Un delitto poco comune (1988)

Director:

Ruggero Deodato

Writers:

Gianfranco Clerici (story) &
Vincenzo Mannino (story) ...

Release Date:

December 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Police Comissioner Datti is investigating the murder of a female doctor whose murderer seems to be a thirty-fivish year old man...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Pianist | Disease | Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity

Cast

Michael York	...	Robert Dominici
Edwige Fenech	...	Hélène Martell
Donald Pleasence	...	Inspector Datti
Mapi Galán	...	Susanna
Fabio Sartor	...	Davide
Renato Cortesi	...	Agent Marchi
Antonella Ponziani	...	Gloria Datti
Carola Stagnaro	...	Dr. Carla Pesenti
Daniele Brado	...	Dr. Vanni
Caterina Boratto	...	Robert's Mother
Lewis E. Ciannelli	...	Chief Physician (as Lewis Eduardo Ciannelli)
Renata Dal Pozzo	...	Agent Corsi
Giovanni Lombardo Radice	...	Father Giuliano
Gianni Franco	...	Inspector
Marino Masé	...	Expert on aging

Also Known As:

La casa di Via Rubens (Italy) (alternative title)
Off Balance
Phantom of Death
Squilibrio (Italy) (video title)

Runtime:

90 min | Germany:88 min (DVD edition) | France:100 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-16 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R | West Germany:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Empire Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

DMV Distribuzione

Trivia:

Italian censorship visa # 83223 delivered on 13-1-1988.

When I get Older, Losing My Sight, Not So Many Years From Now

Italian horror/thriller director Ruggero Deodato gives us this somewhat introspective, blood and guts tame by Deodato standards film about an Italian pianist who contracts a very rare disease that makes him age at an incredible rate. The pianist has bouts of memory loss and periods of losing mental control in which he kills, naturally mostly beautiful young women. The deaths are bloody(I saw the Uncut version) but not over-the-top fortunately. In fact the movie really works best as a cat and mouse game between Michael York as the pianist and Donald Pleasance as a plodding policeman not so hot on his trail, as long as you can get past the point that York and Pleasance are supposed to be Italians. The film is in no way great, but I was pleasantly surprised with its effective pacing, decent acting, and heart. York is a man not wholly evil, in many ways a victim of circumstance. He ages before our very eyes. He kills with anger and spur of the moment passion rather than cold-blooded calculation(at least most of the time). He is almost a man to be pitied, and York plays on this for the second half of the film with some obvious talent. Pleasance is Pleasance. A steady presence on film. He does a good job, but he looks physically exhausted and old. The rest of the cast is very adequate with particular attention going to Edwidge Fenech as York's girlfriend. A beautiful woman! A tense thriller!