DEATH SMILES ON A MURDERER

released OUT NOW! 1973 | 18 | Blu-ray

Director Joe d’amato Cast ewa aulin, Giacomo rossi-stuart

Italian hack Joe D’Amato (aka Aristide Massaccesi) this first horror credit is classy – no rape with a bottle or foetus-eating!

Blending period gothic and giallo mystery, it weaves a baffling, dream-like tale about Greta, a dead girl resurrected via an Incan medallion who’s then buried alive, only to return as a vengeful spirit. Sadly, the story’s so incompetently told that you may struggle to piece together much beyond these bare bones without googling.

Berto Pisano’s score, with its music box melodies and swoony female wailing, is rather lovely, and the visuals frequently impress as, say, Scandinavian beauty Ewa Aulin glides about a mansion. Then Massaccesi will kill the mood with a cat ripping a bloke’s eyeballs out in close-up, and you’re reminded that this is the man behind sleazy video nasty Antropophagus. An intermittently eerie muddle.

Extras Horror expert Tim Lucas provides commentary. Star Ewa Aulin discusses her career (43 minutes); there’s also a six-minute snippet of the director. A “video essay” (22 minutes) runs through D’Amato’s “daring” filmography. “You’ve got to admire his spirit,” its writer says, after detailing castration and animal cruelty in Porno Holocaust. Hmm. Plus: Italian/English option, trailers, gallery, booklet. Ian Berriman