Dir - Tonino Servi
Overall: MEH
Tonino Servi's second directorial effort Queens of Evil, (Le regine, Il delitto del diavolo), embarks on its own singular path as far as being a hippy era occult movie, but it is also too low on momentum to be enjoyably memorable. An Italian/French co-production with Raymond Lovelock not only staring in the lead but also providing two folk rock songs that are typical for the time period, the movie takes a problematic amount of time to do anything besides show said protagonist gorge himself on cake and fish while changing his mind about leaving a cabin with three beautiful women living there who each take turns having sex with him. With this summing up ninety-percent of the movie, (no exaggeration), occasional, curious moments break up the monotony that seem to allude to some witchery going on, yet the final set piece is really the only moment where a sinister mood takes over. For genre fans at least, giallo scream queens Silvia Monti and Ida Galli, (here going under one of her several Westernized names as Evelyn Stewart), join French actor Haydée Politoff as the trifecta of lovely ladies with a plethora of wigs to go along with their eccentric mannerisms.
(1974)
Dir - Giuseppe Patroni Griffi
Overall: MEH
Filmmaker Giuseppe Patroni Griffi's The Driver's Seat, (Identikit), is an adaptation of Muriel Sparks novella of the same name; a strange, psychological drama where Elizabeth Taylor portrays one of her most mentally unhinged protagonists. Told out of sequence, it takes some time for the viewer to gain their proper footing as Taylor meanders around Italy, coming across one horny asshole after the other who refuse to take "no" for an answer. Not that Taylor is behaving in any more rational of a manner since she seems to be on a perpetual short fuse with service people, all in some sort of insane quest to meet up with someone who is "her type" that will follow her disturbed instructions. These moments are inter-cut with the police interviewing those that she came in contact with, though Taylor's fate remains unclear until the very end which introduces yet another layer to the mystery as to why so many people seem both afraid of and interested in her. Oh, Andy Warhol also shows up for two scenes playing a clearly dubbed English Lord, for reasons that are probably better left not understood by the rest of us. Though Taylor is excellent here, the film's curious tone is far from welcoming and the ugly chain of events, (mostly rapey), help leave a sort of nihilistic taste in one's mouth once the credits hit.
(1979)
Dir - Mario Landi
Overall: WOOF
Tasteless crud coming unsurprisingly from the guy who would make Patrick Still Lives the following year, Giallo a Venezia, (Giallo in Venice), is less of a giallo and more of a mean-spirited and juvenile excuse for exploitative depravity. Rape, harassment, sadistic sex, and indulgent murders make-up an asinine story that is structured in the least engaging way possible, meaning police inspectors walking around interviewing every other character and gracing us with meandering flashbacks one after the other. Jeff Blynn plays the detective on the case who looks more like a homeless hippy than anything and he also seems incapable of taking his job seriously. He is usually smirking, casually chumming it up with suspects, and seems as bored with the proceedings as we are watching them. As he did in the aforementioned Patrick sequel, Landi makes sure that Mariangela Giordano suffers a ridiculous and humiliating death, being tied naked to her own kitchen table while a maniac slowly saws her leg off and then puts her dismembered remains in the fridge. We also have a guy getting drowned and then dragged to the shore, a guy getting shot and then set on fire, and two different people are stabbed to death with scissors, with the women of course getting said utensil shoved into her crotch. Speaking of genitalia, there is plenty of snore-inducing sex scenes to stretch this dung heap out even further because of course.
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