70's Italian Horror Part Eight

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?

(1972)

Dir - Massimo Dallamano

Overall: MEH

A properly atmospheric giallo from filmmaker Massimo Dallamano and his follow-up to the British co-production remake Dorian Gray, What Have You Done to Solange?, (Cosa avete fatto a Solange?, Das Geheimnis der grünen Stecknadel), is leisurely in the pacing department and tonally dire, but these are not inherently bad attributes.  Itself a co-production with West Germany and falsely listed in the credits as being an Edgar Wallace adaptation to link it to the krimi sub-genre of exploitation movies, the film's shock value comes in the form of the killer's brutal, vagina-stabbing tendencies which are shown within the very first scene.  Revolving around back-alley abortions and sexually promiscuous college girls involved in a hedonistic club, one may think that such material would be dealt with in a more sleazy fashion than it is.  By treating the subject manner more respectfully then, Dallamano creates a sombre atmosphere that is more graceful than classy, yet it also differentiates the movie from countless others of its kind which is either a good or a bad thing depending on the giallo enthusiast looking for typically tasteless, misogynistic, and red-herring fueled silliness.  As the tragic title character, this also marks the screen debut of Camille Keaton who of course made quite the career out of playing horrendously victimized leading ladies.

 

A BLACK RIBBON FOR DEBORAH

(1974)

Dir - Marcello Andrei

Overall: MEH

 

Though not without some effective atmosphere, A Black Ribbon for Deborah, (Un fiocco nero per Deborah, The Torment), is hardly the most gripping, contemporary-set, supernatural horror film that Italy produced.  Co-writer/director Marcello Andrei had only a sporadic career behind the lens before this, his first movie on the 1970s and his lone offering in the horror genre. Allegedly, the script had been sitting around for a decade before it was ultimately made, with a total of four screenwriters getting their hands on the material and according to Giuseppe Pulieri, it was mangled in its finished form.  Wherever the blame lies, the resulting movie has Euro scream queen Marina Malfatti as a troubled woman who cannot physically have children, that is until she finds herself pregnant after being involved in a car accident that proved fatal for another would-be mother who was carrying child.  Things play out predictably from there with her husband growing increasingly frustrated at both the improbability of the situation and with the fact that his lovely wife refuses to partake of any hanky panky with him.  Gripping set pieces are few and far between, but the final ghostly showdown is chilling enough under the circumstances at least.

RING OF DARKNESS

(1979)

Dir - Pier Capri

Overall: MEH

 

The 1970s sure had its share of Satanic trash that was especially pumped out after The Exorcist and The Omen made all of the money at the box office.  Writer/director Pier Capri's Ring of Darkness, (Un'ombra nell'ombra, Satan's Wife), is a blatant knock-off of the aforementioned The Omen, with Lara Wendel serving as the Damien stand-in, here named Daria which is close enough.  The film opens with a goofy, candlelit occult dance featuring women in white robes, but the majority of what follows bypasses the expected overt sleaze and just has Wendel acting like a complete asshole for nearly ninety-minutes.  This is hardly the actor's fault as her character is given no other personality traits besides "teenage brat who thinks she knows everything", so she just talks back to the adults, stares everyone down as if she is going to deck them in the face, and arrogantly smugs around in full awareness that she is the child of Lucifer or some adjacent equivalent thereof.  The details are hazy and it all has something to do with an unwilling coven of witches who pissed off their master apparently, leaving them at the mercy of John Phillip Law making a cameo as a corrupt priest who unsuccessfully tries to exorcise whatever evil mojo is making Wendel such an annoying jerk.  At least the synth musical score by Stelvio Cipriani is fun and creepy though.