Tweet
Released by: Camera Obscura
Released on: 5/10/2010
Director: Roberto Bianchi Montero
Cast: Farley Granger, Sylva Koscina, Silvano Tranquilli, Krista Nell, Nieves Navarro, Luciano Rossi
Year: 1972
The Movie:
Better known as The Slasher Is A Sex Maniac or Perverse, Roberto Bianchi Montero's So Sweet, So Dead isn't the be all-end all of the Giallo genre but it's a slick and sleazy piece of work that provides plenty of exploitative thrills and flashy bloody kills.
The film revolves around a police inspector named Capuana (Farley Granger) who is investigating a series of murders occurring in his city. It seems that the killer has a grudge against woman of loose morality, or more specifically, he's slashing up married ladies who cheat on their husbands. He seems to be operating in fairly high class social circles, taking out wealthy victims, and when he's done with them he leaves photographs of his victims showing their cheating ways scattered around the crime scene.
The killer disguises his or her face with a stocking and sports a black overcoat, black gloves and a black fedora (and was obviously taken straight out of Bava's Blood And Black Lace) making it impossible to figure out who could be hiding underneath. For fear of incurring social stigma, Capuana's superiors forbid him from questioning the husbands of the victims, which will make it tricky to figure out who is behind all of this, especially when the press is having a field day with the murders, but a few witnesses might be able to help him catch the killer before the bodies pile up even higher.
Despite the conservative/moralist leanings of the killer, this film portrays the husbands as being just as bad as the wives, which in a manner of speaking twists that morality around and turns it into a fairly misogynist leaning. Throw in loads of gratuitous violence courtesy of such beloved Euro-Cult actresses as Nieves Navarro, Sylva Koscina, and Krista Nell and you're left with a film that isn't exactly kind to the ladies. In fact, the film has a lot in common, both stylistically and thematically, with Strip Nude For Your Killer (a film that was, ironically enough, that was directed by Roberto Bianchi Montero's son, Andrea Bianchi).
But let's not over think the film. On a visual level, the movie plays around fairly effectively with some nice visuals. There's some orange tinting evident in a few scenes that gives those moments a strange vibe and while the film never goes as color crazy as Argento and Bava's more famous work, it's certainly well shot, well lit and nice to look at. The female cast, who spend much time in various states of undress, are always photographed quite lovingly and are even fetishized in spots, and there's an obligatory appearance by the omnipotent J&B bottle in the last half of the film sure to please those of us who obsess over such minutia. If the film is a blatant rip off of Bava's genre defining classic in more ways than one, so be it, it's still quite entertaining.
Seeing Hitchcock regular Farley Granger in the lead role of a film like this is interesting. He made a name for himself working with the Master Of Suspense on Rope and Strangers On A Train before doing a lot of TV and, as his career dwindled a bit, moving to Italy where he appeared in a western or two and a few Giallos. This is probably the most notorious of the Italian genre films he worked on, or at least the best known, thanks to the not insignificant amounts of sex and gore tossed into the storyline.
Note: An alternate version of this film was created under the title Perverse in which hardcore inserts featuring the likes of Harry Reems, Marc Stevens and Tina Russell were spliced into the film, supposedly by Andy Milligan co-conspirator, Lew Mishkin. This was done without Montero's involvement and those scenes are not included on this release.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is fantastic though it should be noted that in order to present the film in its uncut form there are some shots spliced into the sex scene that occurs around the thirty-five minute mark that are from a lesser quality source. Those inserts aside, however, Camera Obscura has left little room for complaint. Colors are very well defined and the plentiful skin on display always looks nice and natural with accurate looking flesh tones that are never too pink. Compression artifacts are a non-issue and aside from the aforementioned insert shots used in the one scene, there's virtually no print damage to speak of.
Dolby Digital Mono tracks are provided in Italian and German with optional subtitles available in English and German. As far as older Mono tracks go, these are both fine. The dialogue is well balanced and clear and the levels are properly set to ensure that the score and sound effects never drown out the performers. A few spots sound a bit flat but that's like got more to do with the way that the sound was recorded than the actual disc itself. No problems here!
First up is a commentary track with film critics Christian KeíŸler and Marcus Stiglegger. The commentary is conducted in German but includes optional English subtitles. This is a pretty enjoyable discussion that notes influences on the film (Bava comes into play a lot here, both Blood And Black Lace and Twitch Of The Death Nerve are rightfully noted) and discusses the various players involved in the picture. Roberto Bianchi Montero's career is discussed in a fair bit of detail and some interesting comments are made as to the morality of the film's storyline and it's fairly right wing slant. They also discuss how the film borrows elements from the police films that were popular at the time, talk about the XXX variant of the film, and provide some interesting biographical information about the cast and crew.
Also included is a twenty minute Interview With Composer Giorgio Gaslini. This career spanning interview, which puts the amiable Gaslini in front of his fancy white piano, is conducted in Italian but includes English and German subtitles. Gaslini speaks about his work on this picture as well as some of the other films that he provided scores for and does an interesting job recalling the time he spend in the heyday of Italian genre cinema.
Rounding out the extras is a still gallery of one sheets and lobby cards, the very cool inclusion of the Photo Novella adaptation of the movie (with English subtitles), some very stylish menus (available in German or English), and chapter selection. Inside the classy slipcase packaging is a nice color insert booklet containing an essay on the film from KeíŸler that is printed in both English and German.
The Final Word:
Giallo fans should consider this a must own - from the transfer to the extras, it's obvious that Camera Obscura has put a lot of effort into this release and it shows. The film itself may not be in the upper echelon of what the genre has to offer, but it's trashy and plenty entertaining and this is, all in all, a very strong release.