Le sadique de la treizième heure

Hum-drum and fairly routine murder mystery set in an all-girls school, with a mysterious killer eradicating them one by one. It is fairly stylish and keeps the gore to a minimum; as a result it works as an interesting mystery, nicely resolved, but with a few exceptions the characters are poorly and dully acted and it's not a very provocative story, and there's a bizarre coda at the end involving a sudden James Bondian character who shows up as one of the girls' dads, which obtrusive and unnecessary). Much of the film's storyline and many of its set-pieces are things we've seen before many times. It's a straightforwardly depicted murder mystery but devoid of almost any elements of the usual giallo trappings (graphic gore and unabashed nudity), as such it's kind of a "giallo light" – enjoyable but without the visceral punch that the cinematic ilk has come to be known for. Perhaps the biggest drawback of the film, like many thrillers, is that the characters constantly perform completely unnaturally, speaking and acting and behaving in a manner which is completely unrealistic, unnatural, and often illogical; what they do moves the plot forward but they never really make the story, its setting, or its characters fully realistic and convincing.Michael Rennie guest stars (dubbed into Italian by somebody else) as the police investigator. English actress Sally Smith is delightful as one of the spunkier students with a knack at investigating herself; she is very energetic and expressive and lots of fun to watch; unfortunately she didn't do much after this. Eleanora Brown is also very memorable as the redhead student who becomes the primary target for the killer; she was in a couple giallos prior to this but appeared in no more films afterward. The rest of the cast, including the vastly overrated Italostar Mark Damon, are pretty much uninteresting. Antonio Margheriti's direction is solid and effective, though, and the film is well shot and nicely edited. A moderately pleasing Carlo Savina score provides an enjoyable musical backdrop, as does the rousing 007-ish main title song, "Nightmare."

Unlike many Giallo films, Antonio Marghetiti's Schoolgirl Killer hardly features any of the blood, sex and general sleaze that have made the genre famous, and instead puts its focus on the murder mystery and central set of characters. In fact, it's amazing just how restrained this film is, considering that it is set in an all-girls school and how almost every Giallo film with a similar setting takes full of advantage of this. The director does an exquisite job of presenting his story and his setting, and the film features some stunning camera work, which beautifully captures the well designed sets, and the fashion sense of the girls at the college. The film begins with a murder in which the killer strangles a woman and has the body put into a trunk which is then delivered to an all-girls school. Shortly thereafter; Betty-Ann, a student at the school is murdered in the basement, and when another young girl is killed in the shower, the police, led by Inspector Durant, are called in. And they're not the only ones on the case, as amateur detective Jill is also investigating.

It's true that there is hardly any originality at all in the film, and influences range from the obvious films such as Blood and Black Lace, to a certain American classic. This has lead many to call the film tired and unexciting, but I disagree as the relaxed way that the story is told allows the audience to get involved with the mystery, and the comedy elements of the film bode well with all giggling girls school environment. The main problem with this film is that's barely any blood whatsoever, which leaves the murder scenes feeling rather. There are other subplots going on, however - things such as the tentative romance between a teacher and one of the pupils, and Margheriti does well at presenting a whole range of characters, any of which could be guessed at as the killer before the twist ending is revealed. The ending of the film has been used so many times now that it's a cliché, but that aside; it does come as something of a surprise. The problem with the ending, however, is that it basically admits that most of the film has been rather pointless, as there were only two people that needed to be murdered - but Giallo isn't well known for logic, and while this might be derivative, it's still well worth seeing!

