psychothrillers

The combined effect of the production design (heavy on chrome and glass), synth score (courtesy of Fred WESTWORLD Karlin), gauzy cinematography (by Sam Peckinpah associate Gabriel Torres) and the lassitude of the beautiful people players evokes Italian giallo psychothrillers like Dario Argento's THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970) and Mario Bava's FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON (1970).

"More blood, more bats." Arbogast 2007

By having poor Mrs. Menard done dirt in such a way, in making this ostensibly Italian actually Greek and playing God knows what nationality hottie the victim of ostensibly helpless Third World unpersons, Fulci and scenarist Dardano Sacchetti seem to be joining in on the self-criticism bordering on self-mutilation that always was part and parcel of the Euro-Cult canon, from the mythic pepla and copycat spaghetti westerns to the giallo psychothrillers and high octane poliziotteschi crime films that married social commentary to scenes of excessively brutal violence.

The best magnifying glass Arbogast 2007