Il mostro (1977) Poster

(1977)

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6/10
Il mostro
BandSAboutMovies19 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Valerio Barigozzi (Johnny Dorelli) is a giallo writer who also writes the Countess Esmerelda column in the newspaper. One day, he accidentally gets a letter from a serial killer that reveals the next victim. He starts to get even more letters and each killing moves him up into the editorial office, but it also makes him more of a suspect.

Unlike most gialli, the killings aren't important or even shown as murder set pieces. We only see the end result. The real villains are those using these murders to advance their careers, like our protagonist. Like many a gialli, there is a score by Ennio Morricone.

Directed by Luigi Zampa and written by Sergio Donati, this even winks at the giallo genre by showing the posters for Spasmo and Death Walks On High Heels outside of a theater (as well as Carrie, Destruction Force and The Beast In Heat).

Don't come to this expecting the black gloves and razor of the giallo. Instead, see how far someone will go to be somebody. It feels very much like Zodiac years before Robert Graysmith wrote his book and reminded the public that a very real killer was mailing confessions and clues to the San Francisco Chronicle.
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8/10
MonsterS
ulicknormanowen25 May 2023
People who are looking for a bloody giallo will be disappointed; the thriller side takes a back seat to the social comment ;actually the excellent Johnny Dorelli is akin to Kirk Douglas's character in Billy Wilder's "ace in the hole" .He wants to become a great reporter , no matter what it claims human lives ....

A godsend:a serial killer "il mostro" sends him clues to his horrible crimes;so he's able to publish them in his tabloid ;more,it seems that the mysterious monster "helps " him to predate where and when the crime will be committed.

The average viewer will have guessed the killer's identity halfway through ,but it does not matter ; the mother/son final fight won't fool no one. But the whodunit was not the subject of the film ; it's a ferocious social satire which denounces the press and the avid for bloody stories hoi polloi .
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4/10
Undefined genre
luisab9915 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
A frustrated journalist, divorced from his wife and living with a shy teenager son, exploits the murders of a mysterious serial killer to make his way in the world of the press.

But the movie is not simply as the subject suggests, and its genre is undefined: a thriller lacking suspense, a wanna-be criticism of the Italian society of the time and a disturbing dark comedy sometimes bordering on farce (difficult to say if the resolution and the final scene are bitter, shocking, absurd or just ridiculous).

The movie is deeply affected by Dario Argento, and not only for the brutal murders: the director makes free use of some of Argento's typical features, such as the far-fetched dialogues, the sudden, scary apparition of a puppet ("Deep Red") and a crime scene in which the victim is believed to be the murderer, and vice-versa ("The Bird with the Crystal Plumage").

Some say that, for the cynical representation of the world of the media, if it weren't for the hair and the colors, it could be a present-day movie. It's wrong. It's a typical '70s movie, so politically incorrect that it could never be shot nowadays. Dorelli's acting is way over the top, that adds to the puzzling and grotesque effect.
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Distinctive Italian switch on the slasher film.
Mozjoukine1 July 2012
Intriguing Italian mix of comedy and giallo. We are closer to the Volonte thrillers than Dario Argento here.

Dorreli is a low rank journalist, with a desk next to the toilet at Tribuna Sera newspaper. His correspondence contains a serial killer's letters, which he exploits. Circulation jumps. It takes him a while to realise the identity of the killer.

While all this is happening, Johnnie neglects his red head son.

Top rank technicians on form, though Morricone has done more distinctive work. Formidable central performance and direction which manages to mix bad taste comedy, murder mystery and comment on contemporary press ethics, parenting and publicity.

This one is good enough to make the viewer wonder about all Zampa's other inaccessible films.
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