Rating: - Who Killed Stefania?
A five-year-old girl named Stefania is kidnapped and left to starve to death. However, this very talented, intelligent child is able to leave a clue as to the killer's identity. Though it is not a letter, it might as well have been one that began with "My Dear Killer." Giallo regular, George Hilton, does an excellent job of portraying inspector Luca Peretti who is searching for this clue. Meanwhile, everyone who may have found the clue, without knowing what it was, is murdered in gruesome ways. The most gruesome one, which made audiences cringe, involves Stefania's school teacher who is slashed to death with a Black and Decker hand saw. Another one, which is in the opening scene, is when the insurance agent is decapitated by a steam shovel. The machine resembled a prehistoric dinosaur that reaches down and grabs its victim by the head.
Peretti reminded me of Detective Columbo, played by ... Read More
Rating: - Very confusing but clever
Anyone who used to follow my movie reviews knows how much I love a good giallo. Mario Bava and Dario Argento are the ultimate masters of this intriguing film genre that dominated the Italian box office back in the 1970s, but plenty of other directors stepped up to the plate and took a swing at the genre, too. Before moving on to a review of Tonino Valerii's "My Dear Killer," let's look at the defining elements of a giallo thriller. "Giallo" means "yellow" in Italian, and the term comes from the color of the cover of certain cheap pulp paperback mysteries that were popular in Italy several decades ago. The defining elements of a giallo (plural: gialli) film include but are not limited to: a crazed black-gloved killer, lots of bloody killings carried out in unusual ways, a convoluted plot loaded down with red herrings so as to confuse the viewer about the identity of the murderer, and lots of very beautiful Eurobabes. ... Read More
Rating: - Mundane Giallo
MY DEAR KILLER (MIO CARO ASSASSINO , 1971): Police Inspector Perreti (George Hilton) investigates a series of bloody killings, all seemingly linked to an earlier kidnapping/murder of a young girl. The body count mounts as the black gloved assassin eliminates all those who seem to have acquired knowledge of a dark secret in his past. Finally, Perreti assembles a carefully chosen group of suspects in a small room in order to cleverly unmask the murderer.
An extremely minor giallo, MY DEAR KILLER is lacking in the genre's signature outrageous violence and kinky sex so dearly loved by fans of euro-trash. Only one of the killings (the one depicted on the DVD cover) has any of the nervy shock value expected from this type of film, and despite all the buildup its pretty much a throwaway of a scene. While competently directed by Tonino Valerii, a former assistant to Sergio Leone, and featuring a fine, tension ... Read More
Rating: - Understated Giallo - Nice change of pace for diehards.
Tonino Valerii's 1971 giallo "MY DEAR KILLER" is quite understated, leisurely paced, and a bit talky, but overall, it remains captivating and delivers a strong seamless progression of events that keep unravelling until the inevitable denouement. We all know that the "identity" of the killer in these things is the key ingredient in the mystery, but getting to that point is where the fun is. "My Dear Killer" offers up a few brutal murder setpieces (the circular saw killing being the most memorable - similar to the blood spraying severed arm scene in Argento's "Tenebre"), but the investigation and unraveling of the mystery takes more of the center stage here (which may disappoint some giallo or horror fans). But the script, acting, and pacing is actually a refreshing change of pace from some of the more hyper giallos out there. And another excellent Ennio Morricone score adds to the atmosphere. Definitely worth a ... Read More
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- Who Killed Stefania?
- Mundane Giallo
