Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile
aka So Sweet, So Dead (Roberto Bianchi Montero, 1972)
The original Italian title is a right mouthful! Roughly meaning Revelations of a Sex Maniac to the Head of the Criminal Investigation Division, the film's international title was quite rightly altered to So Sweet, So Dead, a far less concise title, but not so much of an Italian tongue-twister.
Indeed, the head of the criminal Investigation Division, is American actor Farley Granger, who looks a little bit like a skinnier Joe Spinell of Maniac fame. There's a killer on the loose, see, and all his victims are saucy ladies who have been adulterous sinners! Yes, a killer with some kind of conscience! He even leaves photographs of the lovers cheating next to the bodies. Nice touch.
All the usual Giallo traits are here... the faceless killer wearing a black hat & black leather gloves... the fact that you only see a silhouette of the killer throughout... the ever-so suspicious morgue monkey-boy, and of course, lots of lovely ladies getting their throats slashed. One of which is the delicious Femi Benussi of strip nude for your killer shame, erm, I mean fame.
1972 was certainly a peak in the Giallo genre, and So Sweet, So Dead is one of the better efforts. It's never very gory, but certainly titillating, and the German Camera Obscura re-issue DVD has exceptional picture quality, although at times inter-cut with footage from a very poor source (VHS?). This re-issue is a treat to behold. Montero's direction is also very well handled, and Granger is very good in the lead role. Recommended!
