|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
A terrible heatwave and/or sunspots seem to be causing a lot of deaths
in Rome, so this might be a perfect time for Simona (Mimsy Farmer) to work
in a morgue to finish her thesis on real & simulated suicide. But
somehow it seems her job 6 the heat are getting to her, & when she
finds her neighbour Betty (Gaby Wagner) as one of the suicide victims,
that doesn't make it any better. To add to all that, Betty's brother Paul
(Barry Primus), a priest, shows up too & claims his sister has not
kiled herself but was murdered. Simona, who should be a specialist on that
field becausse of her thesis, has precious little to say about it. Soon,
too, Paul starts to suspect Simona's father Gianni (Massimo Serato), while
Simona's almost boyfriend - almost because she is frigid - Ed (Ray
Lovelock) knows a thing or 2 about the priest that would direct suspicion
onto him, like he was a racedriver once who killed 12 people in an
accident, has after that spent a time in an asylum, & even now he
suffers from both iolent streaks & epilepsy.
Soon Simona's janitor (Leonardo Severini) is killed too in anoother fake
suicide, shortly after he sold a gun to Gianni, Ed is shot at while
carracing (but he came out of it unscathed, & then her uncle Lello
(Carlo Cattaneo) shows up as another possible suspect, especially
after he had a rowe with Gianni, & shortly after, Gianni drops onto
the sidewalk from his balcony. He survives but is paralized from his eyes
(really) down, so a clever inspector (Antonio Casale) decides to connect him to a machine
& let his eyes do the talking - but befroe he can say anything
substancial, Gianni is poisoned, in the presence of the inspector nho
less.
Finally, Simona is able to make love to her boyfriend, but only while
thinking about Paul. When she confesses her love to him, he can't respond
likewise though, being a priest and all.
Soon though, evidence piles up that would suggest for Paul to be the
killer, so when Paul announces he comes to visit Simona, she calls Ed for
protection - rather stupidly really because Ed is actually the killer (it
was some story about blackmail & counter blackmail in which Gianni,
Betty, Ed & the janitor were all involvedd), & he soon drugs both
Simona, & Paul too when he arrives, & tries to fake another
suicide (this time it's a
couple-that-can't-be-together-because-he-is-a-priest scenario), but
somehow the 2 of them can escape death, & in the end, Paul & Ed
fight it out on a scaffolding above the roofs of Rome, with (natuarally)
Paul winning.
A very weak & immensely convoluted giallo (the Italian form
of serial killer murder mystery) that is way too preoccupied with shedding
suspicion on everyone (except of course the killer Ed) to tell a
comprehensive story or create some genuine suspense. & somehow the
lead character, Simona, around whom everything evolves, doesn't really
come to life, she just seems to be torn between hysteria, depression &
exhaustion most of the time, which does remarkably little to make the
audience identify wiht her. Also, the frequent referneces to sunspots are
nothing more than silly.
|