Un delitto poco comune

It seems as though life couldn't get any better for classical pianist Robert Dominici (Michael York): not only is he an extraordinarily successful musician, and a skillful martial artist, but he also has attractive women falling at his feet, with a beautiful girlfriend, Susanna (Mapi Galán), and a doting admirer, Hélène Martell (Edwige Fenech), fighting for his attention.

In reality, things aren't so great: Robert has been diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease that rapidly ravages his body, ageing him way beyond his years, and affects his psyche, turning him into a vicious killer. Investigating the trail of bodies that Robert leaves in his wake is Inspector Datti (Donald Pleasance), who is confused by the mounting evidence that suggests a killer of ever-increasing age.

From director Ruggero Deodato, the man who gave us gory exploitation classics Jungle Holocaust, Cannibal Holocaust and The House On The Edge Of The Park, quasi-giallo Phantom of Death starts off promisingly with two murders that result in a lot of the red stuff splashing all over the screen. Unfortunately, the film soon settles into routine potboiler mode, with only one more murder (a spiked table lamp forced under the chin) and, with the identity of the killer revealed so early on, precious little in the way of mystery, thrills or suspense.

York, hidden under some pretty good old age make-up for the latter half of the film, does as well as he can with his role, but Pleasance doesn't seem to be trying as hard, giving another one of his stock detective turns that we've seen many times before in the Halloween sequels and other Italian murder/mysteries. Seasoned giallo babe Fenech is there to add some eye candy, but it is up to a couple of other Euro-lovelies to provide the obligatory nudity.

As a side note, Dominici's predicament reminded me a lot of Seth Brundle in Cronenberg's version of The Fly (1986), who suffers a similar physical and mental degeneration. Of course, Phantom of Death is nowhere near as good as Cronenberg's film.

This thriller exists in two versions: One for TV and export that is quite tame, and an uncut version with extremely gory murder scenes which, as far as I know, was only released in parts of Europe (mainly Southern Europe). I have never seen the "clean" version, so this comment reviews the uncut (French) version.

Robert Dominici (Michael York) is a successful and attractive pianist whose life could not be better. But one day his doctor tells him that he suffers from a rare disease which makes his body grow old horrendously fast. No wonder that the disease throws Robert completely off balance (hence one of the export titles), he leaves public life and starts to kill young women in nasty ways (just before the goriest murder, Ruggero Deodato has a short cameo!). Police inspector Daddi (Donald Pleasence) has to solve the crimes.

York and Pleasence are tremendous, and the female lead is led by giallo cult actress Edwige Fenech. York's character is, despite his gruesome killings, rather truly tragic than villainous. With this film, Deodato made one of the best gialli of the 1980s, but it's a shame that the censored version is far better known in the German and English spoken parts of the world. Everybody who has the opportunity to get the uncut version should not hesitate and grab it.

Mediocre horror fare has good makeup effects (used to show the rapid aging of Michael York's character), but poor continuity (when a man says "...and all this in the course of a year", you're completely baffled: when did a whole year pass?). York does an acceptable job, but Pleasence has never looked more tired. (**)

A female doctor is murdered by a sword. The film makes some pretense of mystery about the identity of the killer, but it doesn't really do a very good job (and the video box gives it away completely). The killer has a rare disease that causes him to rapidly age and also causes the deterioration of his mind. Thus, one murder is thought to have been done by someone of about thirty years of age, and the next by a fifty-year-old.

The murder scenes aren't bad, but the rest of the movie does drag. The killer talks a lot, and what he says isn't of much interest. He also likes to call the police inspector played by Donald Pleasance. The police are all very bad at their jobs, fatally screwing up sting operations, letting suspects go before putting them in a lineup, and so on. Overall the movie is perhaps more of a drama musing about aging and death than it is a horror movie.

Like Psycho IV two years later, this film also has a mentally ill character concerned about passing on his genes. In Psycho IV, that made sense, since Norman had more or less become "normal" through treatment. Here, it's a little more surprising that the man whose mind is supposed to be quite deteriorated is worried about it.

I saw the uncut version of this on video. Can't say it's worth looking for - hold out for a widescreen DVD, and then it might be slightly more worthwhile.

This horror/giallo was directed by Ruggero Deodato, who was more famous for extremely controversial films such as the very unpleasant The House on the Edge of the Park. With The Phantom of Death he reigned in his excesses and produced a far more restrained affair. Its story does have an original angle. A famous pianist discovers he has a rare disease which ages him extremely rapidly. This sets off a homicidal impulse in him and he thereafter goes about murdering women. He becomes hard for the police to track down seeing as the evidence suggests a much older man is responsible for the killings.

The cast in this one is very good on paper. Michael York is the pianist, giallo legend Edwige Fenech is his wife and Donald Pleasance is the cop pursuing the killer. York and Fenech put in a bit of effort with their characters but Pleasance seems to be going through the motions a bit. The lethargy is reflected in the film overall as it is a little dull for the most part and generally lacks suspense. There is a series of murders to enliven things a little but even they don't make too much of an impact. It's a shame in some respects that it is such a pedestrian effort because the central concept is at least an attempt at something a bit different. It's definitely a watchable enough film, however, just a little disappointing considering the potential.