Death Smiles On A Murderer [Blu-ray]

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Then the film moves three years later (though you can only note that time gap if paying attention whilst Klaus Kinski's doctor is looking at the amulet Greta is wearing which has her name and 1906 on it, with him saying that it was three years ago) with a girl looking similar to the dead girl in the opening getting involved in a carriage accident outside the home of Walter and Eva. She is left with amnesia and after Klaus Kinski's putative doctor puts a pin directly into her eyeball without providing the courtesy of taking it out again to test her reaction to pain (?!?), and finds out her name is Greta she stays with the family for a while. Though the maid immediately quits (and has her own, never explained, visions of Franz) and gets shotgunned in the face as she tries to escape through the woods. What could have been a tawdry piece of European horror/thriller cinema is instead fighting hard to be seen as a work of art. Death Smiles on a Murderer may not be on most genre fans’ radars, but it’s certainly one of the more interesting films that its director ever made. Arrow Video’s Blu-ray release of it is certainly a major step up above all others before it, offering an excellent A/V presentation and quality bonus materials.

Joe D’Amato (Aristide Massaccesi) directed the film in 1973 outside of his normal horror/pornographic wheelhouse, casting Swedish actress Ewa Aulin, as well as a small role inhabited by Klaus Kinski, who was clearly added for box office value as his scenes ultimately don’t have much bearing on the plot. Nothing about the film is as it seems. It’s a kaleidoscope of images and ideas that don’t exactly meld, but are fascinating nonetheless. It also features one of the oddest and out of left field endings of recent memory.

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This girl is, of course, Greta. Is she alive? Is she dead? What is clear is that she came like an angel of death. Her arrival will unleash a death carnival.

With five words I describe the overall plot, the scene writing, the acting, the sequencing, love scenes, violent scenes, special effects, music, and all else and everything in between. The halfway mark rolls around and whatever advancement there has been in the narrative up to that point has been not just minimal in the first place, but further feels flat, hollow, and flimsy in light of the film's craft from all angles. Before Joe D’Amato became Joe D’Amato, he was Aristide Massaccesi, a respected cinematographer and camera operator. As such, he was largely responsible for the look of films ranging from low-budget spaghetti westerns to gialli such as Umberto Lenzi’s A Quite Place to Kill and, most famously, Massimo Dallamano’s What Have You Done to Solange. Massaccesi first co-directed several small films before directing the war film Heroes in Hell as well as the giallo Death Smiles on a Murderer, both in 1973. After Eva's funeral, Herbert stays behind to visit Greta's grave. Greta comes up from behind and reminds him of their baby's prenatal death. When she asks for a kiss, her face again suddenly turns rotten. Herbert, terrified, attempts to escape. He seeks refuge inside a crypt. When the door suddenly shuts tight, Eva's freshly laid corpse slowly gets up and walks towards him. D'Amato Smiles on Death (5:57, HD/SD) – An archival interview with D'Amato recorded in 1998 as part of the documentary Joe D'Amato: Totally Uncut (directed by Roger A. Fratter, 1999) in which the normally incredibly modest director discusses his affection for Death Smiles on a Murderer.

A police inspector wonders if he'll ever add up the case, as he finds the corpse of Greta's brother near her empty grave. She's gone and he wonders what ever happened to her. The person he has been telling the story to? Greta. Meanwhile, Doctor Sturges is working in his underground laboratory. The medallion's symbols contain a formula for the creation of life. Just as Sturges succeeds in bringing one of his corpses to life, he is strangled by an unseen assailant, who also kills the corpse and the doctor's deaf lab assistant. Walter, the son of the doctor who done her wrong, and Eve, his wife, take her in after an accident outside their home. They both fall in love with her, which gives D'Amoto license to shoot long lovemaking scenes. You may know him on one hand for his horror films, like Beyond the Darkness, Ator, Antropophagus, Frankenstein 2000 and Absurd. But you may also know him for his adult films like Porno Holocaust and the Rocco Siffredi vehicle Tarzan X - Shame of Jane. Here, he combines his love of the female form with his eye for murder and insanity. There are some fantastic shots in this late section of the film that feature 'in camera' time transitions. One is at the end of the manservant being killed in the grain silo as we get a shot of him falling onto the (fantastically artfully pre-composed) blood pool and then in the same shot pan up to see the police inspector standing there. The other is after the brother is clawed to death and we get a shot of Greta pulling her hood up and smilingly walking out of the tomb, before the police inspector walks into the now cobwebbed three years later tomb to see the dessicated corpse of the brother lying there. Perhaps this is a different spin on a technique used with some of the shots earlier in the film which Tim Lucas in his commentary notes start off as seemingly objective and the become subjective (and I love the way that Lucas notes that second transition from the tomb past to present "spans the timeframe of the entire film in a single movement"). It is an interesting technique and one that interestingly had a bit of a resurgence recently with the parallel action, past and present action, pristine past versus cobwebby grimy present time period swapping going on throughout the Saw series! Commentary with Tim Lucas – The Video Watchdog editor and author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark (2007, Video Watchdog) does typically good work on this solo commentary. He comes well-prepped with extensive factoids about the cast, crew, context, and production, as well as plenty of his own critical slant on the subject matter.

Death Smiles on a Murderer was released in Italy on 11 July 1973. [1] Film historian Roberto Curti referred to this box office as "scarce business" noting its unimportant distributor Florida Cinematografica. [1] [9] In Italy, the film grossed a total of 70,990,000 Italian lire. [1] It was released in the United States as Death Smiles on a Murderer and Death Smiles at Murder. [1] The production of Death Smiles on a Murderer is top notch and the Arrow Video release looks stunning. The film is filled with atmosphere, due in no small part to beautiful costumes and set pieces. The movie takes place at the start of the 20th century and everything captures the essence of the period. The movie does not just rely on visual cues as seemingly innocuous moments are indicative of the time. Italian horror movies are known for their excellent use of color; director Joe D’Amato instead decides to use historical accuracy and succeeds in setting the mood for the movie. A haunting and dreamlike gothic horror/giallo hybrid, Death Smiles on a Murderer is a compelling early work from the legendary sleaze and horror film director Joe D Amato (Anthropophagus, Emanuelle in America), here billed under his real name Aristide Massaccesi.

