The Killer Must Kill Again
When Giorgio’s wife, Norma (Teresa Velazquez), threatens to cut him off from her family’s fortune because of his infidelity, he fears it will be the end of him. However, Giorgio (George Hilton) encounters a killer (Antione Saint-John) disposing of a body and blackmails/recruits him into a scheme to murder his wife and make the body disappear. This way, Giorgio can fake a kidnapping to collect and embezzle the ransom money to fund his lifestyle and business ventures. The killer agrees, and at first, everything appears to go according to plan until his car is stolen by Luca and Laura (Alessio Orana, Cristina Galbo), two young people looking to take a trip to the coast. They are unaware that there is a corpse in the trunk of the car and that the killer is trailing them to tie up loose ends, all while the inspector assigned to the case (Eduadro Fajardo) looks into his own suspicions about Norma’s disappearance.
Grand Theft Auto: Seagull Rock
Luigi Cozzi, using his own name and not one of his many pseudonyms, directs a mean, focused thriller full of dramatic irony and based on a story by Giorgio Scerbanenco. It has the menace, murder, exploitation, and sleaze the audience expects from giallo, but it contains a hint of noir, too, like a low-rent, pulpy Double Indemnity or Strangers on a Train. Almost all the characters are varieties of bad people, but the movie’s tension comes from the fact that most of them have no idea about the nature of the situations into which they stumble. Everyone had plans, and they all go wrong. The short run time means that even though the audience will find the characters disagreeable—and most them one-dimensional too—the suspense remains fairly taut, and the movie does not drag out.
Il Ragno
Antione Saint-John not only looks odd but also gives an intense, unnerving performance, hinting at the unhinged motivations of the killer. Unfortunately, his acting is the boldest effect the movie has going. The Dark Is Death’s Friend has no great visual styling, unlike other giallo movies such as The Bird with Crystal Plumage, Torso, Deep Red, or Tenebrae. In this case, the budget must have been incredibly small. Even for an Italian exploitation thriller movie, it can’t hide how cheap it is no matter how many different titles it has. Also, this movie screams 1970s with the clothes, cars, and decor. Giorgio and Norma’s house looks unlivable and more like an exhibit of unpleasant modern art furnishing rather than a home.
Milan Giallo
The Dark Is Death’s Friend is a fairly good giallo movie. It has all the nastiness the audience could want from the genre. It does lack the inventiveness or artistry found in similar movies, but it does have some strong tension, even if choices made by some characters seem silly or absurd. It is not going to be anyone’s first choice as a giallo, but it is worth checking out for people wanting to explore the genre or looking for something with a touch of neo-noir to it.
Source
The Dark Is Death’s Friend. Directed by Luigi Cozzi, performances by George Hilton, Antoine Saint-John, Teresa Velazquez, Alessio Orana, Cristina Galbo, and Eduadro Fajardo, Albione Cinematografica, 1975.
© 2024 Seth Tomko