An unpredictable giallo yarn from director Mario Caiano, who injects plenty of Italian style into his movie with unusual camera positions and music effective for the action. The opening stalk-and-slash sequence is truly artistic and easily rivals the more acclaimed work of director Dario Argento. However it's unwise to judge the rest of the film on this gory prologue because up until the ending there is no more gore to be had on offer. Instead, Caiano concentrates on plenty of shifty, mysterious characters, and lines his cast with some fine supporting actors. The plot is unpredictable throughout and takes in diverse elements such as a secret drug-dealing organisation, a mentally handicapped boy who unknowingly witnesses murder, rape, transvestites, psychology, and the expected macabre images with bodies popping out of the water etc.
The movie has an unusual backdrop in that a sun-bleached villa, full of people laying around bathing and relaxing, is the setting for the tortuous plot to play out rather than the usual grubby back streets of some nameless Italian seedy town. Every single character in the film is unusual and suspicious in some way or another and Caiano has assembled a more than adequate cast to flesh out the roles.
First up is the fragile Rosemary Dexter who is effective in her part as Julie, who begins the film as the lead protagonist and finds herself a victim of circumstances she cannot begin to explain; Dexter is an unknown to me but on the strength of her turn here it's a surprise she hasn't appeared in more Italian leading roles. Then we have the inimitable Adolfo Celi, who has a large role for a change and does very well in the part, as is to be expected with an actor of his skill and experience. The rest of the cast - or should I say 'suspects' features such familiar faces as Franco Ressel (TARZANA) as the sleazy character of 'Eugene'; Alida Valli (THE TEMPTER) as the harsh-faced owner of the villa, Greta; Euro-regular Horst Frank as the bullying psychiatrist boyfriend, Luca, and even an early appearance from later cult babe Sybil Danning.
One thing that does make this film above average for the genre is the twist ending, which is truly unusual and very cleverly done. I don't want to spoil it, only to say it's worth waiting for and difficult to predict. Although the film sometimes seems slow-paced and unfocused, it's worth sitting through to see the ending which goes on to make sense of everything. Oh, and it's worth watching for the eventual explanation of the title, which is both bizarre, blackly comic, and pretty horrific!
The movie has an unusual backdrop in that a sun-bleached villa, full of people laying around bathing and relaxing, is the setting for the tortuous plot to play out rather than the usual grubby back streets of some nameless Italian seedy town. Every single character in the film is unusual and suspicious in some way or another and Caiano has assembled a more than adequate cast to flesh out the roles.
First up is the fragile Rosemary Dexter who is effective in her part as Julie, who begins the film as the lead protagonist and finds herself a victim of circumstances she cannot begin to explain; Dexter is an unknown to me but on the strength of her turn here it's a surprise she hasn't appeared in more Italian leading roles. Then we have the inimitable Adolfo Celi, who has a large role for a change and does very well in the part, as is to be expected with an actor of his skill and experience. The rest of the cast - or should I say 'suspects' features such familiar faces as Franco Ressel (TARZANA) as the sleazy character of 'Eugene'; Alida Valli (THE TEMPTER) as the harsh-faced owner of the villa, Greta; Euro-regular Horst Frank as the bullying psychiatrist boyfriend, Luca, and even an early appearance from later cult babe Sybil Danning.
One thing that does make this film above average for the genre is the twist ending, which is truly unusual and very cleverly done. I don't want to spoil it, only to say it's worth waiting for and difficult to predict. Although the film sometimes seems slow-paced and unfocused, it's worth sitting through to see the ending which goes on to make sense of everything. Oh, and it's worth watching for the eventual explanation of the title, which is both bizarre, blackly comic, and pretty horrific!