Giallo A Venezia
Alternative Titles: Gore in Venice, Mystery in Venice, Giallo in Venice, Thriller in Venice, Pesadelo en Venezia, Intriga en Venecia
Director: Mario Landi
Year: 1979
Starring: Leonora Fani; Jeff Blynn; Gianni Dei; Michele Renzullo; Mariangela Giordano.
Context:
This late sleazy giallo was directed by Mario Landi (PATRICK STILL LIVES) and scripted by Aldo Serio who despite only working on two other movies can include WATCH ME WHEN I KILL aka THE CAT'S VICTIMS by Antonio Bido on his CV.
Although counted as a seventies giallo it only just made it into that decade having been released on December 31, 1979 and this transition of decades is evident in it's style, eschewing the style and colourings of Argento or Bava in place a darker, more sleazy and brutal undertone.
Of the cast the most recognisable is Mariangela Giordano in the role of Marzia as being the mother to Peter Bark's creepy Michael in Andrea Bianchi's fantastic zombie flick BURIAL GROUND. Giordano also went on to star in Soavi's THE SECT and once again for Bianchi in SATAN'S BABY DOLL amongst other credits. Talking of Bianchi some of the score would end up being recycled in BURIAL GROUND.
Synopsis:
In Venice a detective is on the trail of a killer who commits the double murder of a married couple. Soon more grisly killings occur involving sex, drugs and perversions in a sadistic and sleazy story.
Review:
Landi wastes no time getting started in GIALLO A VENEZIA for as soon as the distributor credits stop
within a second we are witnessing a pair of scissors being stabbed repeatedly into a mans crotch
and a woman drowning.
Roll on a nice chirpy musical score courtesy of Berto Pisano set to a backdrop of police and forensic
investigators covering up the dead bodies of our now crotchless husband, Fabio, and his drowned
wife, Flavia. The transparent font title sequence also leads to our introduction of the films protagonist
and hard boiled egg enthusiast Detective De Paul (Jeff Blynn - NAPOLI SPARA!, CLIFFHANGER).
Instantly a drug angle is pushed as the motive but what lends the double murder an air of mystery is
that the drowned wife was brought ashore not by the police but an anonymous person, most likely the
same on who alerted the police. As mystery set-ups go this is quite a strong base to build on and
thankfully De Paul is in a rush thanks to pressure from the Commissioner, who else, because of course
the city is in full tourist mode. Thankfully however the film does not descend into full blown cliché mode and De Paul can continue his investigation free from any further intervention. What GIALLO A VENEZIA does descend into however is the prioritising of sex which is summed up with the quote from De Luca seen below:
"Keep focused on the sex, it could be the key to everything"
Once the Detective actually begins his investigation the first port of call is the couples friend Marzia (the always beautiful Mariangela Giordano) who tells of Fabio and Flavia's stormy relationship while introducing us to Fabio's perversions and almost ritualised sexual humiliation of his wife. This element of the story is told via flashback and from this point onwards Landi switches seamlessly between the two time periods when required providing not only the context leading up to the murder but also a (brief) psychological insight of the couple, Fabio in particular, assisting the viewers involvement and interest in the mystery and helping to drive the film forwards.
As noted this works rather well showing Landi to be more than just a competent director and when combined with some fantastic shots of the city of Venice we actually have a film that is quite good if hidden underneath the terrible physical film quality and, it has to be said, overlong sex sequences which rather than prove erotic merely slow the momentum in some cases.
Talking of Venice, many of the major landmarks are shown if only fleetingly and both the beauty of the tourist spots and the isolation of the city's more forgotten areas are explored and while it is no tourist video, Landi uses the setting well for both narrative story and atmosphere.
Back to the film, once we have learned of the couples indiscretions and are reminded on more than one occasion that "sex appears to be the key to everything" we are free to revel in the excess and violence that is bubbling beneath the surface of the city.
Within the first thirty minutes we are presented with our three key suspects - Marzia, Marco the ex-convict and a mysterious, unknown woman. Not to mention that Marzia has an obsessive stalker who also needs to be thrown into the mix, this is a giallo after all.
Soon after the police start to pull their shortlist together a prostitute is brutally murdered, and by brutal we mean it as she is stabbed repeatedly in the vagina. At first this seems a random attack but we soon learn that this prostitute is a person of interest further complicating matters. Here the screenwriter Serio and director Landi make an interesting decision - they show us the killer. Up to this point we had been in almost the same situation (minus constant egg scoffing) as the detective but now we have more information although there are still pieces of the jigsaw missing thus keeping the story and just as importantly the motive alive.
This action seems to be the turning point as the violence is ramped up and a seemingly second strand or motive for murder takes hold of the story as love rivals are shot and burned alive and a woman is sawed apart while alive in a scene that could be a trick gone wrong in H.G. Lewis's THE WIZARD OF GORE. Unafraid to show it all, Landi does not hold back marking GIALLO A VENEZIA as one of the most sadistic gialli, but one that is not done at the expense of plot as a twisted tale of love, betrayal and lust unravels.
Leonora Fani is fantastic in her role as the suffering Flavia, although she is frequently abused, raped and humiliated by her husband she stood by him out of a sense of loyalty and love and her performance really gets across the naivety of her character. She is also one of the key reasons that this film has the reputation that it has as she is exploited at every turn for the camera as it appears that she is ironically corrupted by her innocence and willingness to please for love, thinking that things will change for her.
So does the film live up to the hype? Well yes and no, it certainly meets expectations in terms of sex and violence but not necessarily in terms of relative overall quality. As such IT really is only for the more dedicated fan but for those of you who this applies to there is much in Landi's film to reward you.
The director clearly has talent, in particular my favourite shots include the stylish use of reflection as a murder takes place - displaying a strong awareness of lighting, mood and atmosphere not to mention looking extremely cool. Sure the sadistic tone and terrible quality of the (bootleg) releases overshadows all but this twisted tale of love, lust, depravity and death, like Venice, has a lot more going on under the surface.
Version Reviewed:
No legitimate release of this infamous giallo existed at the time of this review but we watched a 91 minute bootleg version with Italian audio and hardcoded English subtitles. Unfortunately the quality was pretty poor (see images) and it appears to be in the wrong aspect ratio.
Although this review covered the 91 minute version an uncut version is also available and has now been released by X-Rated.
