE OF THE VAMPIRE). The print I have runs 83 minutes and looks to be a third generation copy, with English dialogue and foreign subtitles. William Berger, later the star of Mario Bava's "5 Dolls for an August Moon" (1970), plays the handsome doctor working on skin grafts that all the women swoon over, with a jealous invalid for a wife, and a mysterious woman on the third floor who refuses to see or be seen by anyone. Murder by razor plagues the clinic, but only one victim is completely innocent of her fate. Nothing terribly memorable, but fondly recalled in the 30 years since. The blonde actress who plays the nurse Mary is not the same brunette Barbara Wilson who appeared in 1957's "Blood of Dracula" and 1962's "The Flesh Eaters."

'Murder Clinic' is an Italian Giallo horror flick from the 1960's tinged in a cool gothic atmosphere with a stylish period setting, gorgeous set designs and a colourful visual palette and an interesting mystery element, this obscure Giallo was a decent viewing experience with a good plot but could have done with a bit more flavour which could have made this a top tier entry of the genre.

The plot = Set in 1870's England at an isolated clinic run by Doctor Vance (William Berger) where patients and staff start getting killed by a hooded maniac who stalks the halls at night.

The movie is incredibly well shot with bold cinematography and the clinic itself looks effectively creepy with the long dark hallways and constant shadows which instantly evokes a sense of dread throughout as the various characters wander through them. But there are a couple of things that lets this movie down firstly the pacing is really off with too much time spent on melodrama aspect and not enough on the mystery and much in the way of tension or kills and talking about the death scenes they were really lacklustre. The big reveal at the end was also disappointing as it was way too easy to figure, but there were enough interesting red-herrings thrown into the mix to sustain interest.

The cast were thankfully strong, and the interesting array of characters does make this flick worthwhile. William Berger gave a compelling performance as the disgraced Dr Robert Vance and carried the movie incredibly well. Barbara Wilson was decent as the new nurse Mary compassionate and breathtakingly beautiful. Mary Young was also great as the jealous and bitter wife as well as Delphine Maurin who gives a standout performance as the tragic disfigured sister-in-law Laura. Then there's Francoise Prevost as scheming and mysterious Giselle who arrives at the clinic and really spies the story up with a blackmail subplot.

Overall 'Murder Clinic' is fairly routine, but still watchable and you could tell that the genre was still in its early days as the tropes weren't yet perfected at this early stage as the Giallo's that would come out in the 1970's.

"Murder Clinic" is one of them obscure and early (mid-60's) Gialli that you'll probably never see, unless you're willing to purchase a prehistoric VHS copy or – even worse - a bootleg DVD ripped from the aforementioned prehistoric tape. You know those things that are practically unwatchable because the original colors faded and the picture is constantly fuzzy? In other words this Giallo is only meant for the eyes of avid Giallo-buffs, as I sincerely doubt a proper release on disc will ever follow. "Murder Clinic" is a very passable Italian horror effort, but nevertheless amusing and it certainly contains a handful of potentially good ideas. It was the sixties, so Gialli movies still leaned towards Gothic settings and darkly sinister filming location. But, on the other hand, the Giallo-formula was still relatively new and thus the screenplay (penned down by veterans Ernesto Gastaldi and Luciano Martino) is very straightforward with clear twists and logical red herrings. The year is 1870 and the sinister events take place in a private clinic run by the demanding Dr. Vance and his obnoxious wife Liz. The movie doesn't waste too much time, as there quickly pops up a hooded killer who waves around a sharp razor and butchers patients as well as staff members. There are a number of possibilities for whom the killer might turn out to be, and the least you can say is that the denouement is acceptable. The murders sequences are decent, obviously not outrageously gross but definitely bloodier than I anticipated for a 60's film. There are some tedious parts and the acting performances – with the exception of William Berger as the Doc – are very much below average. The music is atmospheric and luckily the film only ran for a good 80 minutes. Not so much because I was bored to death, but because the incredibly poor bootleg disc hurt my eyes and ears.

Hey girls! Here's a piece of advice: When you discover a man trying to secretly bury the corpse of someone who has clearly been murdered, don't try to blackmail them - The fact that they are burying a dead body probably means they might be prone to fits of murderous violence, or at least know someone who's mental.

This is a standard template Giallo film with the black gloved killer, sexy victims, loads of suspects, body count and stalking sequences, but it's also fast-paced, fun and of course for this period is set in a huge creepy mansion - there must be millions of them in Italy!

Hey William Bergers! Try to find a better excuse for trying to cover up all the murders at your insane asylum for Giallo Red Herring Actors because the one you gave our heroine was a bit lame. Love that flashback, however! Also, if you want to keep your disfigured sister-in-law secret up on the top floor, give her slippers rather than the giant shoes she had on. And tell her to lift her feet when walking! It is fun that most of the characters own or have something already displayed by the killer (a straight razor, a big black gown etc) and am I going mad or did one of the non-killer character actually murder a coach driver? That was weird. Also, it supposed to be set in Norfolk!

Hey recently unmasked killers! Do not under any circumstances when being chased by an angry mob try to put any height between you and said mob, because this always results in a short but fatal struggle with gravity.

For another, far, far more filthy giallo set in an insane asylum, look no further than Slaughter Hotel!

Mary is a new nurse at the prestigious Vance Clinic which is run by Dr. Robert Vance and his wife Elizabeth.A female thief named Giselle is put in the clinic by Dr.Vance.She begins to hear strange sounds in the attic and discovers badly disfigured woman there.In the meantime a mysterious black cape wearing killer stalks and attacks female patients with a razor.Stylish and sadly neglected Gothic giallo with splendid performance of William Berger and stylish direction by Elio Scardamaglia.Great score by Francesco De Masi plus several suspenseful and pretty violent stalking/murder sequences.It's a crying shame that "The Murder Clinic" is rather forgotten or even ignored by Eurohorror enthusiasts.7 lime pits out of 10.