L'assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora

Most giallos are scarlet whodunits's, but Luigi Cozzi reveals his killer (Antoine Saint-John) two minutes in and directs our attention to a business relationship struck between the killer and a sleazy ladies' man (George Hilton).

Despite breaking a golden rule of the genre, "The Killer Must Kill Again" is a fresh, kinetic thriller with uneven performances (the women), terrific cinematography and striking set pieces.

Antoine Saint-John is positively electric as the arrogant psychopath and rivets our attention to the screen.

For a change, the storyline is relatively linear and free of the usual clutter. The violence is bloody and smoothly directed, and Cozzi demonstrates a real flair for atmosphere.

Certainly not as operatic as an Argento or as sleazy as a Polselli, it is, nevertheless, compelling celluloid and a million miles away from inept Cozzi trash such as "Star Crash" and "Contamination".

This is a fine example of the giallo genre. It contains everything you would expect from an Italian horror film like this: Interesting characters, convoluted plot, brutal violence and a fair amount of suspense. The plot, too, is great and is worthy of ol' Hitchcock himself. It begins when giallo regular George Hilton catches a killer in the act of disposing a body. George then blackmails the killer into murdering his wife, all of which goes smoothly. However, the twist comes when a couple of freewheeling kids steal the killer's car with the wife's body in the trunk. The killer chases the kids to the beach and then the bloody fun starts.

As mentioned before, the plot and the many twists it takes, makes this giallo entry a standout in the genre. Then there is the great and creepy performance by Michael Antoine as the mysterious killer ( why was this guy only in two movies?). Most gialli have an unidentified, faceless killer with a secret plan as their antagonist but this movie does just the opposite and benefits from it. The only thing that bothered me about this film was the hideously ugly house George Hilton and his wife lived in, which seemed to made entirely out of yellow plastic. Oh well, I can forgive it because, afterall, the movie, like most gialli, was made in the seventies. Overall, a highly recommended giallo that has everything you could want from this type of movie and more.

Not only does George Hilton live in the most yellow house ever witnessed within the 'yellow' genre, he's also playing one of the most heartless and snidey characters ever to appear in a giallo. You see, George is married to one of them dames who has a very rich father, and she's ruining George's life by not giving him enough pocket money and complaining about George spending all his cash on mistresses. What's a (kind of) young playboy to do?

Well, it's lucky for George that he spots a cadaver-like serial killer (played by Antoine St John of The Beyond and Fistful of Dynamite) dumping a car containing a woman's corpse into a river. George makes his presence known, takes the killer's monogrammed lighter, and tells him he's got a proposition to make. They both head off to watch some figure skating while they talk business: George wants the killer to bump off his wife and in return, not only will George forget what he's seen, he'll also throw in some cash to sweeten the deal too...

George sets up his alibi while the killer gets down to business, but what neither of them predict is that shortly after the killer throws George's wife's body in the boot of the car, two kids come along and steal the car while he's clearing the house up. Unwisely stealing a car and alerting all the neighbours to his presence, the killer takes up the pursuit while George returns home to find police everywhere. The kids of course have no idea they have a body in the trunk while they drive across the country...

You'll see from the description that Luigi Cozzi's approaching things from a different angle here, which is refreshing. You've got a kind of three way story going as George sweats it out in the presence of the cops, not having a clue what's going on, while the killer tracks the corpse car and tries to clean up the mess the kids leave in their wake, plus Cozzi keeps things interesting with the two youngsters by making Cristina Galbo a frigid virgin who makes her boyfriend jump through hoops to get her pants off, including stealing the car in the first place. For the record Galbo in 1975 was twenty-five years old, but never seems to look any older than eighteen.

There's not a lot of violence in this one mind you, so gore hounds will be let down by lack of splatter and the absence of a high body count, but the whole novel approach of the plot kept me interested, as did Cozzi's visual flair.

The Killer must Kill again sounds like a title suited for your typical giallo.And it does start out as one. Soon it becomes clear that even cold blooded killers can have bad days. There are numerous moments that play out like you would see in comedies.The straight faced kind, which makes it even hilarious at times.I personally was not expecting this and found it refreshing.But the director made sure not to sympathize with the culprit too much since he continually shows evil when he feels when it is needed. This provides an unique way in building suspense since you never really know when the killer shows that nasty side and when he remains professional.Antoine Saint-John (as the killer) looks like Death personified.Easily the best character in the movie next to Alessio Orano's character named Luca who has to be the most laid back and patient of guys in movie history. He is trying to have sex with his girl and she keeps putting him off and delaying it to the point that she convinces him to fetch food.Luca doesn't mind and goes on his way. How laid back the guy is we get to witness in the scenes after with a sexy blonde in some sleazy scenes (full frontal nudity).The contrast between those scenes and the ones with Laura (Luca's girl) which I won't describe was quite disturbing and shocking even. It's this mix of moments that keeps you glued to the screen. Very different from most giallo's but in a good way.

Mr. Mainardi (Euro fave, George Hilton) accidentally witnesses a man (Michel Antoine) dumping a body. Rather than report the crime to the police, Mainardi blackmails him into murdering his wealthy wife, Norma. Things go smoothly, but before the killer can dispose of Norma's body, a delinquent couple steals the car which has the corpse stashed in the trunk. The maniac begins tracking them down as the two are completely oblivious to what they've gotten themselves into.

Before I bought and watched "The Killer Must Kill Again", Luigi Cozzi wasn't a director I had been particularly fond of. Being the sucker for gialli that I am, I decided to take a chance on this one when the DVD hit. While this isn't in the upper tier of Italian horror, it did prove to me that Cozzi is quite capable of doing something above substandard sleaze and cheese.

This is actually a quality film, though I fail to see how it has found itself classified as a giallo. We know who the killer if from the get-go, though he is never named. There is no mystery here unless you wonder what led to his initial murder which Mainardi stumbles upon. I have to say that it reminded me of Hitchcock's classic suspense pictures more than it did any giallo. "Dial M for Murder" definitely came to mind at first, but then it went off in it's own direction. On the other hand, as is usually the case in the giallo sub-genre, virtually none of the characters are totally innocent. The protagonists steal a car and $150, plus they lie constantly. I also thought it was amusing how Luca is romancing this girl, only to help another girl on the side of a road and then do her in the stolen car. Sometimes you just have to get any wherever you can! My main issue with the film is that after the car is stolen, it gets bogged down and doesn't really pick up again until the killer finds the couple. This portion could have been spiced up a bit.

The killer himself is actually a pretty intimidating fellow, what with Michel Antoine's reptilian facial features and large build, but he definitely has a lot of hell in this movie. Things just never seem to go right for him. As the greedy blackmailer, George Hilton is convincingly suave, even with the weird sideburns. These two make for a fine pair of villains.

Cozzi's direction is solid, and there are only a few small doses of the cheese that would dominate many of his later films. He employs some nifty camera tricks that he surely picked up from Argento. I also liked how he had the two very different sex scenes playing out seamlessly at the same time. In fact, that mean-spirited rape is the only real bit of nastiness on display here. Again, not the norm for a giallo, but the lack of it certainly doesn't hurt the film any.

Overall, this is a fine piece of work from a man who I originally had pegged as another Bruno Mattei. Any fan of the gialli sub-genre should be pleased, even if it isn't a giallo in the truest sense of the word. While the pacing goes off the rails at one point and the climax feels a tad anti-climatic, it's not enough to ruin things.