The Lickerish Quartet (1970)

Director: Radley Metzger

Right out of the gate, I crap all over the premise of this decade marathon by watching a film that only counts as Italian in the most technical way possible in that it’s a US/Italy/Germany co-production. Noted adult film director Metzger adapts this psychosexual tawdy tale with a lot of style but with an air of pretentiousness that can get distracting. It has some very nice visual setpieces like the writhing in ecstasy on a dictionary peppered with sexually charged vocabulary. Plotwise it feels a little slight though, but I’d imagine fans of Metzger will find much to like here.

 The Devil’s Nightmare (1971)

Director: Jean Brismée

I quite enjoyed this kooky, garish Belgian/Italian gothic horror piece about a sleeper cell succubus and the seven deadly sins that she torments. Erika Blanc is ravishing, displaying her…ample talents… with aplomb, and the ending had me cackling with glee. It doesn’t always make sense but when the camerawork is this nice and the plot is consistently engaging and offbeat, it doesn’t matter.

Knife of Ice (1972)

a.k.a. Il coltello di ghiaccio

Director: Umberto Lenzi

This was a solid low-key giallo from Lenzi featuring the lovely Carroll Baker channeling Sandra Dee as a deaf woman being tormented by a murderous stalker. It has some nice shadowy cinematography at times and while it does drag in places, it also has some nice suspense set pieces as well with a twist ending that generally makes sense even when it doesn’t.

The Counsellor (1973)

a.k.a. Il consigliori

Director: Alberto De Martino

Man, this one seems to shamelessly rip off The Godfather with Martin Balsam in the Martin Brando role and Tomas Milan as the consigliori in the title. Still, this gritty crime thriller lacks the inflated sense of self-importance that The Godfather imposes on itself which does make it more unabashedly fun than the much more well-known Coppola picture. Martino’s less grandiose style gives it more of a sense of immediacy that hearkens to the neo-realist cinema of early ’70s Hollywood like The French Connection and Coppola’s more stripped down The Conversation (although Martino is definitely not as polished a director as Coppola or Friedkin).

The Hand That Feeds The Dead (1974)

a.k.a. La mano che nutre la morte

Director: Sergio Garrone

his one is a kind of low-rent gothic horror version of Eyes Without A Face starring Kinski as the doctor who kills to fix his wife’s face which was left scarred in a horrible accident that took her father’s life. Despite a premise with potential, the presence of Kinski, smashing attire and some squirmy but still cheesy skin peeling scenes, this movie was pretty dull. How? I guess only Sergio Garrone (director of SS Experiment Love Camp and Django the Bastard) could explain how he wasted so much potential.

The Police Are Blundering in the Dark (1975)

a.k.a. La polizia brancola nel buio

Director: Helia Colombo

 guy investigating a series of murders and a missing friend meets up with a weirdo in a wheelchair that may or may not have something to do with the murders. And geez, this is an oddball movie. While it is slow in places, it has such an offbeat tone with bizarre non-sequitor scenes and weird plot devices that I was pretty engaged. When a movie uses a mad photographer who has a contraption that can take photos of the inside of people’s minds as a casual side plot, you’re in for something good. I know some are disappointed by its lack of gore and actual sex but it does feature copious amounts of nudity, much of the time for no reason like a woman stripping down to her underwear to eat a pastrami sandwich. Why? Who cares? I dug it. Sadly this was the one and only film made by director Colombo which is unfortunate. I feel like we have been robbed of other batty, off-the-wall gialli that he would’ve inevitably made.

Plot of Fear (1976)

a.k.a. E tanta paura

Director: Paolo Cavara

So the setup here is pretty standard giallo with folks gettin’ murdered and a children’s book being left at the scene of the crime as a clue to the killer’s motive. Plot of Fear differs from the standard giallo though by incorporating elements of the Italian political thriller which was also popular in the ’70s, building up the mystery into a broader conspiracy that gives it a different feel than many gialli I’ve seen. It’s hard to say if this one is actively good on its own or if it just seems pretty good because it’s trying something different though.

Stunt Squad (1977)

a.k.a. La polizia è sconfitta

Director: Domenico Paolella

If you expected a poliziotteschi called Stunt Squad to have good action sequences, you would be correct. The plot isn’t super-deep with basically a special police task force on motorcycles put together to combat rampant gang violence. It keeps a brisk pace though and features a good main villain too with Roberto Curti saying in his comprehensive poliziotteschi book Italia odia: il cinema poliziesco italiano that he was “perhaps the most gruesome and ruthless villain of the Italian crime cinema”. From what I’ve seen I’d probably agree. The dude does not mess around.

Red Rings of Fear (1977)

a.k.a. Enigma rosso

Director: Alberto Negrin

Three teenagers calling themselves the Inseparables are at the center of a murder investigation of another teen girl. Maybe it was the poor quality VHS transfer on the DVD I have of this (released by Full Moon under the name Trauma) but frankly I thought this was pretty dull and poorly directed for a lot of it. It’s very heavy on the procedural element, the nadir of the giallo, and just feels very flat and uninspired with a needlessly convoluted script and an out-of-nowhere random ending. Still I guess if you just want to see some boobs and blood, it does have a little of both.

Malabimba (1979)

Director: Andrea Bianchi

Uh hm…. Well, this one definitely doesn’t hold back. Capitalizing off the post-Exorcist demon possession boom in Italy in the mid to late 70s, Malabimba features a nubile, virginal youth possessed by a demon which drives her to more and more obscene sexual acts of debasement. Extremely sleazy and X-rated, you pretty much know what you’re getting into from the director of Strip Nude for Your Killer and Burial Ground. Subtlety is not a word generally associated with Andrea Bianchi. Also like many Italian genre films of the ’70s, this one has a suitably batty ending that leaves you feeling confused and vaguely pleased for some reason.