A beautifully photographed Venice provides a stunning and misty backdrop for this solid giallo. By 1978, I would have thought this particular strand of cinema would have vanished – but it is good to see the appetite for Italian horror/thrillers remains, even if it isn’t as prolific as it was in the early 1970s.
It is interesting to note that by this time, the male hero (Stefano, played by Lino Capolicchio) is not as meticulously coiffured as earlier in the decade, an is also a good deal more gallant and less blatantly chauvinistic towards the still glamorous heroine (Sandra, played by Stefania Casini).
Other than that, things have changed very little – it would hardly be a giallo if they had. We are still quickly headed knee-deep into a fairly convoluted storyline involving intrigue, graphic murder (the opening scene involves an unfortunate female throwing her mane of hair about as she is throttled in slo-mo) and a chorus line of suspects.
One for fans of giallo rather than for someone dipping their toe into the genre for the first time: this 119 minute runaround is rather too long for my tastes.