By 1989, the Giallo genre had long since seen it's best days; and Fashion Crimes is a good example of that, as what we have here is a film that takes some of what made the genre fascinating in the first place, and just makes a mess of it. The fashion house has been a staple of the Giallo genre ever since it's birth in 1964 with Mario Bava's fascinating Blood and Black Lace. This film has the cheek to name itself 'Fashion Crimes', even though the majority of the film has nothing to do with fashion houses and indeed this setting barely features once we are past the film's opening. Anyway, the film focuses on Gloria; a fashion model who, while on the way home one night, breaks down, and after seeking assistance from a nearby villa; wakes up with amnesia. After coming round, she is convinced that she has witnessed a murder. She is helped by a psychiatrist who tries to unlock her memory with hypnosis; however, the psychiatrist also happens to be co-owner of the mansion! It's not long before the killer tries to silence Gloria.
The film's main flaw is clearly that it just isn't interesting. None of the things that Giallo fans will be looking for are good about this movie; there's barely any bloodshed, the mystery drags and lacks interest and none of the characters are strong enough to make any sort of impact. None of this is helped by the fact that lead actress Teresa Leopardi looks bored throughout the film. The main bulk of the film revolves around the lead character trying to regain her memory and this is extremely boring and does little to further the mystery elements of the film, leading to further boredom. Director Bruno Gaburro's style is languid, although the poor screenplay is more to blame for the film's failures. The soundtrack is suitably tedious too, just to add to the negative elements. Overall, I really can't recommend that anyone goes to the trouble of tracking this down. It is very rare and not at all worth the effort. I would even go as far as to say that this is one of the very worst Giallo's I've ever seen!
