This little seen but nonetheless notorious Italian giallo opens with the SECOND-best footage imaginable. A bunch of policemen are standing in the room where the horribly mutilated body of an attractive woman has just been discovered, and this disturbing discovery heralds the search for a sadistic killer. The absolute best horror opening would of course be that we actually witness the killer take the life of his victim but, no worries, as we're treated to that not more than ten minutes later already and several times after that! The maniac at large is exclusively interested in adulterous women with a high-society standing. He stalks them as they secretly meet up with their lovers, patiently waits until they're alone again, then kills them barbarically and leaves behind photographical evidence of their liaisons. Inspector Capuano faces huge difficulties in his investigation, as the prominent husbands of the killed women don't want to see their names mentioned in this scandal. This oddly titled Italian film (actually, NONE of the many titles is completely relevant) can be described best as a straightforward and unscrupulous giallo. The killer fully answers to all the standard characteristics (black gloves, black coat, face covered by a black veil), the gore is graphic & plentiful and every female cast member extendedly shows off her ravishing body before getting slashed. All this should already satisfy pretty much every giallo-fan, but there's more. Good stuff mostly, but bad stuff as well unfortunately.
The greatest thing about "So Sweet, So Dead" is unquestionable the whole climax which, regretfully, I can't write about much. Peculiar but surely innovating about this movie is how the revelation of the murderer's identity is totally downgraded by the setting and circumstances of his last killing. The face behind the veil isn't surprising but the whole ending is definitely shocking and highly memorable! The film's negative elements are fairly obvious: the plot and message are very women-unfriendly (although many gialli are ). Only the women are punished for their salacious lifestyles even though their rich husbands & lovers aren't without sin, neither. If I have no defense for this, but to immediately label the entire film as misogynistic is a bit exaggerated in my opinion. The other and more annoying flaws include a lack of plausible red herrings, bad use of soundtrack and wooden acting performances by pretty much the entire cast. You can clearly tell that Roberto Bianchi (father of Mario Bianchi) isn't Italy's finest horror director but he does an overall adequate job. In all honesty, "So Sweet, So Dead" doesn't deserve a rating higher than 6 or maybe 7, but I'm giving it one point extra if only for that end-sequence! Definitely worth looking for if you're a giallo fanatic!
The greatest thing about "So Sweet, So Dead" is unquestionable the whole climax which, regretfully, I can't write about much. Peculiar but surely innovating about this movie is how the revelation of the murderer's identity is totally downgraded by the setting and circumstances of his last killing. The face behind the veil isn't surprising but the whole ending is definitely shocking and highly memorable! The film's negative elements are fairly obvious: the plot and message are very women-unfriendly (although many gialli are ). Only the women are punished for their salacious lifestyles even though their rich husbands & lovers aren't without sin, neither. If I have no defense for this, but to immediately label the entire film as misogynistic is a bit exaggerated in my opinion. The other and more annoying flaws include a lack of plausible red herrings, bad use of soundtrack and wooden acting performances by pretty much the entire cast. You can clearly tell that Roberto Bianchi (father of Mario Bianchi) isn't Italy's finest horror director but he does an overall adequate job. In all honesty, "So Sweet, So Dead" doesn't deserve a rating higher than 6 or maybe 7, but I'm giving it one point extra if only for that end-sequence! Definitely worth looking for if you're a giallo fanatic!