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The
Case of the Bloody Iris
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Italy
/ 1972
Directed by Anthony Ascott
Starring
Edwige Fenech
George Hilton
Paola Quattrini
Color / 94 Minutes / Not Rated
Format: DVD (R0 - NTSC)
Anchor Bay Entertainment
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Music
from the film
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Main
Title Theme
MP3 format - 5.0 MB
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2008
Blue Underground Edition
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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
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6
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5 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Fans
of European cult cinema rejoice! Anchor Bay has
just released a terrific DVD box set called The
Giallo Collection, showcasing four Italian
suspense films from the 1970s. If you're reading
this review you're probably already aware that
"giallo" (Italian for "yellow") is the term used
for a subgenre of kinky, often quite violent mystery
thrillers popularized by such directors as Mario
Bava and Dario Argento. But while Bava and Argento
may have been the acknowledged masters of the
giallo, they were by no means its only practitioners
a slew of such films were made in Italy during
the '60s and '70s. With this 4-disc box set, Anchor
Bay brings to North America some relatively obscure
titles that are excellent examples of the genre.
Eventually we plan to review each of these films
here in the pages of Eccentric Cinema. First up:
The Case of
the Bloody Iris
(1972), which was originally known by the unwieldy
title Perchι quelle strane gocce di sangue
sul corpo di Jennifer? ("What Are Those Strange
Drops of Blood Doing On Jennifer's Body?").
Sexy Edwige Fenech (All
the Colors of the Dark) plays Jennifer,
a British model working for a cheesecake photographer
in an unnamed Italian city. She and her ditzy
roommate Marilyn (Paola Quattrini), also a model,
get a lucky break when they're invited to move
into a more upscale flat. The opportunity comes
via Andrea Barto (George Hilton), the handsome
owner of the apartment building who's taken a
fancy to Jennifer. (Who wouldn't?) But she's troubled
when she learns the apartment is vacant only because
the former tenant, an erotic performance artist
(Torso's
Carla Brait), was murdered there. Tied down in
the bathtub, the victim was slowly drowned. And
this hasn't been the only recent killing. Another
woman was brutally stabbed to death in the building's
elevator, the body discovered by the very girl
who was later found drowned. Jennifer is understandably
uneasy about this. Making matters worse, the very
first night in their new digs she's awakened by
the presence of a masked intruder in the room.
The figure vanishes after giving her quite a fright.
Marilyn chalks the experience up to a bad dream.
Confused,
Jennifer can't really be sure that it wasn't
a dream... or the killer. Or Adam, her estranged
husband who's jealously stalking her. The leader
of a New Age sex cult, Adam ironically vows that
no other will ever possess her. (She left him
because she found all the orgies they participated
in "revolting.") He threatens both her and Barto
after he sees them together. One night, after
being attacked by the masked figure in her apartment,
the body of Adam
stabbed to death
is found stuffed in the closet. This would tend
to eliminate him as the killer. Then it comes
to light that Barto knew the dancer who was drowned,
a fact he didn't volunteer to the police. The
gruff inspector in charge of the case (Giampiero
Albertini) begins to zero in on him as the prime
suspect. But how can this be? Jennifer explains
to the cops that Andrea has an acute phobia concerning
blood. Someone so sickened by the sight of blood
couldn't possibly be a savage murderer... Could
he?
Featuring
a plenitude of red herrings, Case
of
the Bloody Iris
is a bizarre, stylish whodunit populated by a
host of oddball characters and suspects. With
the exception of Fenech's Jennifer, everyone
is an eccentric, if not downright weird. Roommate
Marilyn has a brain the size of a pea and likes
to make terribly inappropriate jokes about the
murders. There's the pinch-faced old lady, living
in the flat across the hall, who buys violent
horror comics. Another tenant is a flirtatious
lesbian who shares an apartment with her father,
a reclusive music professor who plays the violin
at all hours of the night. Jennifer's outrageously
fey employer, the photographer, is like a gay
Woody Allen crossed with Austin Powers. Even the
police inspector is a bit warped
he steals letters from victims and suspects (not
for clues, but for his stamp collection), and
derives vicarious kicks out of delving into their
(mostly kinky) sex lives. Part of the appeal of
this particular giallo is seeing how these various
odd characters
and their secrets
fit into the puzzle.
Though
some of the dubbed dialog is rather clunky (when
not unintentionally funny), the film is helped
immeasurably by the fine direction of "Anthony
Ascott"
alias Giuliano Carmineo, veteran helmer of many
spaghetti westerns. He builds suspense well, making
excellent use of the entire frame (a pan &
scanned version must look horrible), throwing
in the occasional off-kilter camera angle to keep
things lively. Also of benefit is Bruno Nicolai's
score, with its jaunty, oh-so-'70s main theme.
(It's days later now and the tune's still bouncing
around in my skull.) But it's the lovely Ms. Fenech
who'll doubtless strike the deepest chord with
most viewers. Dubbed here with an English voice,
the French-Tunisian beauty nonetheless gives a
capable performance
she's not just eye candy. That Fenech makes for
exceptionally fine eye candy doesn't hurt
the film in the slightest, of course...
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The
Case of
the
Bloody Iris
is available only as part of Anchor Bay's Giallo
Collection; the title is not sold separately
on DVD. The audio/visual elements used for the disc
are good, if not exceptional, considering the film's
relative obscurity. Colors in a few scenes look
a bit faded but the widescreen transfer is otherwise
commendable. The digital mono audio track is perfectly
serviceable even with a tiny amount of noticeable
background hiss; nothing too distracting. Given
the film's catchy score it would've been nice to
hear it in stereo, however.
Extras are regrettably slim. The trailer is
included, along with an "alternate" (shorter) stabbing
scene that actually works better than the murder
sequence in the movie. (Knifed in broad daylight
on a busy street, the victim staggers around for
a while as passing pedestrians curiously fail to
notice her stumbling and clutching a bloody wound.
The alternate cut of this scene speeds things up
and comes off a little more believable.) A short
filmography of the director and a reproduction of
the original Italian poster art on the Chapter Listing
insert card complete the package. Personally speaking,
a photo gallery of the exquisite Edwige Fenech would've
been most welcome!
By
itself, Anchor Bay's presentation of Case
of
the Bloody Iris
might have proven a slight disappointment. But,
packaged as it is with three other noteworthy gialli
(at a very reasonable price),
fans of the genre won't feel let down. 7/01/02 |
| UPDATE
On February 26, 2008 Blue Underground is reissuing
this OOP title in a stand-alone edition using the
identical transfer and extras. |
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