just watch it!

A Disappointing Continuation

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Rather than featuring an 'everyman' protagonist caught up in a bizarre mystery, as is often the case with a standard giallo, the central characters of Massimo Dallamano's 'What Have They Done To Your Daughters?' are Police Inspector Silvestri and Assistant District Attorney Vittoria Stori, who are called to the apparent suicide of a teenage girl which, upon investigation, becomes a murder case. As they delve further into the victim's life, Silvestri and Stori uncover her secret life as a teenage prostitute, a shocking discovery that leads to the discovery of more bodies and which makes them the next targets of the vicious killer.This merging of two extremely popular genres of '70s Italian cinema—the 'giallo' and the 'poliziotteschi'—is very entertaining whenever it's adhering to the giallo formula or delivering the sleaze, with a decent killer (clad in motor cycle gear and brandishing a huge meat cleaver), teenage nudity, bloody violence, an uncomfortable moment featuring a tape recording of an underage hooker with her 'john', and a very gruesome scene where a victim's dismembered body is reassembled like a jigsaw; sadly, the film is nowhere near as much fun during the police procedural content, which, barring a cool car/motorcycle chase scene, is extremely hum-drum stuff. The finale is also disappointingly weak.Overall, this flick offers enough good stuff to make it worth a go, but don't expect it to be anywhere near as good as Dallamano's similarly titled 'What Have You Done to Solange?'.

Massimo Dallamano's "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" aka. "What Have They Done To Your Daughters" is a very suspenseful, atmospheric and intelligentGiallo with elements of the Poliziotteschi/Crime genre, that no lover of Italian genre cinema of the 70s should allow himself to miss. When a teenage girl is found hanged in an attic, the police first think of suicide. Further investigations, however, point out that it was murder. As the investigations go on, it becomes clear that the murder is somehow related to a teen-prostitution ring... This very suspenseful and tough-minded Thriller keeps the suspense going from the beginning to the end. The plot is very elaborate and stunning and score by Stelvio Cipriani is brilliant and contributes a lot to atmosphere and suspense. Most of the murders are actually not seen, and there is no excessive splatter and gore, but what remains of the murders is often quite brutal, not least due to the delicate context. I must say that, concerning the cast, "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" was not quite what I had expected. As the DVD cover had 'Mario Adorf' in fat capital letters written on top, I expected Adorf to be the star of this movie but just plays a supporting role (in which he is, once again, excellent). This is not a flaw however, since Claudio Casselini and Giovanna Ralli are very good in the leading roles. Cassellini is excellent as the investigating homicide detective Silvestri, and beautiful Giovanna Ralli fits very well in her role of a young female assistant district attorney. Ralli may also be known to Italian movie buffs for films like Sergio Corbucci's revolutionary Western "Il Mercenario" or Enzo Castellari's Giallo "Gli Occhi Freddi De La Paura". My favorite film from Massimo Dallamano will always be his Giallo-masterpiece "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange" ("What Have You Done To Solange", 1972), but "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" is also a highly memorable film. All things considered, this is a tantalizing thriller that my fellow fans of Italian Genre-Cinema can not afford to miss. An elaborate plot, great performances and a brilliant score go in hand with constant suspense from the beginning to the end. In Short: "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" comes with my highest recommendations!

From Massimo Dallamano, the director of the iconic giallo "What Have You Done to Solange?", comes a pseudo-sequel of sorts, but essentially only in theme. "What Have They Done To Our Daughters?" was actually the second film in a planned trilogy of three "School Girls in Peril" gialli, but unfortunately Dallamano died before he could complete the last one (and was subsequently completed by another filmmaker).Anyways, returning to the film in question, I actually prefer this installment to the much more praised "Solange". The main reason being that the first felt much more exploitative in nature, and thus was not as effective in my mind."Daughters" seems to take a more realistic approach, not focusing on the shocks found in nudity and gore as the first one seemed to revel in, but rather focusing upon the actual investigation of the crimes and how the events cause traumatic and emotional infliction upon the characters involved. Indeed, this film is much more socially minded, conveying how society often tries to exploit innocence for its own gain, and how the emotional disconnection and distance that is between the parents and their children often is what leads to their children becoming seduced by the society's malice.In addition, the direction is solid with well executed sequences of suspense. The musical score also is terrific, giving it even more emotional dissonance.However, despite the subtext it gives and the visual aura is possesses, the film lacks in having a strong narrative. The story adapts a police procedural formula, thus making it rather clear and focused, but unfortunately it isn't really focused on all that much. It doesn't lead to much of anywhere as we are given all the detail up front, thus causing it to feel rather dragged out. The ending is also anti-climatic.Despite this, it's a solid entry into the giallo canon, thanks mainly to its social commentary, strong direction, and solid musical score, but the story itself is very thin and dragged out... if only it had more plot to it this could have been one of the better gialli.

POTENTIAL SPOILER!!! BEWARE!!! (Well, not really, but just to be on the safe side of things).From the glaring reviews posted here, on IMDb, I went out of my way (and, boy, did I ever go out of my way to see this dud! I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, so hunting for a three-decade old and rather obscure giallo wasn't necessarily a walk in the park) to fetch a copy of "What have they done to your daughters" and what a put down it was! The film's plot, tenuously copied from Jules Dessin's 1948 masterpiece "Naked City", is so full of holes, seems like a swiss cheese! A good many of the leads go nowhere and the killings, which are central to the plot, or so seem to be, are really never explained; we have no idea why a mysterious biker goes zooming around Rome, with a meat ax, butchering lust-crazy teenagers, private detectives and, even, a district attorney (played by a rather dazed Giovanna Ralli - her 70s hairdo stood out way, way more than her deadpan acting). Well, yeah, there's the usual link with the "rich & powerful", but its just too lame to fully explain a good deal of the killings. The film ends on a rather low key, leaving you to wonder if there wasn't anything a tad more interesting to do with your 90 minutes instead of watching this incredibly confusing piece of italiana. In all due respect with the previous comments, can't really see what the praise is all about - probably, I should go back and give it another shot - but that would be wasting another hour and a half, and life is just too short of a deal.