Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Yet another film in the Drive-in 50-pack collection. This film is known as Trauma, Rings of Fear and Enigma rosso (Virgin Killer). It's really just meh in my book. It's not a good film... really on the awful side but there is a so-so story that is tolerable to watch.As with a lot of these types of B and Z rated 1970s films, you will see a bit of soft-core porn. It's there just as a time filler and to get viewers I believe - otherwise its not necessary to have in the film. This film does have quite a bit of it.Really not a good film but, again, there is a barely tolerable story that's so-so that might be of interest to some.2/10

Third and least of a series of ‘schoolgirl’ gialli: the previous two, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? (1972) and WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (1974), were both directed by Massimo Dallamano – he co-wrote this but, since he died in 1976 and the film was released a couple of years later, it appears that he only managed to be involved during the early stages of the writing.Anyway, the earlier films had tackled the subject matter from different angles – the first from the viewpoint of a suspect and the second from that of the police. The third entry should have taken yet another view – perhaps from that of a possible victim – but, being an Italian/West German/Spanish co-production, the casting of Fabio Testi (graduating from the suspected teacher in SOLANGE to a police inspector) prevailed as well as that of German actress Christine Kaufmann in, basically, a nothing role! While the plot isn’t particularly involving and fairly muddled until the various threads come together at the end, the film provides the usual quota of thrills, gore and sleaze: especially interesting is the cross-cutting (albeit too brief) between an orgy and an abortion, but also notable is the scene where marbles are used for purposes of murder (a girl slips down a flight of stairs and, symbolically, brings to the ground with her the statue representing the saint after which the school is named). Incidentally, both the original title – which translates to RIDDLE IN RED – and the English RINGS OF FEAR prove meaningless! The score by the usually-reliable Riz Ortolani does the job but it’s nowhere near as memorable as the work of Ennio Morricone on WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? and that of Stelvio Cipriani on WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? Still, the identity of the corrupt official exposed by the investigation (there's always one but, this time, he also doubles as the killer!) is interesting – and even more so that of the “Nemesis” figure, whose messages (quoting poet Robert Burns) turn up intermittently throughout. The supporting cast includes veteran German actor Ivan Desny as Testi’s superior and Jess Franco regular Jack Taylor as the depraved but gutless owner of a shop for women’s clothing. The English dubbing wasn’t too bad under the circumstances, though the image quality of my DivX copy was soft and incredibly murky (especially during scenes set in the dark).

Even though he only shares a writing credit with five other people, Red Rings of Fear is credited as being the third instalment of Massimo Dallamano's unofficial 'Schoolgirls in Peril' series; the masterpiece What Have They Done to Solange and the disappointing What They Done to Our Daughters being the other two. I went into this film with low expectations after seeing the second part of the 'trilogy', and unfortunately Red Rings of Fear only lived up to those expectations as while it has its moments, the film is certainly no masterpiece. For one reason or another, Dallamano himself hasn't directed this film, and the honour of the director's chair has fallen to the lesser known Alberto Negrin. The film retains the sleazy atmosphere that the first two delighted in, and once again focuses on schoolgirls. Red Rings of Fear starts with the discovery of a young girl's corpse. After being put on the case, Inspector Gianni Di Salvo soon learns that the girl was a part of a school clique known as 'The Inseparables', and a plot revolving around rich men paying them for sex soon unfolds.The film stars Fabio Testi, who also took the lead role in the far better 'What Have they Done to Solange'. I've seen Testi in a handful of Italian films, and he always impresses me. His chiselled good looks benefit this film as it's easy to see him at the centre of a sleazy plot, and his performance bodes well with the rest of the film. He receives decent backup from a trio of teenage actresses, as well as child star Fauta Avelli, who has worked with the likes of Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento in the past. Any film focusing on teenage girls, murder and loss of innocence is bound to be sleazy; and director Alberto Negrin does well in capturing gritty locations and upping the sleaze quota. However, the plotting isn't very well done and often becomes hard to follow - and the film also focuses too much on police procedure and not enough on the style. There are a few decent murder scenes in the film, but none of them are particularly well executed and it often feels as though the director wants to get them over with as quickly as possible, which is a shame. The resolution to the murders is good, although the killer has become obvious by that point; and I really hated how the film ends entirely. On the whole; Red Rings of Fear is slightly better than What Have they Done to Our Daughters, but nowhere near as good as Solange. I'd like to rate this higher, but it has too many problems.

I like giallos a lot, and this one was pretty good, but in some ways it could have been better. I still need to see "What Have They Done To Your Daughters" and "What Have They Done To Solange", as I've heard those two entries are a lot better than this concluding entry, which is also known as "Trauma", "Rings of Fear", and "Virgin Terror". It starts out pretty good, with the mutilated body of a teen girl named Angelo being discovered, and Inspector Di Salvo (Fabio Testi) is assigned to find her killer, before he "carves up someone else". Basically, it goes on with him questioning Angelo's friends and family and finding strange clues, such as a diary, a strange cat sketch, a lot of money, as well as many secrets kept hidden by Angelo's friends, a bunch of slutty schoolgirls named Franca, Paola, and Virginia, who call themselves the inseparables. Di Salvo does more digging and recovers many more strange things. There is a funky groovy score by Riz Ortolani, lots of red herrings, good acting, and a fun first half, but then the second half of the film kind of falls apart. The motives of the killer(s) are confused and come off as kind of laughable. Then, there are a few more strange events that lead up to a conclusion that leaves you uttering one single word: "What?". It is basically confusing. I had to rewind the last fifteen or twenty minutes and watch it again. Overall, if you're a hardcore giallo fan, go for it...but for others, you may just be bored. Hopefully the other entries in the series are better than this one!