I’ve never seen this one before, but it’s a Dario Argento film so I’m sure I’ll have just as much understanding of the plot after watching as I will before watching. But at least it will be pretty.
I ended up watching a badly dubbed version, poorly transferred version I found on a Roku movie app that I’m not entirely sure had the legal rights to run this movie. But I was told it was a horror movie about a writer so I found it. Of course, I got about twenty minutes into the film before I realized that the dubbing is the original dubbing and then remembered that it’s a Dario Argento film. For those of you unfamiliar with Italian horror of the 70s, think of it like Spaghetti westerns, but with a lot more bright orange blood.
The writer in the main role is American Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante) who came to Italy for relaxation to cure his writer’s block. He’s rather disillusioned with being an author, happier for the paycheck then being able to see his latest work published. One night he witnesses the attempted murder of an art gallery owner’s wife. Sam is then is forbidden from leaving the country because he’s the first witness to see the dark figure that has been killing beautiful women throughout the city.
Now stuck in the city, Sam and his girlfriend Julia (Suzy Kendall) become important and a part of the investigation led by Inspector Morosini (Enrico Maria Salerno). Someone attempts to kill Sam on the same day as the attack of the gallery owner’s wife, but he doesn’t bother to tell the inspector about it. I guess nearly having his head lopped off by strangers on the street is a daily occurrence for him. He must not be a very good writer.
Sam is brought in to hear the evidence collected and see if any of the usual perverts the police pick up could be the murderer. This is an odd moment of what I assume was supposed to be comedy when a trans-woman is placed in the lineup and the inspector objects that she belongs with the transvestites not the perverts. To this, the person in the line-up replies, “Well, I should hope so!” I - Um - What’s going on in this movie?
Sam, who acts more annoyed by being haunted by these gruesome events than concerned, tries to perform his own hunt. He goes to visit the gallery owner (Umberto Raho) and his wife (Eva Renzi), but receives a cold welcome despite having saved the wife’s life. Julia and Sam start to have a lovely time taking notes and dissecting clues as if they are collecting ideas for a novel. Oh domestic bliss in the midst of serial killings.
The inspector is super cool with Sam holding his own amateur sleuth session (because that’s how the world works). The writer has a passion for this beyond anything he has penned recently and even interviews people related to the case which includes a pimp who is very concerned about his poor sex workers. Aww the pimp with a heart of gold. That's new. Overall, I hope Sam wasn’t a crime novelist because he was a lousy detective. He touches everything, he trusts the wrong people, he ignores obvious clues, and he invites suspicious characters into his home.
From all of this Sam does start to write again. He does 40 pages in just a few days, feeling inspired by all of the mayhem surrounding him. My question, when did he find time to write 40 pages while having his and his girlfriend’s lives threatened?
I won’t give away the ending, just I will repeat - it was neat to look at.
