I was bowled over by this television movie which was rich enough to have a theatrical release internationally IMHO. As an unabashed fan of director Michele Soavi's, I had high hopes he would turn out a suspenseful movie full of his bravura cinematic touches - and this didn't disappoint. All I can say, as I don't want any spoilers, is that this movie is terribly creepy as it follows the path of a serial killer who is played with unforgettable calmness and cruelty by Carlo Cecchi. The set pieces of murder and attempts at entrapment are ones Argento would envy. Everything is working hard here, the beautiful photography, rich in its constantly moving arcs and color, the editing by Anna Napoli creating a dramatic tension, the music which underscores the drama and a tight script. It is at once terrifying, sad and very real. The scenes of the killer gambling in the casino are especially remarkable. The movie is not for the faint of heart, however. Not because of any blood and guts, slasher style, but because of the carefully built suspense and the eerie and scary characterization and heartless actions of the serial killer.
2 Reviews
Cheap, cheap, cheap!
newjersian18 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is such a unbelievable flop. The whole team of actors is not bad but the director made them look like a bunch of a school theater players. And the script... So bad, so dull, so cheap! A woman killed in one of the attacks leaves a photorobot of a killer, which was accidentally published in a newspaper. And not a single reader called in? There's no street surveillance, although the investigators localized the killer's address? They have a lot of bullets from the killer's gun. And they never perform a search for the weapon in his apartment? On the body of another woman there is the killer's DNA. And with all these the prosecutor says they have not enough evidence?
Each time the killer fled from the investigators they look like a team of inept, clumsy, slow moving amateurs. The funniest moment is when the prosecutor goes with the killer as a prostitute. She's wearing a tight jacket that contours her body very well, but later it comes out that she's wearing a bullet proof west under it. Who the movie creators want to fool?
This movie is a long boring flop that spoils the good reputation of Italian cinema.
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