What's immediately noticeable to the viewer is that definitely isn't your run-of-the-mill giallo. For a start, the film has little nudity and there's nary a black-gloved killer to be seen. Perhaps most obvious of all is the singular lack of a body count; there are no brutal murders here, no sinister knifings, in fact the film feels quite wholesome. Instead this is a giallo that focuses around a mysterious blackmailer and has one of those "is she mad or isn't she?" plot evolutions in which the heroine is being secretly terrorised only to have nobody, including her husband, believing her.
Much of the film centres on Dagmar Lassander's character, a wife forced into sex with a stranger who then realises that she's been tricked. Unfortunately, Lassander is the weakest actor in the film, and she's pretty unconvincing in the emoting scenes. Far better is the sexy, sassy Susan Scott, who unfortunately is relegated to a minor supporting role as the female friend. Swap these two around and the film would have been far better.
Director Luciano Ercoli delivers the proceedings from a script by giallo veteran Ernesto Gastaldi; thankfully, the plotting is more convincing than most entries in the genre and the benefit of a decent English dub makes things easier to bear. What the film lacks in action it makes up for in style; this movie shows the height of (dated) fashion, with the women frequently donning blonde wigs and hanging around in local haunts. A swinging, annoyingly catchy score by Ennio Morricone adds to the experience. The rest of the cast is good, with Pier Paolo Capponi as the loving husband, veteran Osvaldo Genazzani as the detective and Simon Andreu as the suitably sleazy villain of the piece. Ladling on the mystery and suspense throughout while also investing proceedings with a typically sexual flavour, Ercoli's first film as a director is a low budget success.
Much of the film centres on Dagmar Lassander's character, a wife forced into sex with a stranger who then realises that she's been tricked. Unfortunately, Lassander is the weakest actor in the film, and she's pretty unconvincing in the emoting scenes. Far better is the sexy, sassy Susan Scott, who unfortunately is relegated to a minor supporting role as the female friend. Swap these two around and the film would have been far better.
Director Luciano Ercoli delivers the proceedings from a script by giallo veteran Ernesto Gastaldi; thankfully, the plotting is more convincing than most entries in the genre and the benefit of a decent English dub makes things easier to bear. What the film lacks in action it makes up for in style; this movie shows the height of (dated) fashion, with the women frequently donning blonde wigs and hanging around in local haunts. A swinging, annoyingly catchy score by Ennio Morricone adds to the experience. The rest of the cast is good, with Pier Paolo Capponi as the loving husband, veteran Osvaldo Genazzani as the detective and Simon Andreu as the suitably sleazy villain of the piece. Ladling on the mystery and suspense throughout while also investing proceedings with a typically sexual flavour, Ercoli's first film as a director is a low budget success.