(1986) The Killer is Still Among Us/ L'assassino è ancora tra noi
(In Italian with English subtitles)
CRIME THRILLER/ DOCU DRAMA
Co-written and directed by Camillo Teti that opens with a young couple shot and killed while they were making out inside of a car. And as Christiana Marelli (Mariangela D'Abbraccio) is woken up by her friend, Chiara (Yvonne D'Abbraccio) to attend the murder scene, the only evidence left behind are latex gloves and an empty "Norzetam" box. It also appears Christiania is only a student of criminology and is trying to write a paper on the subject about the killer himself as he has already killed before. And upon meeting one of the coroners, Doctor Alex (Giovanni Visentin) it was not long before she strikes up a relationship with him who fits some of the same boxes that could make him to be the killer.
Upon watching this film, I decided to watch it without knowing anything about it or it's intentions after the ending left me completely baffled because I presumed it was another fictional Giallo movie, other than to notice that the poster is reminiscent to any true crime book like a Ted Bundy for instance black and white photo and all! But it is like, upon reading the reviews, I had no clue it was about an actual incident, about the "Monster of Florence" murder spree that took place between 1968 to 1985 with sixteen murders. And if it is then it did very poor job catching the serial killer who had been plaguing the country. It looked like to me that it's purpose was to showcase gross scenes of mutilation with nothing about what authorities are doing anything to catch the killer himself. All it showed was Christiana making some suggestions that does not add up to nothing. That if she was terrorized by the killer himself where was her police protection. How come she did not call authorities or connecting with a particular one trying to solve the crime itself! What about the DNA as it has becomes so advanced! For it was suggested the killer may be involve in the medical field, there was nothing mentioning about police tailing anyone! After several episodes of "Forensic Files" only shows a single person who tries and does something about it while the authorities themselves appear to be nonexistent, where is the funding and how is it spent! How come couples are still making out in cars if there is a serial killer on the loose targeting those people, for this movie raises more questions than it answers!
It's intentions was to shock fans just as the "Guinea Pig" film to which after the director handed it to Japanese authorities that may indicate that an actual woman was tortured to death, he then demanded the,m to return the video back to him. When authorities refused, he then took it upon himself to reenact what he saw himself and used his own personal experience to market anyone who want to watch it. The two grisly scenes shown in this case about what the killer did to his victims would not help or help the investigation at all- it was pointless!
