Your vice is a locked room & only I have the key
You just f******g know your in giallo territory with a title like this. Here we follow washed up writer Oliviero who spends more time beating his wife Irina and lusting after other women than he does writing new books. He seems to have hit a dry spot since getting married and now spends most of his time either womanising or drowning himself in the Italian whiskey of choice J&B. There's a bunch of 'Yoof' hanging round the estate with the happy couples blessing and a maid who they sensitively refer to as 'the negro' and variously other racist terms, just keep telling yourself it was the 70's. Someone is butchering ladies locally and Oliviero comes under suspicion as he was banging one of the victims. Things come to a head when the maid is butchered and Irena suspects Oliviero but he denies it. Irena, apparently out of fear, decides to go ahead with a plan of bricking her up in the wine cellar in order to avoid more police hassle. Ultimately the real killer is apparently caught and things go back to dysfunctional normality until Oliviero's niece
Floriana turns up and throws things into turmoil. first she starts by banging Irena then Oliviero, because f*****g your niece is never creepy (though it is Edwige Fenech!). Pretty soon the mind games between the three commence.
For me this is one of Sergio Martino's best Giallo's. As an adaptation of the Black cat it really works and manages to weave in a lot of the plot points from the story with a neat twist. The final twist in the tale is a little implausible but having watched many giallo before this isn't entirely unexpected. check out The editor a film that does a great job parodying the conventions of the giallo picture. Martion directs with great style and all the cast have a real chemistry with each other that really captivates. Arrows Transfer is lovely and tops even noshames with ease. a genuine classic given great treatment!
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