In 1972, at the height of the giallo craze, director Silvio Amadio (Assassination in Home) helmed two entries into the genre in rapid succession, both characterized by their emphasis on sexual decadence and convoluted, conspiracy-heavy plotting, which reached their apex with the second film - the deliciously degenerate Smile Before Death. After spending years away at boarding school, teenager Nancy (Jenny Tamburi, The Suspicious Death of a Minor] returns home to reconcile with her estranged mother, only to learn that she recently died in an apparent suicide. Nancy quickly suspects her cash-strapped stepfather Marco (Silvano Tranquilli, The Bloodstained Butterfly and his mistress Gianna (Rosalba Neri, The French Sex Murders) of having murdered the wealthy matriarch, but the truth is even more shocking, and all three soon find themselves embroiled in a complex web of double and triple crosses in which nothing - and nobody -are quite what they seem. Familicide with a sprinkling of Oedipal love is the order of the day in this prime example of the giallo at its most depraved, featuring an infectious, Lolita-esque title theme.
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