While this is quite a popular giallo – thanks largely to its sensationalistic title and the fact that the film was originally conceived, as CRY NIGHTMARE, by Mario Bava – its reputation is rather mixed and, having watched the thing for myself, with good reason! Not only is there barely any nudity (with the violence being similarly tame!) but the plot itself – despite the much-used girl-college setting (among the picture's myriad alternate titles are SCHOOLGIRL KILLER and THE MINISKIRT MURDERS!) – is fairly weak…references to Alfred Hithcock's PSYCHO [1960] and Bava's own THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH [1963] notwithstanding or, for that matter, its own affinity with another far superior effort from Margheriti himself, SEVEN DEATHS IN THE CAT'S EYE [1973], and Dario Argento's PHENOMENA [1984])! Besides, the whole giallo atmosphere is further nipped in the bud with an overwhelming light touch courtesy of a vivacious girl student who fancies herself a sleuth! Of course, the script supplies plenty of red herrings – with at least three characters made out to be the possible killer – but the revelation at the climax brings little surprise (while admittedly effectively handled); the attempted murder at the pool, however, is simply ludicrous. The film is nevertheless good-looking, features a kitschy score by Carlo Savina (shamelessly borrowing the instantly-recognizable riff from Neal Hefti's "Batman" theme!) and a reasonable cast – including ex-Hollywood leading-men Mark Damon and a rapidly-aged Michael Rennie (as the Police Inspector on the case), Luciano Pigozzi (the Italian Peter Lorre as the school's peeping-tom caretaker i.e. the type of role he could play in his sleep) and, it goes without saying, a bevy of attractive females, on both the student and teacher fronts – a lesbian undertone is even implied in the relationship between the middle-aged headmistress and her young assistant and a newly-arrived teacher sports androgynous features! – but especially put-upon heroine Eleonora Brown (who had actually been Sophia Loren's victimized daughter in Vittorio De Sica's award-winning TWO WOMEN [1960]!).

This is interesting giallo-style Italian thriller similar to the later horror masterpiece Suspiria but without the supernatural elements, and the schoolgirl giallo What Have You Done to Solange? but with less sleaze (in fact, it seemed like the edited version shown in the US didn't even have any nudity in it). It's very hard to find these days, but worth finding. It's a very seminal film if nothing else. The first bathtub murder was borrowed verbatim for the murder of the Cristine Galbo character in Solange. I'm pretty sure the morbid joke of the killer keeping the first body around right under the nose of the later victims inspired Black Christmas, which in turn inspired Halloween, and after that the deluge. (In fact, much of the later US slasher subgenre could easily be traced to two Italian films--this one and Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve). And certainly no one can deny the influence on Suspiria. While it probably wasn't the first horror movie/thriller to be set in a girl's school or girl's dormitory, it might have been the first to fully the exploit the psycho-killer and "Ten Little Indians" possibilities of this creepy setting. If you like this movie(and you speak Spanish), also check out the contemporary Spanish horror/thriller, La Residencia which is very similar.

This 60's giallo is from the days before the genre truly took form. With the notable exception of Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace, gialli produced before Dario Argento's groundbreaking debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage were relatively restrained affairs with very little violence. Despite its exploitative-sounding title, Naked You Die is firmly in this bracket. It has a somewhat playful tone much of the time and the murders are very tame indeed and contrary to what you might reasonably expect from the title, there is no actual nudity either. Instead it's a bloodless but reasonably stylish mystery-thriller that displays some key hallmarks of the genre.

The film starts out typically enough with a woman being murdered by a black-gloved assassin while taking a bath. Although the actual violence here - and throughout the movie - is extremely tame; the killer merely squeezes the victim's necks quite lightly and briefly and they then fall over dead. It's very soft stuff but is indicative of the tone of the film as a whole, as despite the girl-school setting and the topic of a maniac on the loose, the movie adopts an almost comic approach a lot of the time, with quite a lot of playful humour and a lightness of touch that certainly would not go on to be a recognisable feature of the giallo genre in subsequent years. Still the film does have other more typical elements of this sub-genre such as a great Euro soundtrack, some nice photography, a host of eccentric characters, a barrel-load of red herrings and a convoluted conclusion – this said ending is both predictable and senseless, while somehow still being quite effective.

Naked You Die is not a prime example of giallo cinema. It's a minor entry which showcases the type of films from the early days of the genre. It might disappoint those after something sleazy or violent. However, if you are at all a fan of this sub-genre then there is certainly enough here to enjoy. Just be aware that the thrills on offer are of a more breezy kind.