Death Smiles on a Murderer

Original title: La morte ha sorriso all'assassino

19731973
Not RatedNot Rated
1h 28min

La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Greta, a mysterious woman with amnesia, is taken in by the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. von Ravensbruck. The three soon enter into a love triangle that turns deadly, as Greta's gruesome past is slow... Read allGreta, a mysterious woman with amnesia, is taken in by the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. von Ravensbruck. The three soon enter into a love triangle that turns deadly, as Greta's gruesome past is slowly revealed.Greta, a mysterious woman with amnesia, is taken in by the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. von Ravensbruck. The three soon enter into a love triangle that turns deadly, as Greta's gruesome past is slowly revealed.

5.8/10

1.3K

Director
- Joe D'Amato
Writers
- Claudio Bernabei(screenplay)
- Joe D'Amato(screenplay)
- Romano Scandariato(screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

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Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel (1967)

Klaus Kinski, Ewa Aulin, and Luciano Rossi in La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Ewa Aulin in La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Luciano Rossi in La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Angela Bo in La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Ewa Aulin and Angela Bo in La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Klaus Kinski in La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Ewa Aulin and Luciano Rossi in La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (1973)

Director
- Joe D'Amato
Writers
- Claudio Bernabei(screenplay)
- Joe D'Amato(screenplay) (story)
- Romano Scandariato(screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

A young woman, Greta, loses her memory following an accident with a carriage and finds hospitality at the villa of two wealthy landowners Eva and Walter von Ravensbruck. The two welcome the girl with great hospitality--far too much--and she ends up in bed with the husband first, and then with the wife. Even Dr. Sturges, who pays her first visit, is interested in her and, above all, he is interested in the amulet that she wears around her neck. In fact, he is carrying out mysterious experiments to bring the dead back to life through ancient formulas attributed to the Incas and that amulet is very familiar to him. Things get complicated when Eva discovers Greta's affair with her husband and, in a raptus of jealousy, Eva kills her by entombing her alive. But a month later, during a masquerade party, Greta mysteriously reappears with a decayed face and begins to persecute Eva, pushing her to suicide - and the deaths will not end here.

reanimation gothic horror psychotronic film jealousy mysterious woman 168 more

Trivia
The guts used in the film was actually veal intestine.

Connections
Featured in Joe D'Amato Totally Uncut: The Horror Experience (2001)

Top review

7/10

Classier than most D'Amato trash

Death Smiles on a Murderer is not your average Joe D'Amato film. The prolific Italian director made a name for himself by directing cheap, trashy productions; and while this film isn't exactly "high quality" (in the usual sense of the word), it's certainly a lot classier than your average D'Amato sleaze. The film mixes Gothic horror, zombies and Giallo elements into a cocktail of the popular genres of the early seventies. As you might expect considering the heavy fusing of multiple genres, the film isn't always coherent; and despite the fact that it could be considered a classy film, D'Amato has still seen fit to insert some trashy gore sequences. The result is a mixed bag. The somewhat confusing plot focuses on a young woman called Greta. She is involved in a coach accident which leaves the driver dead after he is impaled. Greta is then taken in by a couple who seem to become strangely fascinated by her. Around the same time, there's also a doctor working on a formula to bring the dead back to life, and this somehow connects through flashbacks...

The setting and atmosphere are the key element of the film. Death Smiles on a Murderer is very well photographed and every frame in the film is great to look at. This serves the film well as it ensures that it remains interesting even when the plot starts to dry up. The plot itself takes influence from a range of sources, but most recognisably the great Edgar Allen Poe with several themes from the highly influential "The Black Cat". The head of the cast list is Klaus Kinski - but unfortunately, he doesn't appear in the film for long at all and he isn't given much to do with the screen time he does get, which is a shame. The leading ladies are Ewa Aulin and Angela Bo, and while neither of them stand out for their acting; they both look nice. The special effects don't really suit the film and Joe D'Amato probably would have been better advised to cut down on the bloodshed - but I can't complain too much because the gore does make the film more fun. Overall, I can't say I was overly impressed with Death Smiles on a Murderer - it looks nice and has its moments, but it's not put together well enough to be one of the great Italian horror films.

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