Omicidio per vocazione

I recently watched the Italian thriller 🇮🇹 Deadly Inheritance (1968) on Tubi. The film follows the death of a wealthy railroad employee whose heirs, eager for their fortune, gather only to have one by one start disappearing as they await their inheritance.

Directed by Vittorio Sindoni (Don't Hurt Me, My Love) in his directorial debut, the movie stars Tom Drake (Meet Me in St. Louis), Femi Benussi (Batton Story), Ivo Garrani (Waterloo), and Ernesto Colli (Illustrious Corpses).

Although it leans more toward a crime drama and murder mystery than pure horror, Deadly Inheritance is very well written, featuring smart twists and turns. The peeping-tom scenes are fun, and the background music does an excellent job of creating atmosphere. The settings, costumes, and dialogue all work together to maintain your interest, and the final reveal makes the journey worthwhile.

In conclusion, Deadly Inheritance is a unique and fun whodunit that's definitely worth a watch. I'd score it a 6/10 and recommend seeing it at least once.

Deadly Inheritance takes the framework of your average Agatha Christie novel from 1930s upper class England and places it in 1960s working class France. Though it starts out a bit chintzy (a deaf man would feel the vibrations of the train on the tracks, just to let you know) Omicidio per vocazione unfurls into an engaging mystery with a couple of likable characters you may actually be sorry to see die.

The patriarch passes on and leaves an unexpected inheritance in his will, but the catch is that his adopted son - a disabled 18 year old boy - must be cared for by the family until his 21st birthday and only then will the money be split between them. Of course, all hell breaks loose.

Good film that starts off like some sort of 'reading of the will' film, then heads straight into Giallo territory by the wasting of the cast, then seems to wrap up business early before throwing every twist in the book at you while also giving you a loving kiss of rich cinematography, Italian babes and crappy dubbing.

Some rich railroad worker guy gets killed when someone switches the tracks and causes him to be run over by a train. His horrible kids gather together for the reading of the will and are horrified to find that no one will get anything until the handicapped, peeping Tom adopted son comes of age in three years.

Obviously that's not going to happen so when that son falls under a train, the cops are brought in and everyone's a suspect. Throw in loads of deaths (but just a little gore, this being 1968, but there's also a little bit of boob, this being the summer of love and all), and an avalanche of twists, some sixties fashions and some groovy music and everyone's happy.

Apart from the railway theme running through the film, I also liked how various characters seemed to interact with the soundtrack (like the first murder victim turning the music 'off' via his earpiece) - I'd never heard of this one and it was a nice surprise. I also burst out laughing at some of the really crappy dancing done in the night club.

Rating Breakdown: Story - 1.25 :: Direction 1.25 :: Pacing - 1.00 :: Performances - 1.00 :: Entertainment - 1.25 :::: TOTAL - 5.75/10.00.

Picture this: a lazy, rainy Sunday, a hot drink in one hand, a duvet in the other. That's the ideal setting for Deadly Inheritance (1968), a Giallo thriller that ambles rather than sprints, offering more tepid tea than spicy espresso.

Director Vittorio Sindoni takes a serviceable but uninspired approach, delivering a murder mystery with some pretty visuals but none of the noir-ish tension or pulse-raising pacing the genre can deliver. The plot-a family offing each other over an inheritance-unfolds predictably, though a late twist manages not to feel entirely telegraphed. Unfortunately, the characters are so two-dimensional they make cardboard seem complex. It's hard to care about who lives or dies when nobody's worth rooting for.

Tom Drake's Police Inspector offers a rare bright spot, but even he feels like he's performing at half-speed in a production that never quite shifts out of first gear. The pace is slow, the thrills muted, and the story basic enough that your average housecat could probably deduce the killer.

Yet, there's something oddly comforting about the film's unpretentious simplicity. Deadly Inheritance might not be a great Giallo, but for a rainy afternoon under a blanket, it's just intriguing enough to keep you awake-barely.

'Deadly Inheritance' is a fun little 60's Giallo flick with tight pacing, a satisfying mystery, and solid performances. The movie also has a decent plot with enough twists and turns to help make it an above average viewing experience. However, I wasn't really a fan of the rather comedic tone the movie takes and being an early example of the genre, this is a rather bloodless and plodding affair without hardly any suspense.

The plot = An rich railroad worker Oscar (Arnaldo De Angelis) is accidently killed by being run down by a train and when it comes to the reading of the will his 3 daughters are shocked to find out that he left everything to his adopted son Janot (Ernesto Colli). This leads to the family members getting killed off one by one as every member of the family has a clear motive for murder, but who is the mysterious killer.

The movie is well shot with some striking locations but lacks the stylish flair that fans of the genre have become accustomed to and while the mystery element is decent with some genuine surprises, the horror element is severely lacking. The characters here are well casted with some good performances from the likes of Tom Drake, Femi Benussi, Virgilio Gazzolo and Ernesto Colli each deliver standout performances in their roles.

Overall 'Deadly Inheritance' is enjoyable enough but needed that something extra special to stand out amongst the crowd of the far better Italian horror/thriller flicks.