Synopsis: "A woman is brutally murdered and stuffed into the trunk of Swiss Ambassador Sobiesky's (Anton Diffring) car. The woman was the ambassador's mistress. Inspector Lawrence (Arthur O'Sullivan) suspects the Ambassador, but his diplomatic immunity puts him out of bounds. He brings in the previous head of homicide, John Norton (Luigi Pistilli) to investigate. He left the homicide division because his violent interrogations made a suspect take his own life. As he gets closer to the murderer and the suspects' bodies pile up it places him and his family in danger." -Taken from Troy Howarth's book with some paraphrasing.
The film opens with some credits taking you through the Dublin locations, To my knowledge this is the only giallo that takes place in Ireland. The film transitions to a mansion of sorts near a seaside location. Some of the shots near the cliff sides in this movie look like something out of a folk metal song or something on the cover. The scene transitions into the house where we see the killer has sunglasses on. You might want to remember that as Riccardo Freda spends the rest of the movie showing that every person has black sunglasses in the movie. That could've been a parody of other giallo movies from the time. The killer then splashes acid onto the face of a woman and slits her throat. This is satisfyingly violent, even if the effects are quite silly. The woman's burned face seems to be reversing time shot and it looks heavily like wax. The throat slit gushes blood with the sound of something out of a Fulci movie. While it sets the tone for the the film this is really the only kill you see until around the end.
An inspector shows up and starts questioning people who work at the embassy. There are a number of different subplots going on and Freda tries to peak your interest by making everybody a suspect. For example almost everyone is seen with a pair of black sunglasses and every time someone has them a loud chime plays to indicate that person has the sunglasses so they could be the killer. He does little things to throw you off like the Ambassador saying he got home early, making you suspicious. Later inspector John has a bloody straight razor in his bathroom, only for the reveal to be that he wanted to go back to shaving that way and he cut his neck. The Ambassador's wife's son keeps coming around asking for money. He reminds me of Chris Evans' character in Knives Out. Anytime the Ambassador is seen leaving his office, Jerry, a man with a brown mustache is seen entering the office through a secret door which is a bookshelf. The same musical chime as the sunglasses reveal is also used anytime a character is seen with a straight razor, the same murder weapon. There is a similar scene to the barber shop scene in Cat O Nine Tails where a doctor holds up a straight razor and talks about how the killer will never be caught in suspicious manner. This makes the scene where he stitches up John's head a lot more tense as you think something is off with that doctor.
The scene then transitions to a bar where the woman singing (Dominique Boschero) is having affair with the Ambassador. This is where Luigi Pistilli is introduced as the former Inspector who is hired by Dublin police to investigate the murder. After the Ambassador visits said woman she is found dead. At the same time Helen (Dagmar Lassander) leaves the bar to avoid being a suspect, Pistilli comes out of the bar and offers her a ride home on his motorcycle. This begins a fun relationship. As soon as he brings her home the first thing he asks is "Are we going to do it in the bushes or on the motorcycle?" I guess his aggressive approach works as she takes him to her room and they sleep together. Dagmar Lassander being topless is the first of three or four different women we see topless in this movie. As I said in my thesis she has never looked better. Luigi Pistilli is a boss right away just for bedding her that quickly. Luigi Pistilli and Fabio Testi are my two favorite actors born in Italy, so it was awesome to see him play a role like this.
Throughout the film you learn that the Ambassador actually slept with both of the women who were killed. At one point the Ambassador's wife (Valentina Cortese) attempts suicide, though you later find out that it was attempted murder, and the chauffeur played by Renato Romano saw who did it attempts to tell the cops before the killer can find him. Just like in any giallo movie that doesn't work well. Suspects are eliminated throughout and Inspector John eventually starts getting messages left on paper, Argento and Martino style telling him where to go only to find more dead bodies. As the bodies start piling up he gets closer and closer to the case placing both his mother and daughter in danger and making his relationship with Helen distant as he starts to believe she could be a suspect as well.
Toward the end there is a great chase scene near a drawbridge. Because the inspector's family is threatened that adds some stakes to the final fight scene you always get in these giallo movies. After the conclusion there is another reveal that makes no sense but since it is a giallo movie you just go with it. There are some funny moments throughout, not just the romcom way that John and Helen's relationship starts. There is a recurring gag where John's mother and Erin's grandmother's blindness is apparently the reason why she can't answer the phone. Instead of focusing on her visual impairment the lines are always "You won't be able to hear it without your glasses." The Ambassador and his wife get into a fight at one point and the dubbing makes his line, "You bitch! You fucking bitch!." It sounds really funny every time. There is a really bad politically incorrect moment where the inspector says "The use of vitriol could mean it was a woman or a colored person." While the opening score is a great use of woodwinds, strings, and human voice the rest of it isn't as memorable. The opening though is definitely worth listening to.
Rating: 9/10
Trivia: Riccardo Freda was dissatisfied with the cast and the final film, leading to him using "Willy Paredo," as a pseudonym for his credits. He had wanted Roger Moore to play John but got Luigi Pistilli.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25Dd1U0ccI
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