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Walter lies in his bed, falling asleep. The dark cat enters his room, and Walter suddenly notices Greta sitting near his bedside. As she crawls into bed and starts kissing him, her face turns rotten. A man discovers an ancient Incan formula for raising the dead, and uses it for a series of revenge murders. A very interesting Italian horror indeed which may baffle but which will certainly not bore, along with some fine special features – the Doc has to recommend this release from Arrow Video to all lovers of the bizarre and the creepy! In some ways Massaccesi was making zombie films long before his more celebrated entries, and it is interesting to see Greta as somewhat of a forebear of George Eastman's almost immortal monster in Absurd, both created in obscure ways and then unleashed on the countryside to wreak havoc! And in both films it is kind of unclear as to what the killers get out of their actions except in a way simply to fulfil the needs of the film for spectacular death scenes! Even Greta's seemingly understandable quest for revenge is complicated by encompassing so many other tangentially related victims, such that it seems out of control and rather broad in scope, and maybe prepares us for the brother's actions unleashing this but finding his creation bearing its own grudge against him (so in a way the incestuous brother here is like the rather ineffectual priest in Absurd, feeling a responsibility to chase after the monster after apparently having created it, but unable to do anything more than arrive at the scenes of the crime too late to be of any use. Though Edmond Purdom's priest in Absurd is just as much a version of Donald Pleasance's, again mostly ineffectual, character from Halloween).

This movie seems interesting on paper: it's directed by the infamous Aristide Massacessi (aka Joe D'Amato) and it features overly intense German actor Klaus Kinski and Swedish nymphet Ewe "Candy" Aulin. But fans may find D'Amato being a little too classy, Kinski being a little too subdued, and Aulin being a little too dressed. This movie is a latter-day Italian Gothic but it was made at a time when those films, which had been big in the 60's, were in decline and the more delirious Italian gialli were ascendant. This film is a strange hybrid of the two--it has the period trappings of a Gothic horror but makes even less sense than your average giallo. I don't understand. None of this makes any sense!', exclaims one exasperated character towards the end of Death Smiles at Murder. Having just sat through this thoroughly confusing mess of a movie, I know exactly how he feels. The story, by the film's director Aristide Massacessi (good old Joe D'amato using his real name for a change), is a clumsy mix of the supernatural, murder/mystery, and pretentious arty rubbish, the likes of which will probably appeal to those who admire trippy 70s garbage such as Jess Franco's more bizarre efforts, but which had me struggling to remain conscious. Smiling on the Taboo: Sex, Death and Transgression in the horror films of Joe D Amato, new video essay by critic Kat Ellinger Ewa Aulin as Greta is really perfect for the role of the strange girl who continues to suffer ill fate even after her death. Aulin has a unique look—pretty, but not the classic beauty of an Barbara Bouchet or an Edwige Fenech. It’s a strange look, perfectly suited to this strange character. Luciano Rossi also has a strange look. Indeed, it is so strange as to stretch one’s imagination that he would be able to carry on a love affair with a pretty girl, sister or not. Then there is the ancient Incan ritual, completed by the use of an amulet to raise Greta from the dead. But Klaus Kinski, as Dr. Sturges, who looks after Greta until her death, discovers an alternate method via mysterious chemical concoction, as opposed to needing the mystical amulet.

Storyline

This is definitely more of a supernatural gothic horror than a giallo, in as much as it is a supernatural gothic horror film which happens to feature two kills early on in which we cannot see the killer's face. But, it's usually listed as part of the giallo cannon, so here we go. Questions, questions, questions – you’ll be filled with them throughout this film and even by the time it finishes if you’re not paying attention. Even if you’re able to put the pieces together – and that’s not too easy to do because its story is told in a sometimes non-linear, even obtuse fashion – you my still ask yourself “how”? and “why”? with regard to a few details. One of several Italian Gothics made during the early 1970’s that brought in elements of the giallo to try to revive a declining-in-popularity form [I reviewed Arrow Video’s release of The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave a while ago], Death Smiles On A Murderer is a decidedly arty venture, rich in dreamlike atmosphere, unusual editing and stylised camerawork, which for me makes it something of a surprise that the person credited with directing and co-writing this film is Joe D’Amato. D’ Amato is probably best known for the ‘video nasties’ The Anthropophagus Beast and Absurd, though I have fonder memories of sitting through his soft porn Eleven Days Eleven Nights trilogy as a teenager [so what, I was privileged to be able to hire out anything I wanted from my local video shop, they just didn’t seem to care]- again – and again – but enough about that. He’s more known as a sleaze merchant than a good filmmaker, but Death Smiles On A Murderer may surprise you with its quality and certainly with its artistic inclinations. It certainly surprised me and may have caused me to re-evaluate this director whom I’d previously placed scarcely higher than Jess Franco. Maybe Arrow or a similar distributor will bring out some more of his work? But in the meantime the very curious, if occasionally frustrating, Death Smiles On A Murderer certainly has a great deal to interest the viewer. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. ( August 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) There is a modicum of more meaningful story development in the second half, perhaps. But by that point we've endured entirely too much tedium to feel compensated for our patience by anything but the greatest of payoffs, and that just doesn't happen. And still the same flaws persist, testing our fortitude.