Dipping my toes into the cool waters of #januarygiallo with this sweet little number from Sergio Martino, who knocked out a great run of Giallo in the early ‘70s.
This murder mystery is a little less stabby than the others but still has the twisted plots & double crosses synonymous with the genre. The film kicks off with some sexy times intercut with a plane that, yes, explodes at the point of climax. Genius.
We find out that the woman was having an affair and her wealthy husband died on the plane. Martino regular George Hilton comes to investigate the million-dollar insurance claim made by the widow & teams up with Anita Strindberg's reporter as the bodies start to pile up, this time in Athens instead of Rome.
I have to be honest, many Martino’s Giallo blend into one for me, but that’s not really a knock - they are all fun as hell, beautifully filmed and edited, and twist and turn their way towards the final revelation and murderous climax. And the score by Bruno Nicolai is an all-timer - menacing acoustic guitar (yep), discordant tones and jazzy interludes and is highly listenable.
4 scorpion rings out of 5
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