Very well executed
Great visuals, story delivers no surprises
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
View MoreTells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
View MoreDuring a series of vicious attacks, the city's police commissioner finds that the different descriptions of the culprit have led him down the wrong path with the killer using disguises to carry out his spree and forces him to race to stop the killings and save the next victims.This one turned out to be quite the distressing and flawed effort. The main problem on display here is the fact that this one just doesn't generate anywhere near the required genre thrills to be that interesting. Since the main guise of the film should be the series of attacks on the different street-workers in the area, that this one spends so much time instead on extraneous efforts is such a detriment that it brings out several problems as a result. The lack of time on the stalking, in general, is a big problem since it never allows us to get to know the killer or the victims either so it just seems quite bland during these few scattered scenes throughout here. Likewise, since this one becomes a procedural effort much more so than actually focusing on the stalking and slashing that it never becomes all that enjoyable as a result since these scenes are just criminally boring with the needless going over of facts repeatedly or going on with the friends of the victims in their lives as the spree continues around them which manages to make for a truly bland and utterly uninteresting time since precious little of it sets up the actual mystery around the killer. It has no time for such pointless and unnecessary interludes as the killer being shown stalking a group holding a party near a crime-scene and not take out anyone during that sequence, and the inclusion of the drug ring as a whole just makes no sense to be featured which just comes out of nowhere and has nothing at all to do with the rest of the story involving the killer striking his victims. The other big flaw here is the generally lifeless air about the main stalking scenes just makes this all the more paltry. What should be rather frenetic and exciting scenes end up being just dull in combination with the horrid lighting that makes everything so dark it's hard to tell what's going on beyond a flurry of arms being thrown about to the sounds of a beating that should've been seen on screen. Since so many of the attacks fail to actually kill the victim and left the killer escape just really undermines what's going on as the potential for some excitement to occur here in the attacks might've made this one a little more exciting. These here really bring this one down although it does have a few minor points of interest. The main thing here is the fact that the concept of the strikes where the maniac stalks couples and attacks them makes this one seemingly enjoyable enough to work with a normal storyline, and there's some potential in some of the attacks here which give this a minor boost. The only other effort that works here is the finale which has some action and a rather nice set=up about it that really does work for this one. Otherwise, there's not much that works here.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.
View MoreA masked killer in long dark coat stalks and strangles to death beautiful prostitutes.Comissario Ferretii wants to find the elusive killer..."La Notti Della Violenza" is an unjustly forgotten giallo with elegant mood of noir cinema.The script is entertaining and offers some unusual ideas.Plenty of red herrings and a bizarre unexpected twist at the end.The scenes of stalking and violent attacks on women are quite tame,though.It seems that the version I saw which lasted 77 minutes seems to be missing about 14 minutes.If you are a fan of 60's gialli you can't go wrong with Roberto Mauri's unreal "La Notti Della Violenza".7 white masks out of 10.
View MoreTaking a look at a pile of "must watch" DVD titles of the Giallo sub- genre that are currently placed in the corner of my bedroom,a few days ago,I suddenly realised that I had somehow never got round to previously taking a look at one of the first ever items that I won on Ebay,which led to me excitingly getting ready for a night of wild,ultra-violence.The plot:Waving goodbye to her final client of the day,call girl Carla Pratesi starts to get prepared for her dad's (who is an ambassador) birthday party.As she puts the finishing touches to her clothes,Carla receives a phone call from the head of the agency:Linda,who requests that Pratesi changes her plans,due to Linda having received a call from a business man who is willing to spend every penny for a night with Carla.Initially refusing the offer,Carla begins to change her mind,when Linda tells Pratesi that she could make more money from this one customer than she could in an entire week,and is also told by Linda that if she turns this offer down,then maybe Carla's father might want to know what his little girl has been up to.With a heavy heart,Carla rings up her father and tells him that she will be unable to attend the party,due to needing an "emergency operation".Heading to her final "appointment",Pratesti finds herself in the middle of nowhere,when one of the cars tyres suddenly gets a huge hole.Getting out of the car to replace the tyre,Carla is greeted by a strange man wearing a long dark coat,who kindly offers to help Pratesi replace the tyre.Accepting the strangers kind offer,Pratesti and the stranger begin replacing the tyre,which ends up getting no where near the car,when the stranger suddenly grabs Carla by the neck and strangles her to death.The next day:Arriving to the murder scene,Commisario Ferretti quickly begins to suspect that Pratesi's murder may have something to do either with her father's role,or the job that she was secretly doing behind her families back,which leads to Ferretti taking a close look at Carla's former "agent" Linda,who Ferretti soon discovers is doing much more then just sending the ladies of the night into the sunset View on the film:Despite the movie having a blood thirsty title,co-writer (along with Edoardo Mulargia)/director Roberto Mauri unexpectedly takes this Giallo into a surprisingly elegant direction.Closely working with cinematography Vitaliano Natalucci to limit the violence to short,sharp shots,so that the movie can instead be given an extremely strong Film Noir atmosphere, Mauri and Natalucci give the film a deep smoky appearance,which along with showing the dark world that Carla has found herself trapped in,also allows Mauri to create a strong sense that the killer could be lurking behind any darkened corner of the screen.Along with showing a superb skill in gradually unravelling Carla's mysterious private life,Mulargia and Mauri also give the firm Giallo centre mystery of the movie some surprisingly blunt social/political commentary. Along with giving the killer an off-beat reasoning for the murder, this also allows Mauri and Mulargia to connect this movie to the post-war Film Noir period,which along with great performances from the beautiful Helene Chanel as Carla,and the quick witted Alberto Lupo as Ferretti,make this Giallo Film Noir one whose night of violence is very much worth witnessing at first sight.
View MoreRoman nights – a masked killer is stalking and killing all the women he meets. The main victims are, of course, prostitutes."Le notti della violenza" may not be a groundbreaking giallo but it's atmospheric, it features, as it's to be expected, lots of pretty women (among them Marilu Tolo, Lisa Gastoni, Helene Chanel etc..) and the cameras are sensitive to feminine beauty (but as we are in 1965 not much can be shown). In short, "Le notti della violenza", in spite of being an early giallo, displays all the characteristics of the giallo genre – women being pursued, killed, slapped around, asking for protection and crying like broken dolls when mistreated. But it's not really a misogynistic film – it shows, it relishes and (in a way) it denounces (!)."Le notti della violenza" is what one could call, a spontaneous giallo, this means, gialli that were made with few resources, but got the most out of them."Le notti della violenza" can't be put in the same league with, for instance, Mario Bava's classic "Blood and Black Lace" (1963) or Bazzoni's psychological giallo "La donna del lago" (1965), but it's still interesting if you like films for entertainment: As I said before, it's atmospheric (the silhouette of a woman seen through a window in the night, a lonely meadow, bushes, pines trees, someone stalking..) and it's also a perfect time capsule – the women, their hairdos, the music, the parties etc..The plot mixes a deranged killer, a prostitution and drug ring and there are even hints about the atomic age! But no need to be afraid! In spite of all, the story is simple enough. The main drawback (for those that don't understand Italian) is that the copies available are in Italian without subtitles.
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