70's Italian Horror Part Twenty-Eight

THE RED HEADED CORPSE

(1972)

Dir - Renzo Russo

Overall: MEH

 

The final film from director Renzo Russo, The Red Headed Corpse, (La rossa dalla pelle che scotta, The Sensuous Doll, Sweet Spirits, The Redhead with Hot Skin), is a curious one centered around Farley Granger's alcoholic, insecure painter who inexplicably brings a mannequin to life.  A strange story to be sure, one could assume that it is either supernatural or psychological in nature, yet it may in fact be both.  Granger's is not the only character to interact with his newfound model/obsession/love interest as several other men become infatuated with her as well.  At other times though, it seems as if Granger is living in a demented fantasy as people witness him interacting with a dummy, perhaps raising the idea that Erika Blanc's seductress only "comes alive" for those that fall for her bewitching beauty.  Another actress plays her as both mute and docile before Granger makes love to her, at which point Blanc takes over and behaves more in accordance with a traditional succubus.  The film is neither creepy nor suspenseful and it is also void of murder, (unless we look at Blanc as a legitimately flesh-and-blood creature), but it has an odd, sinister undercurrent all the same.

DEATH CARRIES A CANE

(1973)

Dir - Maurizio Pradeaux

Overall: MEH

 

A giallo-by-numbers from director Maurizio Pradeaux, (and his first of only two that fall into said genre), Death Carries a Cane, (Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio, Dance Steps on the Edge of a Razor, The Tormentor, Maniac at Large, The Night of the Rolling Heads, Devil Blade), has little to offer besides providing yet another on-screen pairing of Luciano Ercoli regulars Nieves Navarro and Simón Andreu.  Compared to Ercoli's three giallos with the aforementioned actors, this one is exasperatingly dull and formulaic.  Of course the killer has to have a murdering gimmick, (hence the walking stick of the title), of course the main protagonist has to be suspected as the murderer, and of course the police choose to condescend a woman instead of taking her insistent eyewitness testimony seriously.  All of the beats are in place with none of the flare that other filmmakers routinely utilized.  Instead, Pradeax merely goes through the motions and the results are pedestrian enough to regularly lose interest in along the way, to the point where the killer reveal may cause more of a "Who?" reaction than the intended gasp.  Worry not though, Navarro is naked a few times and pretends to be a prostitute during a failed sting operation, so there is that.

 

THE SISTER OF URSULA

(1978)

Dir - Enzo Milioni

Overall: WOOF

Writer/director Enzo Milioni's first time behind the lens was with the blabbering, incoherent snore-fest The Sister of Ursula, (La sorella di Ursula).  One would think that a sleazy giallo with soft pornographic inserts and a premise of a killer who murders women with a wooden dildo would at least be occasionally amusing, but alas, this movie is hellbent on proving otherwise.  The first act establishes two miserable sisters who head off to a seaside resort after their father dies, where the hotel manager introduces them to a night club singer, at which point the first random, naked woman succumbs to death-by-phallic-device.  Things go off the rails quickly from there as the narrative constantly switches protagonists, introducing far too much lackluster melodrama to even bother paying attention to, before coming back to characters that you barely remember meeting in the first place.  As usual, the sex scenes go on for only a few minutes yet feel as if they are nine hours long a piece, plus the sensationalized murder gimmick is underplayed to the point of being inconsequential.  The film even fails to land a satisfying, rug-pull killer reveal as it just ends up being the one person who acted more deranged than everyone else the whole time.