Mio caro assassino (1972)

... aka: Folie meurtrière (Murderous Madness)

... aka: La ronda de la muerte (The Round of Death)

... aka: Sumario sangriento de la pequeña Estefania (Bloody Summary of Little Stefania)

... aka: My Dear Killer

... aka: O Carrasco da Mão Negra (The Black Hand Executioner)

... aka: Time to Kill, Darling!

Directed by:

Tonino Valerii

This Italian / Spanish co-production starts with a very cool pre-credits sequence of a man at a rock quarry being grabbed by the neck by a excavator claw, lifted off the ground and decapitated, but don't get your hopes up. It's one of the only memorable moments in the entire film! The victim - insurance investigator Umberto Paradisi (Francesco Di Federico) - had curiously rented the piece of heavy machinery for one day only, and the operator - Mario Anzuini (Remo De Angelis) - has vanished without a trace. Police inspector Luca Peretti (George Hilton - THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH) is on the case. First assuming Mario accidentally killed the man, panicked and then fled, their initial theory soon falls apart when Mario is killed himself. Though found hanging, Luca determines that he was actually murdered and the scene was staged to look like a suicide. 

Believing the excavator was rented for the sole purpose of finding something in a swampy lake at the quarry, Luca orders it thoroughly searched, and then interviews both a strange old couple (Dante Maggio, Lola Gaos) living near the quarry and Umberto's former employer (Corrado Gaipa - CRAZY DESIRES OF A MURDERER). The same name comes up both times: Moroni.

Umberto had been tasked with investigating insurance claims made by the Moroni family. Their young daughter, Stefania ("Daniela Rachele Barnes" / Lara Wendel, in her film debut), was kidnapped. That was followed by an extortion attempt that was paid by her family, but when the father, Alessandro (Piero Lulli), tried to follow a mediator to the location of the blackmailers, he too disappeared and was found dead a month later, along with the little girl. Alessandro's insurance policy mentions the names of four people who'd been interviewed during the investigation: Eleonora "Rita" Canavese-Moroni (the wife), Oliviero Moroni (brother), Giorgio Canavese (brother-in-law) and Paola Rossi (a teacher). Luca decides to acquaint himself with all of these people.

Meanwhile, Umberto's widow (a wasted Helga Liné) shows up to identify the corpse and attempts to aid the police in the investigation. However, she's stopped dead in her tracks when a black gloved killer stalks and kills her in a highly unbelievable scene where she's strangled with her own scarf in the middle of the day in a very crowded post office. Though there were many witnesses to the crime (though apparently not a single one who tried to help the victim), none can seem to agree on what the killer looked like. The only clue left behind is a child's drawing clutched in the victim's hand, which leads investigators to a school called Instituto Benedettine.

At the school, Luca consults Paola Rossi (Patty Shepard), who'd previously been questioned by Umberto. She helps place the drawing as having been made just a week prior to Stefy's disappearance. Later that night, she inadvertently lets the killer into her apartment because she personally knows whoever it is and is then killed with an electric saw, making a complete mess of her spotless white kitchen in the process! For an encore he bashes her skull in with a statue, though that takes place off-screen and we only hear about it later.

Our hero then pays a visit to the dreary Moroni household and discovers that Stefy's mother, Eleanora (Dana Ghia), has gone mad and is still expecting her little girl to return home from school at any moment. Slightly more help, or at least a little more lucid, are brother-in-law Oliviero (Tullio Valli) and his wife, Carla (Mónica Randall - THREE DAYS IN NOVEMBER). While Oliviero, who lost an arm in the war, holds his late brother in high esteem, Carla resents him for having been a charlatan and a leech.

The other Moroni brother, Beniamino (Alfredo Mayo - VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST), is an artist and used to take little Stefy outside for long periods of time, he claims, to shield her from her parents' constant bickering. The two were on the verge of divorcing. His creepy artwork centers around dismembered baby doll parts and he's seen in his studio with a naked pre-pubescent girl, whom he claims is "a model." Then there's Eleanora's shady brother, Giorgio (William Berger), who owns an international shipping company involved in illegal activity; potentially drug smuggling. Giorgio may also enjoy the company of underage girls employed by a local brothel, just in case we needed a second potential child molester on the suspects list. Luca assures him that if he's willing to cooperate that no one will ever find out about any of that though (!)

