My Dear Killer (1972)

A mysterious decapitation leads Inspector Peretti into a case of blackmail, deceit and the unsolved kidnapping of a young girl.

Director:

Tonino Valerii

Writers:

Roberto Leoni (screenplay), Franco Bucceri (screenplay)

Stars:

George Hilton, Salvo Randone, William Berger

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Hilton	...	Inspector Luca Peretti
Salvo Randone	...	Chief Marò
William Berger	...	Giorgio Canavese
Marilù Tolo	...	Dr. Anna Borgese
Manuel Zarzo	...	Brigadier Bozzi (as Manolo Zarzo)
Patty Shepard	...	Paola Rossi, the teacher
Piero Lulli	...	Alessandro Moroni
Helga Liné	...	Mrs. Paradisi
Tullio Valli	...	Oliviero Moroni
Dante Maggio	...	Mattia Guardapelle
Dana Ghia	...	Eleonora Moroni
Alfredo Mayo	...	Beniamino
Mónica Randall	...	Carla Moroni
Corrado Gaipa	...	Head of Insurance Company
Lara Wendel	...	Stefania Moroni (as Daniela Rachele Barnes)

Storyline

Following a mysterious decapitation (via mechanical digger) of an insurance investigator, Police Inspector Peretti is put onto the case. Slowly more people are found dead... a man supposedly commits suicide, a women is strangled, another attacked in her flat... but all the clues lead to an unsolved case of kidnapping and murder. Can Peretti find the murderer, if his major clue is a little girls drawing???

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Plot Keywords:

bare breasts | kidnapping | police | black gloved killer | subjective camera | 

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Jose Gutierrez Maesso is credited as a screenwriter on the film, but did not actually contribute to the script.

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Alternate Versions

The 1998 UK Redemption video was cut by 4 secs by the BBFC to remove a brief shot of a young naked girl at an art studio. The 2008 Shameless DVD features shorter film credits though the film is fully uncut and contains around 12 secs of additional gory violence.

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Connections

Referenced in Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1 (2008)

User Reviews

A decent enough entry in the Giallo genre

"My Dear Killer" is another fun and decent entry in the Italian Giallo thrillers genre and begins interestingly enough with a man standing at a eerie lake and then meets his end with a gloriously twisted tractor accident/murder, and straight away lets the viewer know what's in store for the rest of the movie.

The plot is very interesting for starters as we get the main character a detective trying to solve this crime, which then leads him to a kidnapping case from before where the child and father were both murdered. Then along the way of course everybody who was involved meets some sort of sticky end, which was another aspect that excited and interested me, especially the girl who gets attacked with a buzzsaw, which was both terrifying and well done.

Okay there are some bad points, like for starters the pacing was rather slow at times and some of the characters didn't quite stand out, I couldn't tell some of them apart and there weren't enough colourful characters to fully ingage in. But what saves things are the delightful twists and turns round every corner, and especially loved the scene at the end where the detective gathers round the last remaining suspects in a Agatha Christie kinda way, about the reveal the identity of the killer, which was delightful, especially when the lights go out and then someone screams.

All in all a fairly entertaining addition to the Giallo genre, but not one of the best ones though, but still decent enough.

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

3 February 1972 (Italy)

Also Known As:

My Dear Killer

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l., Kramot Cinematografica, Tecisa

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1