Manhattan-based director Alex Ritt (Rick Gianasi) travels to Rome to film a music video with Italian singing sensation Stefania Stella (herself) and witnesses a series of gruesome slayings that mimic the still-at-large serial killer who murdered his wife back in New York...
Former music video director Al Festa's flashy thriller does double duty as both an MTV-style homage to classic Italian gialli and a shameless vanity project showcasing his wannabe pop star wife Stefania Stella, Italy's answer to Pia Zadora. There's plenty of Argento trope (was that him in an uncredited bit?) from the American abroad up to his eyeballs in murder to the trench-coated killer adept at decapitation along with a heaping helping of Mario Bava's swirling mists and colored lights. Red herrings abound and so do a sh!tload of psychotronic guest stars (Alida Valli, Ciccio Ingrassia, David Warbeck, Angus Scrimm, Linnea Quigley, Rossano Brazzi, Donald Pleasance) propping up a clever but improbable plot that blends PEEPING TOM with MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.
Stefania Stella's one scary looking lady, let me tell ya- when Ritt meets her he says, "You've got a European look" which is kind of an insult to Continentals since Stefania (speaking her lines phonetically like Vera Hruba Ralston did) looks more like a transgender who sounds like Bela Lugosi than a desirable woman. The film's a good forty-five minutes longer than it should be, thanks to a Cook's tour of the Eternal City and Stella's four awful songs that all sound the same but, nevertheless, I couldn't take my eyes off her. The film won the "Lucio Fulci Award" at the 1996 Fantafilm Festival.
Former music video director Al Festa's flashy thriller does double duty as both an MTV-style homage to classic Italian gialli and a shameless vanity project showcasing his wannabe pop star wife Stefania Stella, Italy's answer to Pia Zadora. There's plenty of Argento trope (was that him in an uncredited bit?) from the American abroad up to his eyeballs in murder to the trench-coated killer adept at decapitation along with a heaping helping of Mario Bava's swirling mists and colored lights. Red herrings abound and so do a sh!tload of psychotronic guest stars (Alida Valli, Ciccio Ingrassia, David Warbeck, Angus Scrimm, Linnea Quigley, Rossano Brazzi, Donald Pleasance) propping up a clever but improbable plot that blends PEEPING TOM with MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.
Stefania Stella's one scary looking lady, let me tell ya- when Ritt meets her he says, "You've got a European look" which is kind of an insult to Continentals since Stefania (speaking her lines phonetically like Vera Hruba Ralston did) looks more like a transgender who sounds like Bela Lugosi than a desirable woman. The film's a good forty-five minutes longer than it should be, thanks to a Cook's tour of the Eternal City and Stella's four awful songs that all sound the same but, nevertheless, I couldn't take my eyes off her. The film won the "Lucio Fulci Award" at the 1996 Fantafilm Festival.