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! 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.

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.The film looks and sounds great, thanks to a 2K restoration from the original camera negative. The Blu-Ray comes with a great deal of extras which are quite entertaining themselves and include a video essay by Kat Ellinger entitled “Sex, Death, and Transgression in the Horror Films of Joe D’Amato,” a new, career-spanning interview with star Ewa Aulin, an archival interview about the film with D’Amato himself, and a very interesting audio commentary by the always-thorough Tim Lucas. The features are rounded out by a stills gallery and a couple of film trailers, and the first pressing comes with a booklet with new writing on the film by critic Stephen Thrower and film historian Roberto Curti.

And then we are left with nobody really except the police inspector who is left forlornly trying to figure out why all these people were killed and finding nothing but a missing brother of a missing girl who was exploring 'Incan reincarnation rituals'. So the brother must be behind this, right? Yes and no, since in the best final twist the brother did resurrect Greta to do his bidding and murder the man who seduced her (and presumably his whole family line too), but Greta was still apparently bearing a grudge for that whole 'incestuous rape' thing that passed by with only the briefest of comment at the very opening of the film, and turns into a cat to spend a minute or so clawing his face and eyeballs out in graphic detail, before smilingly walking off. Smiling on the Taboo: Sex, Death and Transgression in the horror films of Joe D Amato, new video essay by critic Kat Ellinger Joe D'Amato gets a hard time for being a trashy director due to those porn films he made, but he often delved into other genres, and when he got them right, he often blew away the competition. This film, his official debut film (as he did a few Bava-style completion jobs for other directors) is a crazy mix of Gothic Horror and Giallo, and it's a beauty. Also, some people call it confusing, but it's not at all.

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. 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. The plot (if that word applies here)involves two different doctors who seem to be reviving the dead for some reason--or are they? (I'm not being mysterious here--I really don't know). One of them is Klaus Kinski, but I suspect the famously temperamental actor might have stormed off the set so they gave part of his role to somebody else. Ewe Aulin is the dead(?) woman who seems no worse for wear. After her carriage crashes on the estate of a nobleman (who coincidentally is the doctor's son),he and his wife take her in and they both fall in love with her. The wife, however, is very jealous (although it's not clear of whom) and keeps trying to kill this possibly already dead girl. After an unsuccessful bathtub drowning (which naturally turns into a steamy lesbian sex scene) she seals her in a tomb with the family cat (for yet another Italian homage to Edgar Allen Poe) before the movie sinks completely into incomprehensibility. Smiling on the Taboo: Sex, Death and Transgression in the Horror Films of Joe D Amato (21:34, HD) – A new video essay about D’Amato by critic, Diabolique Magazine contributor, and editor of Daughters of Darkness (pub: 2018), Kat Ellinger. Ellinger specifically explores the director’s work in horror and where his films fit in the larger context of Italian genre filmmaking, but also covers his earlier erotic work and, most importantly, cinematography. 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.

preceding was really nothing more than a motion picture portfolio for cinematographer-turned-director Actress Ewa Aulin was well-known at the time, though has strangely fallen into obscurity. Klaus Kinski is still widely known today, though perhaps more for his madness and depravity than his acting. He became involved purely for the money and had no real opinion of the material one way or the other. 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) 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] 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.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. 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.