My Dear Killer
(Review by Andrew Lines)
This 1971 Italien gialli(o) is something a cut above the rest of the pack, which followed
after Argento's 1969 thriller "The Bird with the Crystal Plummage". While mainly remembered by fans, as a great gore film (yet it contains hardly any), it was directed, impressively, by Tonino Valerii, and stars George Hilton as Police Inspector Luca Perreti
The film begins as it means to go on, with a strange opening murder. As a man directs a mechanical digger , around a lake, the driver suddenly turns the digger towards the man, and lifts him up in the air, via his head. After a brief struggle, the man's body falls to the ground, his head rolling down beside him. After Perreti arrives at the first murder scene, he is soon diverted to a second. The discovery of a hanging body, the driver of the digger, his main suspect!
Soon enough, at this second murder scene Perreti announces that this man didn't commit suicide, he was murdered. As the movie progresses, and the bodies start to heap up, Perreti starts to find a link between these new murders, and the kidnapping/murders of a young girl. Her name was Stefania Moroni, and she was placed in a bunker, overlooking the same lake in which the first murder victim was found. Moroni's father had also suffered a fate, as he was murdered during a rescue attempt gone wrong.
As Perreti starts to investigate into the girls still griving family, he discovers the first murder victim was the insurance adjuster, who had worked on the kidnapping case. Believing also that an old hermit who lives by the lake, knows more then he's letting on, Perreti starts to edge closer to the killer. Then the hermit is viscously murdered, and in a twist, Perreti finds himself racing to the home of the hermits woman friend, who the killer has now set his sights on...
Vallerii's film moves at quite a slow pace for a film of this style, yet still manages to sustain the viewers interest throughout all of it's 95 minutes. Alao a note of interest is that even though it's a rip-off of sorts to Argento's earlier giallis (the inclusion of a picture holding the identity of the killer), it borrows heavily from Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, but also stands on it's own two feet.
The film also has many impressive set pieces, usually involving a murder, to boost up it's appeal. These range from the opening, to the strangulation of a women in a bank, to my favourite, the buzz- saw murder. This is worth to note as you know the murder will happen, but Vallerii builds up the suspense as the intended victim, a female teacher, invites the murderer into her home, and he starts to follow her around. Also the murderer's choice of weapon is left unanswered until just before he/she does the killing, which is quite a surprise, if you haven't seen the video cover, or read any reviews. Yes the murder is gruesome, but it isn't OTT, and the amount of blood seems rather life-like, especially as it's good gore effects.
The Agatha Christie influence comes into play at the end of the film, as Perreti brings all the suspects together in one room, and slowly shows them a picture, drawn by the kidnapped Moroni, revealing the murderer. Then the lights go out...
All the actors in the movie are very good, giving no cheesy or wooden performances, the best being of course the lead George Hilton. who plays the stone faced, tough as a rock Perreti. He manages to play the character dead straight, yet when the script calls for it does the little pieces of black humour well.
Boasting a good story-line, good characters, unexpected twists, great acting, decent suspense and great gore, My Dear Killer is a good way of sitting back and enjoying a film, from the 70's craze of gialli movies. Which in a way mirrors the 80's slasher craze, but with added style.
