Danza mortal

Nothing very special about this giallo. A bunch of dancers are trying out for parts, and some get murdered by a hatpin stuck into their left breast (where it looks like it would actually pierce a lung and not the heart as intended). Some of the dancing scenes are pretty sexual.

The studio where they do their dancing has a rather odd system at the end of the day whereby a voice comes over an intercom, and the lights flash on and off repeatedly. I guess this is to make for more suspense or to make the killing scenes more exciting? It's more on the annoying side.

One of the women has a dream in which she is pursued by a killer with a pin (it changes sizes throughout the dream, sometimes appearing giant). She later sees the man from her dream on a billboard. She tracks him down, finding him to be a bit of a washed up, alcoholic actor, and starts a relationship with him.

Much more than that I don't remember.

Lucio Fulci is one of the best and most underrated directors in history. Though not all of his films were great, at least 7 of this films should be in any horror anthology. This film is hard to find, though it was released here in Argentina. In the beginning I thought this was gonna be Flashdance - The Return, but ends up being a clever thriller. The killer's method is original, and the resolution quite surprising. Not one of Fulci's best, but a very good film indeed. Score: 8.

One of Lucio Fulci's "gentler" films, MURDER ROCK is not very popular among gore fans (largely because of the lack of eye gougings and disembowellments), but it has much to recommend. The story deals with a maniac who is killing the girls at a dance school in New York -- together, a cop and a psychiatrist track the maniac down. Keith Emerson contributes a dated, but enjoyable, soundtrack, and cinematographer Giuseppe Pinori makes fine use of half-lighting, a la Mario Bava's SEI DONNE PER L'ASSASSINO. Fulci cameos as an agent. Recommended for Italian horror buffs. *** out of ****

Loved it. Great suspense, disturbing murder scenes. Not too gory, but the suspense makes up for it. Very tense, the closeups, the pre-murder lighting and screams, the sound of the heart stopping. The victims' desperation is well played. Music is great to set you in the era, but you'll find it cheesy if you don't like 80s stuff. Some of the nudity was perhaps unnecessary but still stylishly done. The movie is weird but well executed. It isn't as gruesome as a gore flick, but I think it was more disturbing as it provides greater immersion. The slow killings are a shocker as you can feel them as real. I found myself trembling several times watching this, both by the murder scenes themselves and the suspense going through all the movie. Great camera shots, great scene composition, awesome lighting. The plot is simple but it works. It's interesting to watch the students accusing each other of the murders. There's an unexpected plot twist that I found rather interesting. Don't watch it if '80s cheesiness puts you off. In my case it was a plus. My first venture into giallo cinema and it satisfied me beyond my expectations. If I can find similar movies will definitely watch them. Last recommendation: do yourselves a favor and don't watch it dubbed, watch it in Italian as it's intended to be watched. Dubs for low budget movies aren't precisely good and will make the movie look fake. Get Italian audio with captions for maximum enjoyment.

Murder Rock is one of Lucio Fulci's lesser known films. It was released in the wake of a series of exceptionally violent movies directed by the great man. This one is considerably tamer and not one of his better received critically. It may very well be because it's less intense that it isn't amongst his most popular, I think it's only fair to say that is part of the reason. It's possibly the most blatant attempt by Fulci at making a mainstream movie. He decided to combine the popular horror sub-genre of the time – the slasher – with the 80's fad for fitness. This was the era of Flashdance and Fame, and lycra clad people seemed to be everywhere. I guess it was only a matter of time before a slasher variant on this theme emerged. In keeping with trying to appeal to a wider demographic this one is a relatively bloodless affair as well. It's possible that by trying to appeal to too many people, Murder Rock ended up pleasing fewer.

The story is about a series of murders committed around a dance school in New York. It's one of many early 80's efforts that Fulci set in America. In keeping with its Italian giallo roots though, there is a strong emphasis on the whodunit aspect. This ensures that the story retains a bit of interest and the audience is engaged throughout. There are some moments of giallo weirdness too which always helps such as the recurring dream that the female protagonist has about a sinister stranger trying to kill her. While Keith Emerson is on hand too with an appropriately cheesy soundtrack. It isn't exactly of the standard of the score he did for Dario Argento's Inferno but it does the job. Overall, this is an entertaining movie. A little light-weight perhaps but fun all the same.