La muerte ronda a Monica

This film essentially begins with a young man by the name of "Federico" (Jean Sorel) who is married to a wealthy woman named "Monica" (Nadiuska) but is having an affair with another woman by the name of "Eva" (Barbara Rey). As it so happens, Federico works with a female colleague named "Elena" (Karin Schubert) who is romantically involved with Eva and is using her affair with Federico to gain control of his company. To make matters even more complicated, a man named "Diego" (Damien Velasco) has just been released from prison and the first thing he does is to blackmail Federico by threatening to reveal his past criminal history before he met Monica and became successful. Eventually, one thing leads to another and Monica soon discovers that she has become an innocent victim in a scheme by certain people so obsessed with money and power that they are willing to do anything to acquire it. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film derives much of its entertainment value by the mystery it manages to contain until the very end. That being said, this film managed to keep my attention for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

A wealthy woman shoots her husband's blackmailer but he won't stay dead in this twisty DIABOLIQUE-like thriller starring handsome devil Jean Sorel, a little league Alain Delon and a much-beloved "mascot" of 60s and 70s Italian gialli. Director Ramón Fernández may have crafted a run-of-the-mill "erotic thriller" in classic Eurotrash fashion but for a "bloodless" (e.g. psychological) giallo, it's never dull and the Eurobabes all get naked, even the titular death magnet, Naduiska, who looks something like Sophia Loren. Teutonic tart Karin Shubert would later go on to make hardcore porn at the age of forty to support her drug habit.

This is a Spanish psychological thriller with some giallo elements. It's about a woman in the midst of a dangerous situation involving her unfaithful husband, his mistress, her girlfriend and a shady criminal newly released from prison. Secrets from the past infiltrate the present and people start turning up dead. As is often the way with gialli, it has a somewhat convoluted story with various rich jet setting characters doing various unpleasant things to each other. It has shades of Les Diaboliques and it stars giallo regular Jean Sorel. Needless to say, I liked it!

Most enjoyable, Spanish giallo type mystery thriller starring the very fine Jean Sorel, just a shame the Spanish dub removes his voice and that someone decided he should have dark hair. Maybe light hair was too effeminate on men at this time as the Spanish rushed out from under the fallen censorship of dead Franco. Certainly the ladies take every opportunity to pepper the proceedings with regular showers and changes of clothes. And despite all this I enjoyed it! Seriously, this is well worth seeking out, it runs less than 90 minutes and races along from start to finish barely allowing time for the subtitles to appear or the next character to speak. During this fascinating tale with at least two plot lines. Absolutely never a dull moment and although this is more psychological than gory, there are still plenty of killings to keep one guessing. Nadiuska is also worth a mention as the lovely and wealthy wife of Sorel who tends to glide about beautifully in the early stages and then go berserk towards the end. Really good fun.

There exist two types of gialli, and I'm not referring to the Italian ones versus all the other countries. No, I'm actually talking about two types of plots. Either a giallo handles about a masked psycho-killer with black gloves who savagely butchers people – preferably pretty young models – with sharp objects, or it handles about a convoluted murder conspiracy complete with sexual intrigues, betrayal and triangular relationships. "Death Haunts Monica", a Spanish giallo released when the glory years of the genre were already fading out, belongs in the second category and it also takes an incredibly long time before the murders start occurring. But don't be alarmed too much because the film still provides plenty of entertainment during the first gore-free hour, thanks to interesting character developments, tension building and – of course – copious amounts of 100% gratuitous nudity. The beautiful and rich Monica is married to Federico (played by Jean Sorel who plays an adulterous scumbag in pretty much every movie I've ever seen starring him) and lives a rather dull and monotonous life inside their big luxurious mansion. Federico and his sex- addicted partner Arturo run a successful company, but Federico also has an affair with the sexy model Eva. However, Eva is actually in a lesbian relationship with Federico's secretary Elena, and the both of them want to blackmail him by threatening to inform Monica about her husband unfaithfulness. And as if life isn't difficult enough already for Federico, a sinister ex-convict shows up at his doorstep and threatens to expose a horrible secret from the past. And then, suddenly, poor Monica is attacked in her own house by a violent perpetrator dressed in black… The main problem with "Death Haunts Monica" is a typical one for over-ambitious gialli from unknown and largely inexperienced directors. The plot and suspense keeps on building up towards a climax that can't possibly meet the expectations that were raised during the film. In spite of all the intrigues and the red herrings and the secrecy, the conclusion is rather dumb and multiple essential key-characters are eliminated abruptly. Like several of my fellow reviewers already pointed out, director Ramón Fernandez clearly tried to imitate the French suspense masterpiece "Les Diaboliques", especially during the wannabe sensual sequences where Nadiuska and Karin Schubert are sitting on a bed naked and conspiring against Federico, but the homage doesn't really work. The character of Arturo is amusing (but totally implausible) and the sub plot with the mysterious Diego definitely holds potential but remains too vague. "Death Haunts Monica" is perhaps worth a look in case you're a fellow giallo-lover and have already seen all the more popular Italian classics, but not a movie worth tracing down.