Lumbering, talky, overlong and filled with multiple sketchy suspects and possible motives behind the crimes, this is a fairly competent example of the giallo subgenre, but middling and (mostly) bland all the same. Leaning very heavily into the police procedural side of these films, there are endless scenes of Luca and his colleagues, Chief Marò (Salvo Randone) and Brigadier Bozzi (Manuel Zarzo), standing around, sitting around, walking around or driving around discussing the case, plus endless scenes of Luca drilling various suspects. Because so much time is spent with the cops, most of the supporting cast (and there are actually some good actors in this bunch) are stuck playing flat, uninteresting roles. Sadly, that also includes whoever it is who's laying the killer. The person is so ill-defined that the big reveal doesn't hold any kind of impact whatsoever. It may as well have been a complete stranger.

Similarly, the direction here is extremely workmanlike. It's not stylish or creative, merely adequate, and the few murder set pieces, which should be highlights, are poorly staged and lacking in suspense. Though Valerii had previously co-written a couple of Gothic horror films (Crypt of the Vampire and THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH), he doesn't seem to have much flair for this kind of stuff; which is probably why he's better known for spaghetti westerns like My Name Is Nobody (1973). A good example of botched potential is Shepard's death scene. While memorably bloody, the execution leading up to it kind of undermines its overall effectiveness. After running away from the killer, she "hides" by standing right in the middle of her kitchen with the door wide open, then stares at the killer, turns her back, crouches down and just lets the person saw her to death!

There are completely disposable characters wedged in here, as well, especially poor Marilù Tolo in a completely useless role as Luca's girlfriend, Dr. Anna Borgese. Being a doctor and all, you'd assume she'd come in handy helping to create a psychological profile of the killer or something, or at least be put in jeopardy at some point herself, but nope! The only reason she's in this is to appear topless a couple of times. She looks miserable and all of her dialogue is huffing and puffing that the detective is too busy to spend any time with her. Nobody cares!

Four different writers, including the director and Roberto Leoni (Santa Sangre), are credited with the messy script. The best thing to extract from this one is the nicely eerie score composed by Ennio Morricone, with Bruno Nicolai serving as conductor. The soundtrack is available from Death Waltz Recording Company.

While this was not theatrically released here in the U.S., it was in France, Italy, Spain, Brazil and some other countries (mainly in Europe). This also never received any kind of home video release in the 80s or 90s here. It wouldn't be until 2003 that Shriek Show finally got it out in an English-subtitled DVD. The British company Salvation also distributed an English-friendly version in the early 2000s. In 2020, Vinegar Syndrome included this in their box set "Forgotten Gialli Volume 2," which also includes French Sex Murders (1972) and The Girl in Room 2A (1974). Extras for this title include the rare English-dubbed print of the film, a new interview with co-writer Leoni and archival interviews with the director and star Hilton.

★★

Early Frost (1982)

... aka: Amanecer (Dawn)

... aka: Chilling

... aka: Early Frost Can Kill

... aka: Er det mord? (Is It Murder?)

... aka: Frío de muerte (Frozen to Death)

... aka: Frost - Der Frauenmörder (Frost - The Woman Murderer)

... aka: Geada na Madrugada (Frost at Dawn)

... aka: Murhaaja iskee selkään

... aka: Something Wicked

... aka: Something Wicked This Way Comes

... aka: Terry O'Connor's Early Frost

Directed by:

Geoff(rey) Brown ("post production director")

David Hannay ("post production director")

Brian McDuffie (uncredited)

Middle-aged Val Meadows (Diana McLean) is in the midst of a personal crisis. Her husband, who rightfully suspected she never loved him and only married him to keep up appearances as all of her other friends were starting families at around the same time, is no longer in the picture. As a result, she's been driven into a depression, which has led to a lot of smoking, a lot of drinking and a relationship with abusive (and still married) private investigator Paul Sloane (Kit Taylor). Paul treats her miserably, flirting with younger women right in front of her, negatively commenting upon her hair, make-up, looks and age and telling her "conversation isn't on of your strong points" as a means to shut her up so she'll have sex with him. A real nice fella he is.

Val's reckless and self-destructive behavior has also been having an effect on her two children. While she's out in the singles bars and running around with Paul late at night, her 19-year-old son Peter (Jon Blake) and 14-year-old son Joey (Daniel Cumerford) have been left to their own devices. Their home is an unkempt mess, with trash everywhere, clothes strung about and dirty dishes filling the sink, and Peter absolutely detests her. Val's best friend, Peg Prentice (Jan Kingsbury), tries her best to help out; taking Val to get a makeover, watching her kids while she's out late, helping her clean, do laundry, etc., but she can only do so much and even her teenage son, David (David Franklin), is getting fed up with the amount of time his mum has to cater to her friend.

