Maison de rendez-vous

Despite the fact that this Giallo is often lambasted, I actually had rather high hopes for it; just due to the sheer number of cult names on the cast list and the fact that the more convoluted Giallo's are often the best. However, while this film does have a vast array of ideas on display, director Ferdinando Merighi isn't able to round everything up into one coherent plot line. Furthermore, not many of the genre trademarks have made it into the film; as it's not very colourful, the mystery is obvious from the beginning and despite the fact that the plot focuses on a brothel; there isn't a great deal of nudity. The film gets off to a good start, and after the first half hour I was really expecting a more than decent Giallo. We are introduced to Antoine Gottvalles; a customer at the aforementioned brothel. He's in love with prostitute Francine (the gorgeous Barbara Bouchet, whom I'm in love with) and after her murder, he becomes the prime suspect while the real killer manages to escape. It's not long before the murders continue and police inspector/Humphrey Bogart look-alike Inspector Pontaine gets on the case.

The cast list is among the most impressive of any Giallo. The most exciting element for me was the fact that Amuck co-stars Rosalba Neri and Barbara Bouchet were reunited, even if the latter does only last a few minutes. 'Killer Nun' Anita Ekberg gets a supporting role alongside 'Dr Orloff' Howard Vernon, while the film introduces the lovely Evelyn Kraft. The film is rounded off by a bizarre performance from professional Humphrey Bogart look-alike Robert Sacchi. Quite why the Inspector looks like Bogey is never actually explained; my theory is that it either has something to do with the alternate title (Bogeyman and the French Murders), or director Ferdinando Merighi really wanted Bogart in his movie, but couldn't get him...for obvious reasons. The problem with Sacci in the lead is that, unfortunately, he can't act...and he doesn't look that much like Bogart anyway. The plot manages to move along without getting too dry despite being highly derivative, and the film does have a number of standout death scenes; even if they are extremely unprofessional in their handling. The Parisian setting is good and provides a little beauty to offset the mundane plot. The ending is a little obvious...but it's fun enough to watch and overall, I won't say that The French Sex Murders is a great example of the Giallo...but it just about qualifies as a decent one.

The first frames of the movie are of someone falling from the Eiffel Tower. Police arrive at the Eiffel Tower and chase someone up it, who then falls from the Eiffel Tower. At first, I wondered if this was a copycat, or a jumper who failed to kill himself the first time, ala The Tenant. No, it's the same guy and we're just seeing the same thing twice. And in fact, towards the end of the movie, it's seen again, since the movie jumps back further in time for the bulk of the story.

There's repetition in the movie with most of the kills, too. We'll see it once, then the footage is repeated with the screen tinted red, then again tinted blue, green, purple.... Odd choice.

So, after we see the figure fall from the Eiffel Tower for the second time, a Bogart-looking police inspector tells us "it all began the last day of Carnival." A thief steals some jewels, then sneaks his way into a brothel, where he is known and not very welcome. He meets up with his girlfriend, leaves, and it's discovered that one of the women has been killed. The emotionally disturbed thief is a pretty good suspect, and he's caught, tried and convicted pretty quickly. But did they get the right person or not?

For a movie set around a brothel, there's relatively little nudity, I thought. The women don't wear even very revealing outfits, though the ones they do wear are unusually fetching.

It's a pretty good movie. It's certainly helped by the good picture and sound quality on the DVD by Mondo Macabro, and by a good collection of extras. It's interesting how a movie can wind up with different scenes in different markets - they compiled the longest version they could, which evidently had never existed in that form anywhere. There are also two cut scenes, one with alternate dialog for the French version, and the other featuring a cut scene that was in pretty rough shape.

The whole movie, except for a few foreign-language scenes subtitled in English, has all English dialog. It's too bad they didn't add English subtitles or closed captions for the hearing impaired, which can be useful even for people who aren't. It might have been nice to have a full length-foreign language track, but this is nitpicking.

Here's an interesting film to watch on those late nights when you can't find anything else, and you're in the mood for that old misogynistic sleaze that used to mark Italian films of the early 70's. The plot is a bit convoluted, but here goes.

When Francine (Bouchet), a prostitute, is knocked off, the main suspect, a guy named Gavalles, is sought by the police. He was one of the regular clients of the whorehouse where Francine worked, but he seeks refuge from the law, as he claims he didn't commit the crime. However, during a chase, he is decapited as his motor-bike collides into the back of a tractor-trailer.

The police think that's the end of the murderer, but soon another prostitute is killed. Inspector Fontaine is put on the case, and as he begins probing around, he finds several suspicious individuals who knew the deceased women. One of these suspects is a journalist; another is a famous doctor named Waldemar; another is a criminal magistrate who was intent on convicting Gavalles for the first murder. And finally, there is Madame Colette (Anita Ekberg), the proprietor of aforesaid whorehouse. Now comes the task of figuring out the identity of the killer. And as Fontaine gets deeper into the case, the killer strikes again and again.

Here's a modest giallo outing, obviously made to "cash in" on the then prolific market of horror thrillers. The general mood is seedy and low-key, and the cheap sets decorated with phony Rennaisance art are a lame attempt at adding sophistication to a hastily made film. Howard Vernon here steals the show as Waldemar, who investigates the eyeballs taken from Gavalles' corpse, mashing them to a pulp with his scalpel, as if he were to looking for peals. Nevertheless, it's good fun.

