L'assassino... è al telefono

I'm a big fan of the Giallo sub-genre; so much so that I can often find things to like in even the worst of the genre. However, I'm really struggling for good things to say about this one! I often find that Giallo's which try to focus on a single character are the most disappointing, and the genre is best known for stylish and gory death scenes for a reason! The main problem with this film is undoubtedly that it's just too slow and boring, and the reason for that is simply that not enough interest is created in the lead character and her situation. The film focuses on a woman named Eleanor. Eleanor is suffering from amnesia. Her husband was murdered five years previously and she passed out at the sight of an imposing bald man named Ranko. She wakes from a coma and has blanked out the last five years of her life and doesn't recognise her new husband George. It also just happens that Eleanor is about to appear in a stage play, but ends up having to ask her sister to replace her. Eleanor continues to have nightmares about the mysterious Ranko...

Alberto De Martino is not one of the better known Italian directors, and judging by the films I've seen from him; I have to say I'm not really surprised about that (despite the excellent Formula for a Murder). The acting is not really up to much either, with British actress Anne Heywood failing to impress or inspire sympathy in the lead role, while Telly Savalas does not deliver the kind of performance that previous roles have shown he can deliver. The cinematography and locations used are both surprisingly bland, which is a shame. The film reminded me somewhat of Mario Bava's disappointing Lisa and the Devil (not just because both films feature Telly Savalas), although Bava's film has a lot more going for it than this one does. Music is often an important part of this type of film also and there have been many memorable scores written - again, however, you will not find one here. It all boils down to a dull finale and overall, unless like me you are a big fan of the genre and ultimately aiming to see every Giallo ever made; I would highly recommend giving this film a miss!

The Killer Is on the Phone is available in a clean, vibrant version with Italian audio which is always a plus. However, though it's low on sleaze (which I wholly approve of) it's also low on action and intensity, leading to a slight dullness.

I appreciated the twists in the mystery which is more of a "why" than a "whom" but you have to really wait for that ending.

I generally delight in spooky atmospheric fare, but this film comes across more like a drama than a Gothic horror, and I did not particularly like the main character which made it difficult for me.

Still, L'assassino...e al telephono is solid and I can't in good faith knock it as a whole.

Run-of-the mill Giallo with slashing , suspense , plot twists , intrigue , well staged crimes and unexpected finale. A woman : Anne Heywood is shocked when sees a man : Telly Savalas who results to be the killer who murdered her boyfriend some years before . But it happens she has amnesia and doesn't remenber the past happenings . Little by little she has got strange flashbacks about the fateful events previously committed by the sinister murderer.

A regular but tense and mysterious Gialli with usual gloved killer carrying out a criminal spree . Customary Giallo in which thrilling events , intrigue , twists , turns and stabbing scenes show up lurking and threatening throughout buildings , streets , parks and other locations from Belgium . Stars the beautiful but mature Anne Heywood as a woman who is stalked by a contract killer, being shocked by a former murder , having amnesia, and doesn't remember anything about the earlier deeds . Anne Heywood had a long career and in her maturity she played exploitation movies with various lascivious and sordid characters , including nude scenes , such as : Good look Miss Wyckoff , The Lady of Monza , The Nun and the Devil, The first time on the Grass and Ring of Darkness . Along with Telly Savalas , the popular Kojak , here on the other side of the law as a hit man who attempts to eliminate a potential witness . They are well accompanied by a good but not very known support cast , such as : Ruggieri, Piazza, Willeke Van Ammelrooy and Rosella Falk .

It displays an anticlimatic musical score by Stelvio Cipriani in his usual style with plenty of synthesizer music typical of the Seventies . Enjoyable and colorful cinematography by the famous Joe D'Amato or Aristide Massaccesi . Being shot on location in Gaasbek castle , Lennik , Theatre Royal Monnaie Brussels , Brugge West Vlaanderen, Ostend , Flanders , Bruges , Belgium . The motion picture was regularly directed by Alberto de Martino , as it has some shortcomings , flaws and gaps . Martino was an acceptable artisan who directed several films of all kinds of genres around the Italian B-series , as he made the following ones , Peplum : Medusa against the son of Hercules , Triumph of Hercules , The Invincibles , Seven Spartans , Rivolt of the Seven, Invincible Gladiator . Eurospy : Operation Lady Chaplin . Warfare : From Ardenne to Inferno . Terror : Hyden Park, Holocaust 2000 , Miami Golem, Horror , AntiChrist. Thrillers : Puma Man, Rome like Chicago , The man with Ice Eyes , The Consiliere . And Spaghetti Westerns : Django shoots first , One Hundred thousand Dollars for Ringo, The Seventh Cavalry , among others .

This Giallo by Alberto De Martino, who made a very watchable and entertaining "The Exorcist" rip-off in 1974 ("L'Anticristo" aka "The Tempter"), boosts Anne Heywood in the female lead role as a woman that suffers amnesia after she sees the killer of her husband again five years after the murder, and Telly Savalas as the cold-blooded assassin who tries to kill her before she regains her memory.

The idea is nice, but De Martino's direction is a little bit too slow and, especially in the first half of the film, the flow of the scenes sometimes looks hacked up in a way, so it's difficult not to use the fast forward button on one's VCR. The second half is better and the film becomes a passable thriller, while the climax itself with the uncovering of the person who contracted the killer five years ago remains the best moment of the whole picture.

All in all a mediocre, rather anemic Giallo. Savalas also acted in De Martino's mafia actioner "I Familiari delle Vittime non Saranno Avvertiti" aka "Crime Boss" aka "New Mafia Boss" of the same year, which also doesn't belong to the best films of its genre.

Eleanor (Anne Heywood), a famous theater actress, arrives in Ostende, Belgium, to perform in her new play, Lady Godiva. But at the station she meets Ranko (Telly Savalas), a hitman come to kill a diplomat, and they recognize themselves immediately, awakening in her an old trauma. She faints under the shock and looses through an anterograde amnesia all her memory since the last five years, in fact since the accidental death of her boyfriend Peter (Roger Van Hool), thus joining the giallo characters of the disturbed heroin (Le Orme, L'Occhio nel labirinto, Senza Via d'uscita). Eleanor has now to reconstruct herself by finding what exactly happened so dreadfully five years ago about Peter and Ranko, and that she has since forgotten.

But the cat Ranko with his compulsory black gloves and switchblade knife starts to stalk the mouse Eleanor in a threatening way. Was she herself a murderer? Does Ranko work for a hidden somebody? Was Peter's death really accidental? Who should be the bad genius of Eleanor's life? We wander with her through the labyrinth of her disjointed thoughts where past, present, fantasies and plays mix up concealing all issue. Her relatives try to help her to get out her state of "chronic anxiety verging on paranoia" and to gather the pieces of "the mosaic of her memories": her husband George (Giorgio Piazza), her lover Thomas (Osvaldo Ruggeri), her doctor Chandler (Antonio Guidi), her sister Dorothy (Willeke van Ammelrooy), and Peter's sister and owner of the theater Margaret (Rossella Falk, from Piu tardi Claire to Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso).

On his side Ranko the killer doesn't waste time and begins to add corpses to extend his hit score. And as an actress must perform on stage, Eleanor will be back at her theater for a spectacular final confrontation, allowing the real tragedy to join the played ones. Finally the killer is not so much on the phone, but the title must have been chosen to match with great Hollywood standards like Dial M or Sorry Wrong Number. Even if the film lacks in some way of rhythm, punch and thrill, it stays classic within the style in this very heart of the giallo wave, and does achieve at last its mission. (Viewed in an Italian 1h38 version.)