As if her life isn't shambolic enough already, Val begins to suspect that someone is after her. She has the constant feeling she's being followed and watched. Someone driving a Jaguar frequently parks right outside her home and seems to be stalking her around town. And then there are the "accidents"...

During a shopping trip, Val and Peg are almost killed when someone pushes a trolley into a display, knocking it over, almost crushing them and killing a stock boy instead. Val returns home late from one of her dates, finds the power is out and is then electrocuted unconscious when she touches the fuse box, which she suspects has been tampered with. So who's #1 on her list of people who would want to off her? Why, her own son, Peter! He seems to hate her more than anyone else in her life and she's been so uninvolved recently that she doesn't even know he's been dating Chrissie (Joanne Samuel) for the past year and the two have gotten engaged.

The man in the Jaguar turns out to be private investigator Michael Hayes (Guy Doleman), who was initially hired to find evidence about an unfaithful spouse for an upcoming divorce case but instead has uncovered a string of suspicious, interrelated deaths. It turns out that no less than three of Val's former acquaintances have all died from what appears to have been a stroke and Michael suspects she either has something to do with it or is next on the hit list. He also learns that she's the one who's been having an affair with his client's husband, who happens to be Paul, and that Paul's estranged wife has become another of the victims. But how is this all connected and who's running around doing the killings?

Though fairly well acted, this Aussie "thriller" is a pretty murky combo of incoherent and downright unpleasant. Making the victimized female lead such a detestable character may be somewhat unusual but it also ensures we never really care about the fate of this horrible biddy! Val stays sloshed through most of the film and, as we learn via frequent flashback, not only abused her husband and kids but was also responsible for the drowning death of her spouse in a lake. It's no wonder her sons can't stand her, especially considering she's just as terrible a person in the present day as she was in the past.

While she's been a neglectful, self-centered lush since the husband's death, she also seems dead set on now ruining her children's lives for some strange reason. When Peter announces his plans to leave home, Val suddenly goes into overprotective mother mode out of nowhere and proclaims that no one's going to take her son away from her. During an engagement party scene, she dresses sexy, tries to hit on her son's friends and is nasty to Chrissie, calling her a "cheap tart" and demanding to know how good her son is in bed (!!) There's also a bizarre moment here that strongly suggests that Val either had sexually abused her oldest son or now has incestuous designs on him, though that remains muddled... just like nearly every other aspect of this plot!

Speaking of muddled, the finale is such a mess that it doesn't even offer up a clear cut killer reveal. Actually, it appears there are at least two killers if the ending (and a briefly-seen newspaper clipping) is anything to go by, though that too is left inadequately explained. The adults are not really presented as potential suspects here, just the children. Peter makes it well known that he could care less if his mom gets murdered, Joey had the traumatic near-drowning experience, David keeps a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings about the killings and he and Joey are seen secretly having a conversation about something at one point. Whoever is doing it seems to be some kind of brilliant, evil mastermind as they're able to administer deadly injections to the housewife victims, sabotage a car to make it explode once a key is turned in the ignition, can overpower and decapitate an adult male and set up an elaborate booby trap in the pitch dark using rope and a spear gun.

Most of the criticisms I've seen for this online have nothing to do with coherence or plausibility or even the hundred mirror shots used throughout, but are instead from viewers complaining that this isn't a slasher film (?) That's hardly the first time this has ever happened but I always wonder how in the hell this stuff even gets started in the first place. I couldn't find any promotional materials or advertisements that ever tried to present this as a slasher film, or even a horror film for that matter. How some people got it into their heads that this was something it's clearly not and never sold itself to be is beyond me. Perhaps some reviews or websites classified it as such or something, but it takes more than a few murders and heavy-breathing killer POV shots to qualify something as a slasher.

You can probably tell from the multiple directors listed above that this was a troubled production. The movie was produced under the title Something Wicked This Way Comes (later shortened to just Something Wicked) and was primarily directed by Brian McDuffie, a New Zealander who mostly worked in TV and ultimately decided he'd rather not have his name in the credits. After principal photography wrapped, he was supposedly fired by producer David Hannay, who'd clashed with McDuffie throughout the production. Hannay and co-producer Geoffrey Brown then put the finishing touches on the film; both claiming "post production director" credit for doing so. This was based on a script by Terry O'Connor, which was being bounced around since 1974 and one that Hannay spent years trying to get produced. Well, here it is, I guess, for better or worse.

Though never released theatrically, this seemed to receive a home video release nearly everywhere in the world... except for the United States. That may have had a little to do with the same title getting used just a few years later for an award-winning AIDS drama made for NBC. And it may also explain why when this finally showed up on American TV it was under the new title of Chilling.

★1/2