Crime au cimetière étrusque

The Scorpion with Two Tails has all the makings of a great Giallo. Aside from the intriguing title, it's also directed by Sergio Martino; the same man who made some of the best Giallo's of the seventies with films such as The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, it's written by Ernesto Gastaldi; whose name will mean a lot to every Giallo fan worth their salt as he has written many of the best films that the genre has to offer, and on top of that - we've even got a performance from cult actor John Saxon. However, Martino clearly didn't have his penchant for directing by 1982, Gastaldi was having an off day and John Saxon's character lasts all of about two minutes! Like the earlier Giallo, The Dead Are Alive, this film focuses on the ancient 'Etruscan' civilisation. Joan Barnard, the wife of Arthur Barnard; a famous archaeologist is having problems. She's suffering from nightmares that focus around ancient tombs. Her woes increase when her husband calls from Italy and ends up getting his neck snapped mid-phone call! She then travels to Italy to investigate.

This film was apparently cut down from a television series, and I can only assume that they left the worst parts in! There's barely any excitement to speak of whatsoever, and this ensures that the film is very hard to care about. Add in some extremely unenthusiastic performances (unenthusiastic even by Italian horror standards!) and some silly fantasy crap and what we've ended up with here is one of the worst Giallo's ever made! It's a real shame too as this film blends in a few different styles and if Martino could have just pulled it all together better, this could definitely have sat alongside his more esteemed film credits. One of the few saving graces in this film is the music; but once you recognise it from The Beyond, the credibility soon dries up! At least the film manages to limp through with a decent finale; though once you've sat through the first eighty five minutes of the film, it could be the best ending of all time and most people would be unlikely to care. Overall, this is absolutely nothing to recommend this film for and I recommend that everyone skips it!

The Scorpion With Two Tails features an interesting premise but feels underdeveloped and hastily made. It also becomes a drama when it perhaps would have been better off as horror. It essentially involves a woman who goes to Italy to investigate an Etruscan tomb after the death of her archaeologist husband. Because the Etruscans were so mysterious, the film explores interesting concepts like the Etruscan language and religious practices. The primary problem with the film is that it stumbles into the "eurocrime" genre as if to compensate for a plot that wasn't fully worked out, and next thing you know we're dealing with family members hiding drugs in the Etruscan tombs, gangsters, et cetera. Essentially the film becomes a crime thriller that is slow paced and isn't especially thrilling when it really should have gone the Jean Rollin horror route. The film is unsatisfying but is definitely worth a watch.

Horrified by a series of vivid dreams, a woman heads to Italy to look after her husband's excavation of an Etruscan tomb, but when a series of murders strikes those around her she and her friends race to find the truth about the treasure before more are killed by the maniac.

There's not a lot to like about this one. Among the few likable factors here come from the setup of the film focusing on the discovery of the tomb and what it means in terms of generating a murder spree to protect its contents. That there's a fantastic setup involving the mystery surrounding the connection between the old community and the series of dreams she has regarding their ceremonies coming to life and tormenting her. Not only is the imagery of the dreams and hallucinations rather impressive with the activity taking place in gloomy, Gothic dungeons and caves filled with ornate monuments and worms covering everything around them but the idea of the mystery about the whole thing being a cover for a drug-smuggling operation makes for some tense scenes inside the underground caves. However, beyond this, there's not much to enjoy here. Most of this is due to the jumbled and incredibly garbled presentation of the film being edited down from a lengthy miniseries adaptation. Originally broadcast in seven one-hour installments, editing this down into a nearly one-hundred-minute feature causes a lot of material to be lost just in general principle but also causes this one to feel somewhat plodding and lethargic even with a lot of excesses trimmed off it. The majority of what's in this version is based on excessively overlong dialogue scenes involving the disappearance of the husband and the notes left behind or the strange behavior of the father concerned about the contents of the tomb which are both included without much purpose for being here. So much of this one has very few explanations for what's going on and it seems to go about these factors as a given that it comes across as jumbled and underwhelming as a result. On top of that, the film also stumbles incredibly hard when it comes to a series of ineffectual and underwhelming series of action and stalking scenes that are somewhat plain and lifeless. The main culprit is due to the generally uninvolved method of killing by having everyone get their necks snapped and turned around to face the other side which is a somewhat lame means of death since there's little that can be done with it and it repeats itself as the main mode of death so often that it's not threatening all that much afterward. Even the lack of proper investigation into the killer comes off weak, and that there's also the lack of action here with a standard yet uninvolved car chase and shootout inside the tomb accounting for the main thrills here all comes off bland as a result. These factors all manage to bring this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.

I recently viewed the Italian film 🇮🇹 A Scorpion with Two Tails (1982) on Tubi. The plot revolves around a woman in New York whose archaeologist husband passes away while studying artifacts in Italy. Haunted by nightmares of a mysterious cult performing sacrifices where her husband died, she travels to Italy to investigate the locations he frequented, and her dreams start materializing...

Directed by Sergio Martino (A Man Called Blade) and featuring Elvire Audray (Ironmaster), Paolo Malco (The New York Ripper), Claudio Cassinelli (The Suspicious Death of a Minor), and Marilù Tolo (Marriage Italian Style).

This Italian horror film from the era stands out with its unique blend of giallo and Indiana Jones elements. The solid acting complements a compelling storyline, enhanced by authentic sets and props. The film effectively uses maggots to create a chilling atmosphere, though some scenes might be unsettling for those not fond of them. However, the kills are disappointingly average, accompanied by the use of visibly paint red colored blood. Despite this, the ending manages to evoke a smile.

In summary, A Scorpion with Two Tails is an average addition to the horror genre, that potentially could have been better with improved kill scenes. I would give this a 5/10 and recommend watching it once.

Boring and disappoiting work from shlockmeister Sergio Martino. Nothing much happens on the screen... Giallo specialist writer Ernesto GASTALDI was really tired this time. Elvire Audray is pretty but a terrible actress...Nice to see former sexy star of the italian adventure/action movies of the 60's Wandisa GUIDA but unfortunately she isn't doing much.

Cinematography is standard TV-like. You simply don't care about the plot, the actors but you will hate the awful muzak.

The fact Sergio Martino gave up on the anamorphic 2:35 format is, I think, a turning point in his career. He began with this "thing" (I hardly call that a movie)a long serie of disappointing and less radical movies especially aimed at a more US and european market (2019 AFTER THE FALL OF N.Y; ATOMIC CYBORG; AMERICAN RICKSHAW among others) where his visual style (weird camera angles, fast editing...) totally disappeared.

You'd rather avoid this easily forgettable ASSASSINIO AL CIMITERO ETRUSCO and prefer TUTTI I COLORI DEL BUIO or LA CODA DELLO SCORPIONE, his best works to me.