El asesino está entre los trece

'The Killer is One of 13' is a competent yet effective Spanish giallo flick directed by Javier Aguirre with an interesting plot in a similar vein to Agatha Christie that weaves an intriguing murder-mystery element with some nice camerawork and solid visuals. But apart from these positives the movie's pacing is perhaps a little too restrained which should allow the story to build, but it never does and instead we get something that lacks tension or thrills without much pay-off.

The plot follows a widow Lisa Mandel (Patty Shephard) who invites 13 guests to stay at her rural mansion out in the country. She soon reveals to them that she suspects one of them of murdering her late husband and soon enough they are also getting killed off one by one.

While I'm not opposed to a slow-burn mystery, this flick fails to be engaging and not a lot happens until over the hour mark and then we just get a rather forgettable climax with predictable reveals and barely developed characters, I barely remembered any of them by the time the movie was over. Overall there's just not much more to say about this rather boring flick, instead that there's far better giallo's out there with a similar premise such as 'Nine Guests for a Crime' & 'The Killer Reserved Nine Seats'.

Skip this one you're not missing much.

Look, I've seen over 200 gialli, so I'm used to plot holes and lapses in logic, but whoever wrote this one really dropped the meat in the dirt. I've seen some people comparing 'The Killer is One of Thirteen' to Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians', and let's just put a knife in that right here. Other than people showing up to a house and dying, the two aren't even in the same universe.

In short, the story is about a wealthy woman who invites a bunch of friends (?, more like acquaintances) to her home after her husband recently died in a plane crash. She then accuses them one by one of having a possible reason to want her husband dead. Eventually, the killer strikes again.

First of all, it would have been wise to limit the characters so we could follow who's who. There's a reason it's 'TEN Little Indians', 'The Killer Reserved NINE Seats' and 'SIX Women for the Killer'-so we have time to process who the characters are and get to know them.

The reality is, we might have had a shot at understanding the characters and their motivations if the screenwriter didn't distract us with sneaky affairs and dumb romance subplots that contribute zero to the plot or character development.

It's a shame, because the cast is decent. Yeah, the soundtrack is off with some strange cartoon and game show sound effects. The wardrobe and lighting are lame. But it's really the script that sinks this Titanic mess. Despite all the backstories and attempts at red herrings, I guessed who the killer was in the first half hour.

My advice is, if you're in the mood for a good whodunnit, pull out René Clair's version of 'Ten Little Indians', 'And Then There Were None' from 1945. It's creepy and clever, holds up well and is one of my favourite films.

This is Javier Aguirre's only giallo. It's not bad as these films go. However, it is slow. The first murder does not occur until over an hour into the runtime. The body count is also lower than you would expect from one of these films.

Patty Shepard, Simón Andreu, and Paul Naschy all appear in the film. Some of them have smaller roles than you would expect. However, I will say that the quality of the acting and dialogue is generally better than many of these movies.

The mystery component was handled pretty well. While the story was obviously inspired by Agatha Christie, it does not copy from her.

At the end of the day, you won't go wrong by watching it, but I can't recommend it for anyone who is not already a fan of these things.

Straight from the gate you have to deduct 6 stars for these Butt Ugly Monstrosities that appear in these Giallo movies. I don't see how these women stomach the sex scenes with this inept group of men. They range from the typical two bagger, to you got to be kidding me!!! Ugly and couldn't get laid if they were the last man on the planet with a world full of horny women.

No need for a script when you have these make-up free uglies running amok on the screen. So throw reality out the window when viewing this hot mess. Or better yet, do yourself a big favor and give this one a pass. A more than generous 3 out of 1,000 stars on this.

Just great couldn't have enjoyed this more perfect movie!