Giallo a Venezia

This is sleazy. I've seen the English subtitled Luminous print of this film, and it is safe to report that as a giallo it fails miserably on every level. Not only is there a weak plot and zero suspense, but there is also laughably no attempt to conceal the identity of the killer who is in fact revealed in the first ten minutes or so of the film. Clearly Landi was aware of his shortcomings as a giallo director and so therefore decided to make up for it with lashings of jaw-droppingly misogynistic sexual violence, which he again showed a passion for in his later film "Patrick Lives Again".

A couple of scenes really stick out for absolute, grimy nastiness. Firstly, the vaginal stabbing of the prostitute. This scene has more parallels to old hardcore porn loops than it does the giallo genre, with poorly lit and explicit prolonged close-ups, shot on grainy stock. Secondly, the scene where Mariangela Giordano gets her leg sawed up. Even though the effects are poor, the absolute sadism and overall atmosphere makes you feel pretty sordid for watching it. It kinda reminded me of the similar (but more nasty) scene in The Last House On Dead End Street...

But is this enough to make this film good? NO. This is a failure as a giallo, and is only worth anything because of the outrageous violence.

I just watched Giallo A Venezia First off, it's not a giallo, it's a crime story. It opens with 2 bodies and a bunch of cops and goes from there with the investigation, and it's quite a while before anyone is actually killed. And when it does happen it's not a mystery, as we see the killers face. The story has some twists and turns to it though.

A good part of the film is flash-backs of the the 2 victims doing kinky sex things. Yeah, there's a decent amount of sex in this, probably on par with a typical Jess Franco film, some of it was okay, some a little boring. There's also some pretty gruesome gore stuff late in the film. Otherwise the plot is fairly simple, on par with say a typical 70's cop show.

To recap, I wouldn't say this was all that good... a lot of sex (some simulated, some female masturbation, some kinky stuff), a couple of decent gore killings, and not a giallo.

If you want a giallo with a lot of sex the best I've seen so far would be Slaughter Hotel, or maybe Washing Machine (though that one is kind of a borderline giallo).

...if for no other reason (of which really and truly there aren't any to speak of unless the trinity of coke, sex and murder is what gets you going) - then for Berto Pisano's stellar, lush, textbook pornographic musical score, all in routinely dizzying major 7 chords, swirling strings and the bop-bop melody firmly rooted in the 60's, already horribly dated by the time this was filmed (late 70's) but very charming and very pleasant nonetheless - for those into that sort of thing - it's a standout winner. What makes this additionally twisted is that the soundtrack is often strangely out of sync with what we see on screen (people are having copious amount of often kinky sex but are also being whipped, stabbed and mutilated to some rather blissful musical sounds, adding to the perverse appeal). The film is certainly a very decadent Eurotrash oddity worth checking out, provided you watch with your ears. And with your brain on leave.

This is an extremely rare, hard to find movie which to be quite honest is no bad thing. The version I viewed was in its native Italian tongue and is, as far as i'm aware, the only way anyone's likely to see it. The film begins with the dockside discovery of a murdered man and woman which starts an investigation undertaken by a cop (Jeff Blynn) whose favourite past-time is eating hard boiled eggs! (well Kojak had his lollipops I guess). A series of seemingly unrelated murders start to occur, two of which are very nasty, so nasty in fact that I couldn't possibly describe them on such a family friendly site such as this. An already cheap and cheerful film is cheapened further by endless scenes of a couple participating in various sex games, all backed by a Berto Pisano score which wouldn't seem out of place in one of your dad's "stag" flicks. Needless to say these sub- plots seem to tie up in the end (well...at least I think they do). The term "giallo", is the Italian word for yellow and these thrillers (BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, BLOOD AND BLACK LACE and WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SOLANGE? being amongst other examples of this fascinating and addictive genre) have their origins in the mystery books published years ago in Italy, which were distinguishable by their yellow covers. When all's been said and done, I cant really recommend this sleazy, sordid affair (not that it's readily available anyway!), unless your idea of a nice night in is a showing of Lucio Fulci's equally misogynistic (but more fun) THE NEW YORK RIPPER. Happy hunting.....

Giallo A Venezia opens with a swiftly edited stabbing, then a lady floundering in water. Credits roll and we discover that these two luckless chumps were a married couple, Fabio and Flavia, and its now up to egg eating, bad joke cracking detective De Paul to sort out the mess, a process which involves much delving into the sordid details of their relationship. Meanwhile, things are about to get nastier... Despite the title, this one only just about qualifies as a giallo. It has a mystery, some killings and a whole lot of perversion, but when stacked against the notables of the genre Giallo A Venezia is a terrible example, with little in the way of style (one rather nifty moment aside) and even less in the way of interesting detective work or problem solving. It doesn't matter too much though, the title just about captures the nature of the plot and the film never really tries to compete in the giallo field. The main thing on its mind is sleaze and sleaze is what it serves up in delicious helpings, comparable perhaps to a three course meal. See, our unfortunate Fabio and Flavia had rather an unconventional relationship, he a dominant deviant and she a submissive, if often unwilling partner to his lusts. A lot of the film is spent on their sex lives, delivered as seedy soft-core with a dollop of sadism we get voyeurism, rape and humiliation as the more traditional female masturbation and conventional coupling. Gianni Dei and Leonora Fani are excellent as Fabio and Flavia respectively, he commands just the right air of haughty perversion that knows no sympathy beyond its own satisfaction, and she a tragic figure of the sort who just can't make herself get out. It helps that Leonora Fani has a splendid body and the sort of bush that makes you want to go exploring, gives her degradation an even meaner feel. There's more sexy shenanigans as well, lest you be afraid that this is a two hander, we get Mariengela Giordano nude in the films best loved sequence, and at least one more partly nekkid gal so its all good. The score works wonders for the soft-core side as well, natty porno lounge from Berto Pisano that bursts into indecently rousing loudness when good stuff goes down. For all this, the film doesn't completely forget its title, as the plot does steadily develop with one or two twists and turns and a few possible suspects/motives. It isn't too taxing though, and the mystery serves mostly as a means of joining together the sexual and the violent aspects of the film. As with any giallo worth its salt, there are a few gnarly murders in here, a couple of which have earned the film a deserved infamy. I won't go into details, but one would be better served by higher quality prints than the one mostly available (though it is still pretty sweet), and the other is an absolute ripper, real squirmishly entertaining classick. The finale is a corker as well, wrapping things up nicely just when the film is looking like it might have used up all its steam. There isn't really legitimately redeeming value here, no social themes nor insight into the interesting territory of a sexually twisted relationship, there isn't much style and the cinematography makes Venice look dull. I've never been but apparently its a nice place, not so in this film. This is pretty much aimed straight at the sleaze and nastiness brigade and no one else, seekers after truth and beauty should seek elsewhere and even average giallo lovers will likely be nonplussed. But if you like 'em mean, check this sucker out pronto as it plays a mean game and it plays it well.