Professional Humphrey Bogart look-alike Robert Sacchi plays the detective. He gives a decent performance, but doesn't live up to his mentor's standards. Actually, the film gives him very little opportunity to act, as the number of characters and constant plot twists keep him at a deadpan level. We never even get a close shot of his face. The murders are violent, but there is little bloodshed. The sound effects are rather odd; when one of the girls is murdered, it sounds as if someone is clashing cymbals. The main show here comes at the end, when we think the killer's identity has at last been discovered. However, we're in for a few surprises; and that's what makes this film worth watching, apart from seeing Barbara Bouchet and Anita Ekberg.

Director Merighi was none too prolific, and he remains a minor figure in the pantheon of Italian cult cinema. He made his debut in 1957 with the melodramatic crime film "The Sun Will Return" (Il Sole Tornera'), which starred future director Roberto Mauri. He is also known for directing the 1972 spaghetti western, "They Called Him Trinity."

Ferdinando Merighi's "Casa d'appuntamento" aka "French Sex Murders" of 1972 sure is anything but a Giallo-highlight, and yet I warmly recommend this delightfully trashy little flick to all my fellow fans of Italian Horror cinema. The plot is overall pretty silly, but the film scores with a trashy atmosphere, some sleaze and cheap but cool gore-effects, and a cast that includes quite a few familiar faces for cult-cinema fans. "Killer Nun" Anita Eckberg shines in the role of a brothel madam and the regular Eurocult actress Rosalba Neri has the role of a seductive bar singer. The film furthermore stars Jess Franco-regular Howard Vernon and Robert Sacchi, who is basically a low-budget Italian version of Humphrey Bogart (Sacchi looks just like Bogey, and it's hard to believe he was only in his early 30s when the film was made) in the role of the investigating police detective. Even veteran B-Movie star Gordon Mitchell has a tiny role! My main reason for looking forward to seeing this film was the ravishing Barbara Bouchet, a true cult-cinema goddess and the female star of two personal favorites of mine, Fernando Di Leo's masterpiece "Milano Calibro 9" (1972), and Luci Fulci's Giallo-highlight "Don't Torture A Duckling" (also 1972). Even though she sadly has little screen time, Bouchet is once again ravishing, and her sheer presence grades the film up a bit in my personal appreciation.

The film, which mainly takes place in a Paris brothel, revolves around murders of prostitutes, investigated by a cynical and Bogart-ish police inspector... I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I can assure that it is somehow messy and yet very entertaining. The film is overall quite (but not exceptionally) sleazy and has a delightful trash-factor. The gore scenes are, of course, not too professionally made, but nonetheless quite effective. The funky repetition and colorization of murder sequences was very odd, but also somehow amusing. I would recommend to look for a subtitled Italian version - the uncut DVD I watched was a messy mixture of English, German and French, which was even more odd as two characters, who are husband and wife in the German language version, were obviously Father and Daughter in the English dubbed version (as from the context, they must have been Husband/Wife in the original Italian language version). Overall, "French Sex Murders" (or, "The Bogeyman and The French Murders", as one of the many aka. titles reads) is certainly not a good Giallo, but it is nonetheless an entertaining low-budget production that my fellow Cult-cinema fans should enjoy. Recommended.

Wahey! I didn't expect this one to be as delightfully bonkers as it turned out, but then why did I expect it to be normal, knowing fine well that the police inspector in charge is played by a Humphrey Bogart impersonator, complete with mac and the constant presence of a cigarette?

Ol' fake Bogey is out to catch the killer of hooker Barbara Bouchet, beaten to death in a classy French brothel run by Anita Ekberg. At first it looks like her boyfriend did it, which would make sense as he was seemingly the last person with her, and was badly beating her up last time we saw Babs alive. Her boyfriend gets captured and sentenced to death during a court scene shown mostly in negative (?), curses all the witnesses to a violent death, escapes from prison, then accidentally decapitates himself while speeding on a motorbike. Saves wear and tear on the guillotine I guess!

Those relieved witnesses are not so relieved as someone starts bumping them off, starting with the beating to death of Anita Ekberg (in a weird, multi-coloured scene), but who would want these people dead? Is it singer Rosalba Neri? Her husband, Pepe? Pepe's lover, (I can't be bothered looking up her name)? What about the author who lives in the brothel, 'researching a book'? The judge seems to be involved too, as does his doctor mate who wants to operate on the boyfriend decapitated head. Gordon Mitchell also shows up for a quick cameo which has nothing to do with anything and is totally pointless. I think he was drunk and just wandered on set.

Upping the madness factor is your usual sleaze and some gore thrown in for good measure, and the killer's motivation for killing is remarkably tasteless, even for a film that's shown up two decapitations and a doctor cutting up what looks like a lamb's eyeball. I like my gialli short, daft, with plenty of sauce, so full marks to Bogey!

Wait – didn't the doctor's assistant say he saw the boyfriend's eyes move while examining his severed head? What was that all about? He was just told to shut up and not mention it again.