Another early giallo from Lucio Fulci, and I admit that I enjoyed this a lot more than his muddled A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN at first. Gorgeous scenery of the Italian countryside and a tight plot weaving in and out of about a hundred different subplots and strands help to keep this one intriguing throughout. The identity of the murderer is kept hidden well and the final revelation comes as both a shock and a surprise.
Due to the longer-than-average running time and the complicity of the plot, this film feels like an epic. At first, it seems rather muddled and confusing, we are unsure of what we are watching, until all the pieces of the jigsaw begin to fall into place. Suspense builds as the hunt for the real murderer progresses and things finally erupt in an exciting clifftop battle between the heroes and the villain over the life of a mute child.
Sometimes the film threatens to give you a headache as Fulci is never content to keep this camera still, instead weaving it in and out of his actors and actresses constantly. This makes some shots look very nice and artistically composed, others jolting and difficult to watch (especially some of the scenes where people are running through the woods - I thought I was watching THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT at one such point!).
Fulci's later penchant for nonstop carnage and over the top gore is foreshadowed here in a couple of graphic moments. In one of these, an innocent woman is chain-whipped to death by frightened villagers, which prefigures the later chain-whipping of the warlock in THE BEYOND (in fact, it's filmed in EXACTLY the same way). Fulci zooms in as blood spills from the jagged wounds on the woman's body in this moment of sadistic glory which is quite shocking to watch. The other excessive scene comes at the end of the film, when the killer falls to their death over the cliff. In a normal movie, you would see the killer fall and then cut away. Not so with Fulci. Every time there's a rocky outcrop on the cliff, the killer gets their face mashed up. Again and again. All while a crooning song plays over the action. Art or lurid exploitation? You decide.
The script is a literate one, with just about every character in the film falling under suspicion at some point. The actors and actresses do their jobs well, especially the child actors who are surprisingly good in their parts. Barbara Bouchet is around to lend some much-needed glamour; the first shot we see of her has the actress sitting naked on a chair. Yes, this is indeed an adult film tackling many controversial issues; neither politics nor religion are safe from Fulci. In all, this is a well-shot and tense murder mystery, which makes use of some beautiful locations and a good cast.
Due to the longer-than-average running time and the complicity of the plot, this film feels like an epic. At first, it seems rather muddled and confusing, we are unsure of what we are watching, until all the pieces of the jigsaw begin to fall into place. Suspense builds as the hunt for the real murderer progresses and things finally erupt in an exciting clifftop battle between the heroes and the villain over the life of a mute child.
Sometimes the film threatens to give you a headache as Fulci is never content to keep this camera still, instead weaving it in and out of his actors and actresses constantly. This makes some shots look very nice and artistically composed, others jolting and difficult to watch (especially some of the scenes where people are running through the woods - I thought I was watching THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT at one such point!).
Fulci's later penchant for nonstop carnage and over the top gore is foreshadowed here in a couple of graphic moments. In one of these, an innocent woman is chain-whipped to death by frightened villagers, which prefigures the later chain-whipping of the warlock in THE BEYOND (in fact, it's filmed in EXACTLY the same way). Fulci zooms in as blood spills from the jagged wounds on the woman's body in this moment of sadistic glory which is quite shocking to watch. The other excessive scene comes at the end of the film, when the killer falls to their death over the cliff. In a normal movie, you would see the killer fall and then cut away. Not so with Fulci. Every time there's a rocky outcrop on the cliff, the killer gets their face mashed up. Again and again. All while a crooning song plays over the action. Art or lurid exploitation? You decide.
The script is a literate one, with just about every character in the film falling under suspicion at some point. The actors and actresses do their jobs well, especially the child actors who are surprisingly good in their parts. Barbara Bouchet is around to lend some much-needed glamour; the first shot we see of her has the actress sitting naked on a chair. Yes, this is indeed an adult film tackling many controversial issues; neither politics nor religion are safe from Fulci. In all, this is a well-shot and tense murder mystery, which makes use of some beautiful locations and a good cast.